Carl Sagan

{{bronze}}
[[Image:Carl Sagan Planetary Society.jpg|thumb|165px|Proof that an overbite and turtlenecks don't have to be drawbacks!]]
{{Astronomy}}

{{cquote|The Cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us — there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation as if a distant memory, of falling from a great height. We know we are approaching the grandest of mysteries.|||Carl Sagan, ''Cosmos''<ref name="Cosmos Book">''Cosmos'' by Carl Sagan (1980) Ballantine Books, 2013 Ballantine Books Trade Paperback Edition. ISBN 978-0-345-53943-4</ref>{{rp|1}}}}
'''Carl Sagan''' (1934–1996) was an [[United States|America]]n [[Astronomy|astronomer]] who did much to popularize [[science]], especially [[astronomy]], during his illustrious career. He co-wrote and presented ''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage'', a television series that kicked ass. His legacy lies mainly in his advancement of [[humanism]]. He found a profound [[spirituality]] in experiencing the wonder and majesty of the [[universe]]. Sagan was also a prominent role model and mentor for [[Neil deGrasse Tyson]].<ref>[https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/takeaway/segments/carl-sagan-neil-degrasse-tyson-and-role-mentors-science]</ref>  

He is known for remarking how people were made of "star stuff."  And, by the by, he was right: [[Hydrogen|H]] → [[Helium|He]] → Li → Be → B → [[Carbon|C]] → N → [[Oxygen|O]] → F, and on through various nuclear processes that synthesize the elements up to iron (Fe) &mdash; and it takes a supernova (or a [[LHC|particle accelerator]]!) to make a heavier nucleus.

Sagan was also very interested in [[extraterrestrial]] life, including [[Unidentified flying object|UFO]] sightings (though he was a [[skeptic]] on the matter); he heavily promoted the [[SETI|search for extraterrestrial intelligence]]. 

In 1974, he was enlisted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to lead the attack at their conference, debunking the theories of [[Immanuel Velikovsky]]. His rather cavalier performance at this event was perhaps a salutary lesson in the fight against [[woo]]. Far from stamping out the growing [[cult]] of Velikovsky, he arguably further stoked it by allowing a few schoolboy errors to creep into his math and peppering his talk with cheeky jokes. The Velikovsky faithful seized this use of levity and lack of rigor as evidence that Thine Mainstream was not playing fair and was trying to [[bullshit|suppress the truth]].

A prominent non-believer, Carl Sagan is said by many [[fundamentalist]]s to have converted to [[Christianity]] on his [[Deathbed conversion|deathbed]], the testimony of his widow notwithstanding. This is a cowardly attack because they know Dr. Sagan can't come back to make a refutation.<ref group=note>Then again, they ''are'' [[fundamentalist Christian]]s. Perhaps some of them think he could pull a Lazarus.</ref> Some of them point to a quote from his famous novel ''Contact'' about "[[intelligent design|an intelligence that antedates the Universe]]" as evidence of this change in beliefs, but fellow science fiction author [[Robert J. Sawyer]], also an [[agnostic]], has pointed out Sagan was no more obligated to believe in the religious aspects of that novel than ''Star Wars'' creator George Lucas was to believe in The Force.

A recent development is a celebration of "Carl Sagan Day," which is celebrated on his birthday, November 9.<ref>[[Center for Inquiry]], [https://centerforinquiry.org/celebrate-carl-sagan-day-november-9th/ Celebrate Carl Sagan Day November 9th!]</ref> The first celebration of the event, in 2009, was attended by [[James Randi]] and [[Phil Plait]] as guest speakers.<ref>
Florida Citizens for Science, [http://www.flascience.org/?p=1131 Carl Sagan Day].</ref>

He was and still remains arguably one of the greatest science communicators ever.

==Biography==
Carl Sagan was a leader in the [[NASA|American space program]] from its earliest stages. He briefed the Apollo astronauts before the [[Moon landing hoax|Moon missions]] and played an instrumental role in the planning and operation of the Viking, Voyager, Mariner, and Galileo space probes. He was also a prolific author and [[Popular science|popularizer of science]], creating the 13-part TV series ''Cosmos'' (the most widely watched [[PBS]] program in the world), appearing on late-night television numerous times, and writing ''Contact'', ''Pale Blue Dot'', ''Billions and Billions'', and many other books. He married three times, the third time to Ann Druyan, his occasional co-author. He died in 1996 at the age of 62 after a prolonged battle with [[cancer]], survived by Druyan and five children.<ref group=note>Thank God for that.</ref>

===Personal beliefs===
Sagan called himself agnostic, although he is best defined today as a [[freethinker]] or a [[pantheism|pantheist]]. He himself rejected the term "[[atheist]]", as he defined it as someone who ''knows'' there is no [[God]]. His definition is considered inaccurate by some today, but we're getting into [[Life of Brian|Judean People's Front]] territory here.

