Science is a way to not fool ourselves.
Carl SaganRead
Modern science has been a voyage into the unknown, with a lesson in humility waiting at every stop. Many passengers would rather have stayed home.
Interpretation
Science often leads us to learn about the vast unknown, teaching us humility in the process.
Carl Sagan emphasizes that the journey of scientific discovery is filled with uncertainties, requiring explorers to confront the unknown. This path, while enriching, also reveals the limits of our understanding, making humility an essential lesson for those engaged in scientific inquiry, even as some may prefer the safety of familiarity over the challenges of exploration.
In practice
This quote could be shared in a science class to inspire students about the nature of scientific inquiry.
Science is a way to not fool ourselves.
In more than one respect, the exploring of the Solar System and homesteading other worlds constitutes the beginning, much more than the end, of history.
How smart does a chimpanzee have to be before killing him constitutes murder?
The hole in the ozone layer is a kind of skywriting. At first it seemed to spell out our continuing complacency before a witch's brew of deadly perils. But perhaps it really tells of a newfound talent to work together to protect the global environment.
There is a reward structure in science that is very interesting: Our highest honors go to those who disprove the findings of the most revered among us. So Einstein is revered not just because he made so many fundamental contributions to science, but because he found an imperfection in the fundamental contribution of Isaac Newton.
The simplest thought, like the concept of the number one, has an elaborate logical underpinning.
The guys who walk on Mars are going to be historic.
Coal is responsible for as much atmospheric carbon dioxide as other fossil fuels combined and it still has far greater reserves. We must stop using it.
Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.
Instead, in the absence of respect for human rights, science and its offspring technology have been used in this century as brutal instruments for oppression.
Time... is an essential requirement for effective research. An investigator may be given a palace to live in, a perfect laboratory to work in, he may be surrounded by all the conveniences money can provide; but if his time is taken from him he will remain sterile.
I sometimes try to imagine what would have happened if weβd known the bonobo first and the chimpanzee only laterβor not at all. The discussion about human evolution might not revolve as much around violence, warfare and male dominance, but rather around sexuality, empathy, caring and cooperation. What a different intellectual landscape we would occupy!
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