Summary
The passion for science Sagan displayed in his interviews was not based strictly on professional interest; it was based on a deeply personal and sincere curiosity about the cosmos and an almost religious commitment to preserving the vulnerable humanity he saw within it. Before Sagan, scientists had argued for centuries that the Earth is not at the center of the universe and existentialists had argued for centuries that human life is not subject to special protection, but these were abstract ideas generally described in an abstract way. 6 Immersed in real science, comic books, and the Mars novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Sagan envisioned an exciting universe full of intelligent life and unfathomable mysteries.
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Extract
Conversations with Carl
Editor's note: The following excerpt is from the introduction to the volume, Conversations with Carl Sagan, edited by Tom Head and published by the University Press of Mississippi. The book consists of many of the most enlightening interviews conducted with Sagan over the course of several decades of his very public career in science. The interviews range widely over a variety of topics both within and adjacent to science, and since they span several decades they are also a time machine that takes us back to what was culturally topical and politically sensitive in the latter half of the 20th century. The following introduction to the volume nicely captures this span of both time and Sagan's remarkable breadth of intellectual interests. -Michael Shermer
"WHEN YOU'RE IN LOVE," CARL SAGAN SAID in his last published interview,1 "you want to tell the world. I've been in love with science, so it seems the most natural thing in the world to tell people about it." The passion for science Sagan displayed in his interviews was not based strictly on professional interest; it was based on a deeply personal and sincere curiosity about the cosmos and an almost religious commitment to preserving the vulnerable humanity he saw within it. Before Sagan, scientists had argued for centur...See the full content of this document
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