Carl Sagan
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Year of the Geek
Thanks to Jeremy Snead’s documentary about video games, Weird Al’s invasion of the Internet, and the resurrection of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, this is turning out to be the year of the geek.
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Cosmos (2014)
I can’t even begin to explain to you how excited I am about this. The original book/series did more to inspire and enlighten me than all of the schooling and indoctrination I’ve ever had.
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Q: What book motivates or influences you most in life?
“Cosmos” by Carl Sagan was more influential to me than any book I’ve ever read. It reawakened the spirituality inside me, opened my eyes to the wonders of science, gave me a sense of self, helped me appreciate all life on Earth, and laid the foundation for the human being I have become.
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Symphony of Science’s “A Glorious Dawn”
What happens when you mix art, poetry, music, science, philosophy, and genius? This video. Easily one of the greatest videos I’ve ever seen. I haven’t felt this numinous since I first read Cosmos. I can’t thank the author of this video enough, and I look forward to enjoying more like it. If you only watch…
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Dec. 20, 1996: Science Loses Its Most Visible Public Champion
by Tony Long of Wired 1996: Carl Sagan dies. Calling Carl Sagan a scientist is a little like calling the Beatles a rock band. Sagan was certainly a scientist (an astronomer, biologist and astrophysicist, to be precise). But he was also science’s most visible public advocate, a secular humanist, a fervent believer in extraterrestrial life,…
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Abortion
Everyone who ever debates abortion should read this first. I first read the following article in Billions and Billions by Carl Sagan. It was co-written by Carl and his wife Ann Druyan in the mid-90’s, but the arguments they detail here are still highly relevant. It is far more honest and comprehensive than anything I’ve…
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Cosmos XI. The Persistence of Memory
Information is important to Life, and Earth is positively rippling with both. Quasi-intelligent beings that never see the light of day live on inside us, While mindless molecular machines copy our biological biography With the guided precision of a skilled craftsman. All living creatures store libraries of information in their genes, But many beings are…
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Cosmos VIII. Travels in Space and Time
Before the Sun rose and set in the sky of Earth, A giant blue-green rock spun lazily around its star. Then a being, mostly calling itself Man, Gave names to these gods of the ground and sky. Our solitary sun floats with its family of planets. A grain of sand in a beach too massive…
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Cosmos XII. Encyclopaedia Galactica
Ethereal lights in the sky, unexplainable phenomena, And alleged astronauts older than any nation Lead many to believe we’re inundated with uninvited guests. Though I wish it were so, it probably just isn’t true. It could be that we have not been discovered, And our xenophobia causes us to see lights in the sky. Besides,…
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My Stance on Jesus Christ
Let one of my favorite fictional characters take over for a moment and I will get right back to you… “I’m a Christian in the sense that I find Jesus Christ to be an admirable historical figure. I think the Sermon on the Mount is one of the greatest ethical statements and one of the…