Carl Sagan Predicted this Mess 25 Years Ago.

[Mai72]

Carl's prediction 25 years ago is so accurate. Has anyone read his book "The Demon Haunted World?"

I know that Carl really disliked religion. If he could only see what we've become...

"I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or my grandchildren's time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness. The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance."

 

[Muse]

I have The Demon-Haunted World (Science as a Candle in the Dark) right by my side. Haven't read most of it yet. Found out about it in these forums, came highly recommended. I certainly intend to finish it. I have quite a bunch of great as-yet (by me) unread books.

Edit: That quotation is spot on.

Edit2: I too disliked Star Wars from the beginning. Very stupid and human chauvinistic. Also completely silly in projecting human foibles on fantasies of extra-terrestrial intelligence.

 

[sandorski]

Could end up being our Epitaph.

 

[Captante]

Sounds like what I've thought was coming in America for many years.

Carl Sagan was a wise man.

 

[Torn Mind]

The statement above is a Rorsharch test of someone's own internal biases and self-perception.

If you don't 99.5% of Americans have not fallen into the above description, then you are within the "lost" populations somehow.

First thing about reading news the is that they are NOT in the business of educating you. They present "facts" in accordance with journalistic "standards", but in a manner to let the audience make their own presumptions and inferences from those facts. The general populace are not experience in specialty subjects like law, economics, etc but they cling to ideals about making the world a "better" place. In short, they want an end result but no understanding of how things work.

However, Sagan doesn't quite grasp human nature and culture. Americans and most of former "Christendom" are hopelessly idealistic rather pragmatic, and the feeling of being "holy" is every present even if one doesn't believe in religion at all. State worship and state adoration is prevalent and like that of a naive child thinking that government is Jesus, and with the right people, will be the deliverer of material and cultural "salvation".

As for Star Wars, Sagan shows his weakness and inabilities there. I wouldn't trust him to know anything about the arts. Too much practice in one paradigm leaves one lost in another. Star Wars is weird thing in which it's not supposed to be that serious but damn can it cause a serious response amongst those responsive to it. It's open-ended enough and layered enough to give a fan a brainstorming addiction regarding that world.

 

[Muse]

The statement above is a Rorsharch test of someone's own internal biases and self-perception.

If you don't 99.5% of Americans have not fallen into the above description, then you are within the "lost" populations somehow.

First thing about reading news the is that they are NOT in the business of educating you. They present "facts" in accordance with journalistic "standards", but in a manner to let the audience make their own presumptions and inferences from those facts. The general populace are not experience in specialty subjects like law, economics, etc but they cling to ideals about making the world a "better" place. In short, they want an end result but no understanding of how things work.

However, Sagan doesn't quite grasp human nature and culture. Americans and most of former "Christendom" are hopelessly idealistic rather pragmatic, and the feeling of being "holy" is every present even if one doesn't believe in religion at all. State worship and state adoration is prevalent and like that of a naive child thinking that government is Jesus, and with the right people, will be the deliverer of material and cultural "salvation".

As for Star Wars, Sagan shows his weakness and inabilities there. I wouldn't trust him to know anything about the arts. Too much practice in one paradigm leaves one lost in another. Star Wars is weird thing in which it's not supposed to be that serious but damn can it cause a serious response amongst those responsive to it. It's open-ended enough and layered enough to give a fan a brainstorming addiction regarding that world.

@Torn Mind You really should reread your posts for comprehension and typos before clicking the [POST REPLY] button. Your failure to do so very much diminishes the value of your contributions.

 

[Captante]

@Torn Mind You really should reread your posts for comprehension and typos before clicking the [POST REPLY] button. Your failure to do so very much diminishes the value of your contributions.

THIS especially!


(although I'm not certain it will do any good!)

 

[nakedfrog]

The statement above is a Rorsharch test of someone's own internal biases and self-perception.

If you don't 99.5% of Americans have not fallen into the above description, then you are within the "lost" populations somehow.

First thing about reading news the is that they are NOT in the business of educating you. They present "facts" in accordance with journalistic "standards", but in a manner to let the audience make their own presumptions and inferences from those facts. The general populace are not experience in specialty subjects like law, economics, etc but they cling to ideals about making the world a "better" place. In short, they want an end result but no understanding of how things work.

However, Sagan doesn't quite grasp human nature and culture. Americans and most of former "Christendom" are hopelessly idealistic rather pragmatic, and the feeling of being "holy" is every present even if one doesn't believe in religion at all. State worship and state adoration is prevalent and like that of a naive child thinking that government is Jesus, and with the right people, will be the deliverer of material and cultural "salvation".

As for Star Wars, Sagan shows his weakness and inabilities there. I wouldn't trust him to know anything about the arts. Too much practice in one paradigm leaves one lost in another. Star Wars is weird thing in which it's not supposed to be that serious but damn can it cause a serious response amongst those responsive to it. It's open-ended enough and layered enough to give a fan a brainstorming addiction regarding that world.

Are you trying to prove what he said is true, or refute it? Sure feels like the former.