==Nuclear winter==
[[File:Global temperature changes after nuclear winter.jpg|thumb|right|Estimated global temperature changes after nuclear winter]]
{{cquote|Imagine, a room, awash in gasoline. And there are two [[Cold War|implacable enemies]] in that room. One of them has 9,000 matches. The other has 7,000 matches. Each of them is concerned about who's ahead, who's stronger. Well, that's the kind of situation we are actually in. The amount of weapons that are available to the United States and the [[Soviet Union]] are so bloated, so grossly in excess of what's needed to dissuade the other that if it weren't so tragic, it would be laughable.}}
Sagan helped develop the TTAPS (short for the co-authors of the original paper, Turco, Toon, Ackerman, Pollack, and Sagan) climate model that predicted a resulting "nuclear winter" in the event of [[nuclear war]]fare.<ref>R. P. Turco, O. B. Toon, T. P. Ackerman, J. B. Pollack and Carl Sagan. [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/222/4630/1283.short Nuclear Winter: Global Consequences of Multiple Nuclear Explosions.] ''Science'' 1983: Vol. 222 no. 4630 pp. 1283-1292. ([http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ackerman/Articles/Turco_Nuclear_Winter_90.pdf Full text of a later article called Climate and Smoke.])</ref> Though later research revised the total cooling effect downward (and even later research bumped it back up a bit), the concept of nuclear winter has been considered a valid prediction by the scientific community.<ref>See {{wpl|Nuclear winter|Wikipedia's nuclear winter article}} for a fuller treatment.</ref> The TTAPS model was used to argue against [[Ronald Reagan]]'s [[Star Wars]] plan (i.e., the defense system would have to be perfect to prevent a nuclear strike and ensuing nuclear winter). Partially in response to this theory, [[Frederick Seitz]] established the [[George C. Marshall Institute]] to [[denialism|deny]] nuclear winter.

Thankfully, Reagan never got his wish.

==Cannabis use==
[[File:Sagan 01.jpg|thumb|165px|right|Sagan loved him some herb.]]
{{cquote|I think the ratio, R, of the time to sense the dose taken to the time required to take an excessive dose is an important quantity. R is very large for [[LSD]] (which I've never taken) and reasonably short for cannabis. Small values of R should be one measure of the safety of psychedelic drugs. When cannabis is legalized, I hope to see this ratio as one of the parameters printed on the pack. I hope that time isn't too distant; the illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.|||Mr. X<ref>[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan Essay by Carl as the pen name Mr. X, written in 1969 for ''Marihuana Reconsidered'' (1971) by Dr. Lester Grinspoon]</ref>}}
Carl Sagan was a huge advocate of cannabis, also known as [[marijuana]],<ref>[http://www.druglibrary.org/think/~jnr/sagan.htm Biographer: Astronomer Carl Sagan Smoked Marijuana], AP</ref> crediting it with inspiring many of his best works, in addition to improving food, [[sex]], and [[music]].

==Apple Computer==
In the 1990s, [[Apple]] was developing a line of three [[computer]]s based on the new PowerPC processor.  As was a common practice at the time, they used internal codenames to refer to these projects in-house, all following a common theme.  The Power Macintosh 6100 was codenamed "[[Piltdown Man]]," the 7100 was named "Carl Sagan," and the 8100 was named "[[Cold fusion]]." These code names appeared from time to time in the trade press.

In 1994, when Carl Sagan discovered his name was used by Apple on the model that would become the 7100 &mdash; and that his name was associated with two of the most infamous blunders/[[hoax]]es in the history of modern science &mdash; he sued, claiming defamation and wrongful use of his name for commercial purposes. The judge dismissed the suit, stating that Apple had honored him in selecting his name, and since these were not the actual product names, nor released to the general public, it was irrelevant, anyway.

In the meantime, Apple renamed the project BHA. Sagan sued Apple again (and lost), this time because BHA was claimed to stand for "butt-head astronomer".<ref name="BHA">[http://www.crystalinks.com/sagan.html Sagan sues Apple over name]</ref> Sagan appealed the decision and the matter was finally confidentially settled out of court.

