Person
Carl Sagan
Science & Health
Philosophy & EthicsWho is Carl Sagan in the Agency editorial?
Carl Sagan was an American astronomer and science communicator, the presenter of the series Cosmos and the author of The Demon-Haunted World. The Agency editorial names him in two editions: Issue.7 opens its look at the past with a quotation credited to him, and Issue.25 takes him as the example of someone who views existence through a cosmology grounded in science.
In short
Carl Sagan is named in two editions of the Agency editorial. Issue.7, on the economy, places a quotation box credited to him before its account of ancient Athens: "You have to know the past to understand the present". Issue.25, on interfaces as cosmology, introduces him as a famous scientist and cosmologist who spent much of his life trying to work out where we fit among the stars and planets. It quotes The Demon-Haunted World on grasping the Universe as it really is, and the author answers: "I respect that Mr. Sagan, but for me, it sounds boring". The edition then makes its point with him: even a scientist of cosmology needs a cosmology of his own, made of values and assumptions, to interpret the world.
Key facts
- Which book by Sagan does Issue.25 quote?
- The Demon-Haunted World. The quotation says it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
- What point does Issue.25 make with Sagan?
- That everyone interprets the world through a cosmology. Although he studied cosmology professionally, the edition says he also approached it through his own values, assumptions and sense of truth.
- How does Issue.7 use Sagan?
- Only as the credit of a quotation box about knowing the past to understand the present, placed before the edition's account of Athens in the time of Pericles. No source is given.
Who was Carl Sagan?
Carl Sagan was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and writer. He became widely known as the presenter of the television series Cosmos and as the author of popular science books, among them The Demon-Haunted World. The years and the other card facts of this entry come from outside the editions and are marked for verification.
How do the editions use Carl Sagan?
In Issue.7 the quotation credited to him works as an epigraph: the author sets a scroll on the table, shows the quotation, and argues that when no new dreams can be grasped there is a problem with the present, before going back to Athens.
Issue.25 gives him a larger part. The author describes him as someone whose lens was grounded in science, so that every thesis had to be explained through formal calculations and logical validations, with no space for religions, magic, myths, gods or unicorns. After the quotation from The Demon-Haunted World the author says he respects the position but finds it boring, since a life that practical would leave no time for mythological creatures like Grogu. Later the edition sets him beside Vikings who believed in Valhalla: a scientific materialist like Sagan may look for meaning in what can be observed, measured and understood. Its conclusion is the same planet, different cosmologies.
Source editions
Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.