Missed the boat a little, but for those who want to read the most intelligent summary of the salient scientific considerations associated with abortion, have a read of an article by Carl Sagan himself (co-written by Ann Druyan). Absolutely thought provoking and relevant: http://2think.org/abortion.shtml

Carl Sagan was Bill Nye's professor in college?! BAD. ASS.

don't forget Carl Sagan... PBS ftw

The thing I do like about auto-tune is that it enables those that NEVER, atleast in front of the public, to sing. There is something primal and deeply connecting about music and song, it connects with us in ways we never get connected to, especially emotionally. It calms us, it brings a grand hush to those listening intently (and if there not listening intently, they are the idiots in the mosh pit) as though something profound may be learned at any moment.

For those that did bring so much to the world, like the Carl Sagan auto-tune, it had the same response... You shut-up, listened and believe it or not there was a profound message in that one AND there is one here, but on a much smaller scale. I'd love to see more of our most beloved humans and those of the humanities that have given us all so much get this treatment, but only if done with the same amount of respect as this one had and Carl Sagan had as well.

Music and song strangely seems to access a part of us that destroys the worst motivations in us, atleast for awhile--as long as you're listening (although if you're the one creating it, I'm not so sure; I think you must be a savant for that to happen). Next to our ability to reason and create, this is by far our next most powerful ability.

I hope to hear more. I hope they take their time.

Thanks for the Quality!

>> ^Boise_Lib:

quality
90s

Carl Sagan had the deep, questioning, logical mind that we should all, as humans, seek to have.

I'm quite sure Cheech Marin is stoned here, brilliant.

Anyway, one thing i never forget to mention in a pro-pot scene. One of the most famous astronomers of our times (perhaps ever?), easily the most intelligent and articulate of the tv scientists, carl sagan smoked pot recreationally all the time!

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I read Cosmos at the age of four. Carl Sagan was always a favorite of mine, but I don't agree with his views on religion (of course he is mostly talking about Christianity). So, while I maintain my fondness for his invoking of the wonder of creation, I can't say I agree with anything he said in this video. It's really just one straw man or gross misrepresentation after another..

He asks, why is man similar to God? Yet, it is written that God created man in His image.

He said the size of the Universe rules out our having any particular significance. That just doesn't follow. God is omnipresent, and can give equal time and significance to any part of His creation. No matter how small we are in comparison to the rest of the Universe, the Universe is small compared to God. He can give significance to any part of His creation, so how would we know what He considers significant?

He says religion was an attempt to explain origins, but now we know better..

Yet, science doesn't know better. On origins, science knows exactly zip. In fact, most of the evidence science has found in the last century points towards a Creator and not away from one.

He says religion makes mistakes; if he is talking about scripture, I don't agree, but in any case science is not omnipotent, and it makes mistakes all the time. On the objectivity of science, I like this quote:

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it

He said religions contradict each other, and so they should, since only one could possibly be correct.

He said there is nothing to say that the Universe was made for us, yet the evidence shows that the universe is fine tuned for life

He said life has no purpose, which shows the nihilism inherent in the naturalistic materialist worldview. Carl Sagan would probably agree with this statement by Richard Dawkins:

The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.

He said there is no proof of origins, which I agree with, if we're talking about the story that scientists tell us about abiogenesis and evolution from common descent

He said there could be more advanced beings, so why not God?

He said we need to get over not being important and embrace being tiny. Yet, this desire to be tiny and unimportant is actually desire for total autonomy, apart from God. It is a desire to take God off His throne and take His place on it. That's not a tiny idea, that is sinful mans greatest desire.

He said religion arose because of fear, yet Christianity arose because of Jesus Christ

He also turns around the story in the garden, saying man was kept ignorant, starving for knowledge. What he failed to understand was that God wanted to teach us His way. He knew the difference between good and evil; all we needed to do is follow His instructions and we could have spared ourselves all of this suffering and death. Yet, He gave us a choice, because He didn't want robots. Why do you think He put the tree there in the first place? People reason it as if it was just incidentally there and we broke free of God..yet, God deliberately put it there, to give us a choice, and we abused that choice.

