In "The Demon Haunted World, Science as a Candle In the Dark," Carl Sagan explains to us the reality of how many people on this planet are deeply engaged in pseudoscience and emphasizes why we need science and technology to move society forward. He is saying today's humans are ideologically warped, meaning we believe in things that might not necessarily become true or help society grow in anyway. The title "Science as a Candle in the Dark" was meant to show how science throughout the centuries has progressed humans into what we are today, though we have lost that drive to push society because we are too focused on "baloney" as Sagan calls it. The baloney would be things like, superstition, UFO's, demons, things that many people believe but science has not shown a single shred of evidence for. Without condemning multiple popular beliefs, Sagan suggests a better way to understand the world through science.
The best part about the book for me was in the chapter "The Man in the Moon and the Face on Mars." In this chapter Sagan talks about how the government has "suppressed" many great or not so great discoveries about space. This chapter made me question Carl Sagan philosophy because as a young adult we do not have the resources yet to discover something on another planet on our own. If the government is hiding some discoveries and facts, how can we use Sagan's philosophy of using science to propel humans forward. Or is Sagan blaming the scientists who made the discovery for not sharing it. If nothing was hidden where would society be right now? My mind was spinning through this chapter but had me heavily interested.
In chapter "The Demon Haunted world," Sagan notes how similar some paranormal beings are described to extra terrestrial life. This is a perfect example from lecture one; Ways of thinking, because we are association learners. Humans are pattern seeking primates, we love to connect and relate things of our world. We use paternicity to understand a topic better because we can compare it to something we already know.
Here is a video of a #StarTalk speaking about the "what ifs" about whether the government withheld alien contact. I think this is interesting because they explore the possibilities of what would happen if the government came clean and told the public about extra terrestrial life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17TP7ppflYM
As non-progressive as it sounds, I think myths and unproven beliefs give some humans a better quality of life. Science is full of disappointments and unsettling realities. Pseudoscience is and will always remain prevalent just like religion.
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