==Quotes==
*"For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love."<ref>''Contact: A Novel'' by Carl Sagan (1985) Simon and Schuster, First Edition. ISBN 0-671-43400-4. Chapter 124</ref>{{rp|429}}
*"How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant!'" from ''Pale Blue Dot''<ref>''Pale Blue Dot'' by Carl Sagan (1994) Random House: New York, First Edition. ISBN 0-679-43841-6</ref>{{rp|52}}
*"The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff." from ''Cosmos''<ref name="Cosmos Book"></ref>{{rp|144}}
*"The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. On this shore, we've learned most of what we know. Recently, we've waded a little way out, maybe ankle-deep, and the water seems inviting. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return, and we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself." from episode one of Sagan's TV series ''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage''.<ref>Sagan, C. (Writer), Druyan, A. (Writer), & Malone, A. (Director). (1980, September 28). The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean (1) [TV series episode]. In  A. Malone, D. Kennard, G. Haines-Stiles, and G. Andorfer (Executive Producers), ''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage''. Public Broadcasting Service.</ref>   
*"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." from ''Cosmos''<ref name="Cosmos Book"></ref>{{rp|230}}
*"It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."<ref name="DHW">''The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark'' by Carl Sagan (1995) Random House: New York, First Edition. ISBN 0-394-53512-X</ref>{{rp|12}}
*"Personally, I would be delighted if there were a [[afterlife|life after death]]—especially if it permitted me to continue to learn about this world and others, if it gave me a chance to discover how history turns out."<ref name="Broca">''Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science'' by Carl Sagan (1979) Random House: New York, First Edition. ISBN 0-394-50169-1.</ref>{{rp|302}}
*"But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at [[Galileo gambit|does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses]]. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at [[Bill O'Reilly|Bozo the Clown]]."<ref>Sagan, C. (Writer), Druyan, A. (Writer), & Malone, A. (Director). (1980, December 14). Encyclopaedia Galactica (12) [TV series episode]. In  A. Malone, D. Kennard, G. Haines-Stiles, and G. Andorfer (Executive Producers), ''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage''. Public Broadcasting Service.</ref>
*"Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works."<ref name="DHW"></ref>{{rp|336}}
*"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere."<ref name="Cosmos Book"></ref>{{rp|2}}
*"[[Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence]]."<ref name="Broca"></ref>{{rp|62}}
*"The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves we will one day venture to the [[star]]s."<ref>Sagan, C. (Writer), Druyan, A. (Writer), & Malone, A. (Director). (1980, November 9). The Backbone of Night (7) [TV series episode]. In  A. Malone, D. Kennard, G. Haines-Stiles, and G. Andorfer (Executive Producers), ''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage''. Public Broadcasting Service.</ref>
*"On this globe there are national boundaries marked, but on photographs of the Earth from space, there are no national boundaries to be seen, which is perhaps a useful lesson for [[Irredentism|politicians]]."<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdXtjNSDi4s Christmas Lecture, 1977]</ref>
*"History is full of people who out of fear or ignorance or the lust for power have destroyed treasures of immeasurable value which truly belong to all of us. We must not let it happen again."<ref>Sagan, C. (Writer), Druyan, A. (Writer), & Malone, A. (Director). (1980, December 21). Who Speaks for Earth? (13) [TV series episode]. In  A. Malone, D. Kennard, G. Haines-Stiles, and G. Andorfer (Executive Producers), ''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage''. Public Broadcasting Service.</ref>

==Baloney Detection Kit==
{{main|The Fine Art of Baloney Detection}}
In the "Fine Art of Baloney Detection" chapter of ''[[The Demon-Haunted World]]'', Sagan explains how to think like a scientist and spot pseudoscience. This is an abridgment of the full kit, not the partial versions that many people point to.
===Key questions===
*How reliable is the source of the claim? 
*Does this source often make similar claims? 
*Have the claims been verified by another source? 
*How does the claim fit with what we know about how the world works? 
*Has anyone gone out of the way to disprove the claim, or has only supportive evidence been sought? 
*Does the preponderance of evidence point to the claimant's conclusion or to a  different one? 
* Is the claimant employing the accepted rules of reason and tools of research, or have these been abandoned in favor of others that lead to the desired conclusion? 
*Is the claimant providing an explanation for the observed phenomena or merely denying the existing explanation? 
*If the claimant proffers a new explanation, does it account for as many phenomena as  the old explanation did? 
*Do the claimant's personal beliefs and biases drive the conclusions, or vice versa?

===Warning signs===
*Ad hominem
*Argument from authority
*Argument from adverse consequences
*Appeal to ignorance - the claim that whatever has not been proved false must be true, and vice versa 
*Special pleading
*Begging the question, also called assuming the answer
*Observational selection, also called the enumeration of favourable circumstances, or as the philosopher Francis Bacon described it, "counting the hits and forgetting the misses"
*Statistics of small numbers
*Misunderstanding of the nature of statistics
*Inconsistency
* Non sequitur - Latin for 'it doesn't follow' 
* Post hoc, ergo propter hoc - Latin for 'it happened after, so it was caused by'
* Meaningless question 
* Excluded middle, or false dichotomy
* Short-term v. long-term
*Slippery slope, related to excluded middle
*Confusion of correlation and causation
*Straw man
*Suppressed evidence, or half-truths
*Weasel words

