Carl Sagan Quotes
If we can't think for ourselves, if we're unwilling to question authority, then we're just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.
Sagan, Carl. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Random House, 1995, p. 434.
He works were banned and he was banished by both the North Vietnamese and the South Vietnamese during the Vietnam War where he tried to be a mediator and was present at the Paris Peace Talks. As late as 2007 he was still not allowed into Vietnam.
Actually, in the modern English tradition there is no censorship of library materials, but for many countries including some democracies, there is library censorship including some in the United States. However, the Internet has become the most democratic as government censorship is even harder, but still China, Saudi Arabia, and some other countries even censor the Internet.
This is a modern summary of the philosophy of Benedict Spinoza who developed the modern philosophical foundation of science and scientific thinking. When the authorities are clerics and religious leaders, their authority gets undermined which is why the Jews, Christians, and Muslims all excommunicated Spinoza. For the scientists, they themselves are to be rejected as determiners of knowledge and truth so they tend to do poorly in political disputes because the good scientists would never assert a belief that the politicians should listen to them just because they are great scientists and they “know.” It is the ideologues and junk scientists who are sure of their testimony and can advise with certainty. See linked quote(s).
Brunner and B. F, Skinner were the two most preeminent learning psychologists of the day. They were intellectual opponents, but both agreed with this principle, Amazing demonstrations of this principle are available throughout history. However, apparently the cost to do it can be huge and as of 2012 there has been no overall success on a large scale of the general proposition. On the other hand, set theory has been taught to Junior High School students well, and calculus is taught in many American high schools. However. while there are these spectacular results, the American education system of the early 21st century has been unable to produce basic arithmetic and algebra skills in over 20 percent of the population.
Alvarez was one of the key physicists who developed the atom bomb and was the scientist selected to accompany the plane bombing Hiroshima. There was considerable friction in the Manhattan Project development of the bomb between the scientists and the military.
The Latin means “the voice of the people is the voice of God.” See Alcuin if York {593018} for a quick history of the statement. Essentially, in science public opinion is irrelevant or at least should be. One of the major political issues in our society is whether ideology and/or public opinion should control policy and practice of scientific issues, methods, and practices.
Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on extraterrestrial life, including experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by radiation. Sagan assembled the first physical messages sent into space: the Pioneer plaque and the Voyager Golden Record, universal messages intended to be understood by any extraterrestrial intelligence that might find them.
