Ten long trips around the sun since I last saw that smile, but only joy and thankfulness that on a tiny world in the vastness, for a couple of moments in the immensity of time, we were one.
Ann DruyanRead
I've been thinking about the distorted view of science that prevails in our culture. I've been wondering about this, because our civilization is completely dependent on science and high technology, yet most of us are alienated from science.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the disconnect between society's reliance on science and technology and the general public's understanding of it.
Ann Druyan reflects on the paradox of modern civilization: although our society heavily relies on science and technology for advancement and survival, the majority remain distanced from comprehending the principles and processes behind them. This alienation can lead to a distorted perception of science, which further exacerbates the challenges in promoting scientific literacy and informed decision-making in society.
Themes
ScienceTechnologyAlienationCultureKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
In a public debate about the importance of science education, this quote can illustrate the need for better understanding of scientific principles.
More from Ann Druyan
All quotes →It is a great tragedy that science, this wonderful process for finding out what is true, has ceded the spiritual uplift of its central revelations: the vastness of the universe, the immensity of time, the relatedness of all life, and life's preciousness on our tiny planet.
Ann DruyanRead
Science reserves the highest reward for those of you who disprove our most cherished beliefs. At any moment someone from any walk of life could come forward and be responsible for a complete revision of our view of everything.
Ann DruyanRead
Similar quotes
E pur si muove. "Albeit It does move". (That's what Galileo purportedly muttered after torturers forced him to recant his theory that the earth orbits the sun.)
Galileo GalileiRead
A study of Disease-of Pestilences methodically prepared and deliberately launched upon man and beast-is certainly being pursue in the laboratories of more than one great country. Blight to destroy crops, Anthrax to slay horses and cattle, Plague to poison not armies but whole districts - such are the lines along which military science is remorselessly advancing.
Winston ChurchillRead
I try to show the public that chemistry, biology, physics, astrophysics is life. It is not some separate subject that you have to be pulled into a corner to be taught about.
Neil Degrasse TysonRead
Pluto's orbit is so elongated that it crosses the orbit of another planet. Now that's... you've got no business doing that if you want to call yourself a planet. Come on, now! There's something especially transgressive about that.
Neil Degrasse TysonRead
Human beings would split the atom and invent television, nylon, and instant coffee before they could figure out the age of their own planet.
Bill BrysonRead
Cancer is a disease of the genome. And that's what happens. You make mistakes in a cell somewhere in your body that causes it to start to grow when it should've stopped, and that's cancer. And those mistakes are mistakes of DNA.
Francis CollinsRead