"Can We Know the Universe" by Carl Sagan
Channel: C0nc0rdance
Date: 2010-11-06

Today is Carl Sagan Day, November 6th, 2010.  His birthday is November 9th, and I will be posting another video then, in a similar style.

This is an essay he first published in "Broca's Brain", 1979.  I think it marvelously communicates what it is to be a scientist.  The thrill of understanding some small part of the Universe in a way that no human before you has understood it.  It is the high of science, the thrill and the payoff.
http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/sagan_science.html

The world needs Carl today as much as ever.  His small light in the darkness is still shining, but magnified by the many minds he reached with his message.  If you were affected by Carl Sagan, inspired by him, maybe you would consider lighting a candle for rationality, skepticism, and our shared humanity.  In honor of Carl.

"I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking.

The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides."

-- "In the Valley of the Shadow" PARADE magazine (10 March 1996)