He wants to believe order comes out of chaos, but there is no such thing as chaos. There always must be an overriding order for anything to arise at all. Science cannot explain the uniformity of the nature; it is actually *the* fundamental assumption of science, that science could even be done at all. You can't say that the Universe will operate the same way even 10 seconds from now. Another case of sitting in Gods lap to slap His face.

He said we determine the significance of the planet and ourselves..

Again, this is man wanting to put himself in Gods shoes. Man is not wise, has never been wise, and would utterly destroy Himself if not for God maintaining order on this planet. The heart of man is filled with violence and depravity. God is the only good in this world, and all good things come from Him.

Getting out there is a much more worthy goal than maintaining the empire. If we (U.S.) don't get our shit together, the rest of the world will leave us here. And they should.

My favorite photo. I remember showing this to a friend. After I pointed out that the little spec on the left side, just above the rings, is Earth, he asked "that's a REAL picture?". It is disappointing to me that pictures such as this are not part of our collective conscience. Pictures like this should be on the front page of every newspaper, magazine, and blog when they are released.

Unfortunately, lacking a more expansive perspective or frame of reference, such pictures probably don't register with people nowadays like they may have 30-40 years ago. Maybe we've been so desensitized, in a way, by relatively routine Shuttle flights and countless videos of numerous, nameless somersaulting astronauts, by movies, video games, incredible CGI worlds and "artist's renderings" that it's difficult to grasp just how incredible these pictures and videos really are. I'm old enough to remember how awed I was while watching the moon landings on TV, and that feeling has never left me. It was an amazing, wonderful, historical event.

And now, here we are over forty years later, still spending trillions of dollars on war and empire while NASA has to pay Russia for rides to the ISS and beg congress for relatively miniscule amounts of money for telescopes and exploration. WTF happened?

We need to get to Mars. A Mars mission, I believe, would jolt this country back to reality about what is truly possible and worthwhile. A new perspective. We aren't doomed as a species, yet. But we can't stay here.

>> ^Reefie:

I was with the message for the first couple of minutes, but the final minute or so of the dialogue seemed to be suggesting "okay we screwed up with Earth, bugger it, let's find new planets".
Now I'm entirely for space exploration, getting to Mars, building a base on the Moon, baby steps in the grand scheme of exploring the universe, but necessary steps. However I would always put the priority of Earth first, would never abandon its well-being. We humans are nostalgic, and if we don't repair the damage we've done we'll forever be a lost species wandering from planet to planet, looking for places that are never quite the same as the Earth of textbooks (or should I say ebooks?) of old...
I guess what I'm saying is that this video could do with a bit more of a positive attitude towards fixing the problems we've created


What? I've watched this video 5 times and have no idea what you're talking about. I completely agree that space travel is no antidote to sustainability but there's nothing about this that implies we should abandon Earth. It merely states the fairly obvious fact that prosperity is a state of mind; one brought on by collective action rather than stagnation and depression. Exploration is the nature of our species and we could better address the little, petty problems we have here by imagining ourselves elsewhere than by pretending they have some crippling significance.

I'll borrow from ND Tyson here and echo that I think there is a *huge amount* we can gain from aiming our sights at something like Mars. What we learn...and how we fail, may underscore and inform the importance of keeping what we have.



We need a bigger perspective to grow. We always have.


>> ^xxovercastxx:

>> ^Peroxide:
If we can't even keep this planet habitable, what's the use of going to another.
If we can't keep this planet habitable, what other choice do we have?

>> ^Peroxide:

If we can't even keep this planet habitable, what's the use of going to another.

If we can't keep this planet habitable, what other choice do we have?

My pleasure, I was going to sift it this morning, but you beat me by a few minutes. I love the Sagan series.
In reply to this comment by eric3579:
Thanks dude!
In reply to this comment by Zifnab:
*quality *doublepromote

Thanks dude!
In reply to this comment by Zifnab:
*quality *doublepromote