==Bad history==
Even giants stumble. Like most physicists and astronomers who venture into the history of science, Sagan said some things about the past which are not really true. His account of Greek and Roman science and scholarship and the supposed decline of science in the European Middle Ages has been criticized by new Zealand classicist Peter Gainsford and British-German historian Tony C.<ref>[https://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2018/11/cosmos-1-eratosthenes.html Cosmos #1. Eratosthenes], ''Kiwi Hellenist'', November 20, 2018</ref><ref>Tony C., [https://thonyc.wordpress.com/2018/11/21/carl-sagan-skewered/ Carl Sagan Skewered], ''The Renaissance Mathematicus'', November 21, 2018</ref> As a successful TV broadcaster, Sagan reached far more people (and more future scientists, engineers, and technicians) than careful historians who just teach their students, give talks, and publish books. Just because someone speaks beautifully and is an expert on one subject does not mean they are an expert on everything they speak about!

==Bibliography==
*''Planets'' (LIFE Science Library). Sagan, Carl, Jonathon Norton Leonard and editors of ''Life'', Time, Inc., 1966. ISBN 0-809-40424-9
*''Intelligent Life in the Universe''. I.S. Shklovskii co-author, Random House, 1966. ISBN 1-892-80302-X
*''UFO's: A Scientific Debate''. Thornton Page co-author, Cornell University Press, 1972. ISBN 0-801-40740-0
*''Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence''. MIT Press, 1973. ISBN 0-262-19106-7
*''Mars and the Mind of Man''. Sagan, Carl, et al., Harper & Row, 1973. ISBN 0-060-10443-0 
*''Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective''. Jerome Agel co-author, Anchor Press, 1973. ISBN 0-521-78303-8
*''Other Worlds''. Bantam Books, 1975. ISBN 0-553-06439-8
*''Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record''. Sagan, Carl, et al., Random House, 1978. ISBN 0-394-41047-5
*''The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence''. Ballantine Books, 1978. ISBN 0-345-34629-7
*''Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science''. Ballantine Books, 1979. ISBN 0-345-33689-5
*''Cosmos''. Random House, 1980. Random House New Edition, 2002. ISBN 0-375-50832-5
*''The Cold and the Dark: The World After Nuclear War''. Sagan, Carl et al., Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985. ISBN 0-393-30241-5
*''Comet''. Ann Druyan co-author, Ballantine Books, 1985. ISBN 0-345-41222-2
*''Contact''. Simon and Schuster, 1985; Reissued August 1997 by Doubleday Books. ISBN 1-568-65424-3
*''The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God''. Ann Druyan editor, 1985 Gifford Lectures, Penguin Press, 2006. ISBN 1-594-20107-2
*''A Path Where No Man Thought: Nuclear Winter and the End of the Arms Race''. Richard Turco co-author, Random House, 1990. ISBN 0-394-58307-8 
*''Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are''. Ann Druyan Coauthor, Ballantine Books, 1993. ISBN 0-345-38472-5 
*''Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space''. Random House, 1994. ISBN 0-679-43841-6
*''[[The Demon-Haunted World]]: Science as a Candle in the Dark''. Ballantine Books, 1996. ISBN 0-345-40946-9 (Note: the book was first published and [[copyright]]ed in 1995 with an errata slip inserted)
*''Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium''. Ann Druyan coauthor, Ballantine Books, 1997. ISBN 0-345-37918-7
*''The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God''. Carl Sagan (writer) & Ann Druyan (editor), Penguin Press HC, 2006. ISBN 1-594-20107-2

==See also==
*[[Neil deGrasse Tyson]] (''Cosmos'' II!)
*[[The Fine Art of Baloney Detection]]
*[[The Dragon in My Garage]]
*[[Patrick Moore]]
*[[Faint young Sun paradox]]

==External links==
*[http://www.carlsagan.com/ The Carl Sagan Portal]
*[https://www.landsend.com/shop/turtleneck/S-xzi-xec Lands' End], for turtlenecks, for both gentlemen and ladies, boys and girls.
*[https://www.wimp.com/science-vs-superstition/ Science and Superstition]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E-_DdX8Ke0 Carl Sagan on God]
*[http://www.citatum.org/author/Carl_Sagan Carl Sagan quotations]
*[http://www.csicop.org/si/show/why_we_need_to_understand_science Why We Need to Understand Science] at ''Skeptical Inquirer
*[https://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/watch/1977/the-planets Sagan's entire series of Christmas Lectures at the Royal Institution in 1977]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AveCENBgybQ "Humans are very good at dreaming..."]
*[http://youtu.be/ZP7K9SycELA The greatest thing that Carl Sagan never did]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

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Categories: Philosophers, Astronomers, Scientists, Authors, Agnostics, Skeptics, Popular science, Science fiction