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Carl Sagan (9 Nov 1934 - 20 Dec 1996) American astronomer, exobiologist and writer remembered for popularizing astronomy and science, especially with his public television series Cosmos. Its accompanying book spent seventy weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. He was an adviser to NASA for the Mariner, Voyager, and Viking unmanned space missions. Short biography of Carl Sagan >>

Carl Sagan
“Advances in medicine and agriculture”

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A bean farmer checks her crop in Congo. Photo by Neil Palmer (CIAT). CC2.0 (source)

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“Advances in medicine and agriculture have saved vastly more lives than have been lost in all the wars in history.”

— Carl Sagan

In The Demon-Haunted World (1996)

More Carl Sagan quotes on science >>

Carl Sagan in his book Demon-Haunted World named the first chapter, “The Most Precious Thing.” He begins by recalling a conversation in which he disabused an inquisitive man of his notions of extraterrestrials, Atlantis, astrology and such, about which he seemed well-read but uncritical. Although intelligent, the person with whom Sagan conversed was woefully uninformed of modern science. Too much pseudoscience snares the gullible. The problem, says Sagan, is:

So Sagan adeptly summarizes the advance of knowledge from the time of Hippocrates of ancient Greece to our modern successes for reducing infant mortality, epidemics and treating disease. He also acknowledges,

“I know that science and technology are not just cornucopias pouring gifts out into the world. Scientists … conceived nuclear weapons… Physicians in Tuskegee, Alabama, misled a group of veterans into thinking they were receiving medical treatment for their syphilis, when they were the untreated controls. The atrocious cruelties of Nazi doctors are well-known. Our technology has produced thalidomide, CFCs, Agent Orange, nerve gas, pollution of air and water, species extinctions, and industries so powerful they can ruin the climate of the planet.”

Sagan understands that “The sword of science is double-edged.” Yet, it still remains true that, on balance:

To illustrate his point about advances in medicine, which was the subject quote opening this page, Sagan provided a footnote:

“At a large dinner party recently, I asked the assembled guests - ranging in age, I guess, from thirties to sixties - how many of them would be alive today if not for antibiotics, cardiac pacemakers, and the rest of the panoply of modern medicine. Only one hand went up. It was not mine.”

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Nature bears long with those who wrong her. She is patient under abuse. But when abuse has gone too far, when the time of reckoning finally comes, she is equally slow to be appeased and to turn away her wrath. (1882) -- Nathaniel Egleston, who was writing then about deforestation, but speaks equally well about the danger of climate change today.

Carl Sagan: In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987) ...(more by Sagan)

Albert Einstein: I used to wonder how it comes about that the electron is negative. Negative-positive—these are perfectly symmetric in physics. There is no reason whatever to prefer one to the other. Then why is the electron negative? I thought about this for a long time and at last all I could think was “It won the fight!” ...(more by Einstein)

Richard Feynman: It is the facts that matter, not the proofs. Physics can progress without the proofs, but we can't go on without the facts ... if the facts are right, then the proofs are a matter of playing around with the algebra correctly. ...(more by Feynman)

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