CARL SAGAN
Astronomer
•
Educator
•
Human
"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives."
"The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there..."
"...on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."
A phonograph record, a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk, containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth.
Wherever possible, there must be independent confirmation of the "facts."
Substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view is encouraged.
Arguments from authority carry little weight. Authorities have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again.
If there's something to be explained, think of all the different ways in which it could be explained.
When faced with two hypotheses that explain the data equally well, choose the simpler.