Quote of the Day (Carl Sagan, Arguing for Scientific Literacy)

“All inquiries carry with them some element of risk. There is no guarantee that the universe will conform to our predispositions. But I do not see how we can deal with the universe—both the outside and the inside universe—without studying it. The best way to avoid abuses is for the populace in general to be scientifically literate, to understand the implications of such investigations. In exchange for freedom of inquiry, scientists are obliged to explain their work. If science is considered a closed priesthood, too difficult and arcane for the average person to understand, the dangers of abuse are greater. But if science is a topic of general interest and concern—if both its delights and its social consequences are discussed regularly and competently in the schools, the press, and at the dinner table—we have greatly improved our prospects for learning how the world really is and for improving both it and us.”― American astronomer and science popularizer Carl Sagan (1934-1996), Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science (1979)

Quote of the Day (Carl Sagan, on What Makes the Universe Bearable)

“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”—American astronomer and science popularizer Carl Sagan (1934-1996), Contact (1985)

Quote of the Day (Carl Sagan, on Why Science Is Controversial)

“The rate of change in science is responsible for some of the fire it draws. Just as we've finally understood something the scientists are talking about, they tell us it isn't true. And even if it is, there's a slew of new things—things we never heard of, things difficult to believe, things with disquieting implications—that they claim to have discovered recently. Scientists can be perceived as toying with us, as wanting to overturn everything, as socially dangerous.” —Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1996)