"Instead of acknowledging that in many areas we are ignorant, we have tended to say things like the Universe is permeated with the ineffable. A God of the Gaps is assigned responsibility for what we do not yet understand."
Carl Sagan - The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
I am reading this at the moment and I must say this is a wonderful book.
6 comments:
Sagan makes a good point here. "I don't know" is the most justified answer to many questions in life. Modern religious adherents believe in fictional entities like gods and angels usually for emotional and not cognitive reasons.
I recently did a survey on worldviews. At the end, it ranks your worldview score against other famous people like Ghandi, the Pope, the Shrub, and Carl Sagan. Mine was almost identical to Carl Sagan. If i find the link to the survey, I'll post it for you.
Jason - I agree, it is better to admit one doesn't know answers to everything than to attribute things we cannot explain to some mysterious invisible friend.
Deedee -
I am interested in reading that survey and will be waiting to see that.
I have looked and looked and looked for that quiz thingamabob. I can't find it. I ran my CCleaner program last night too so i can't look in history. If ever I see it again, I be sure to post it somewhere for you, stardust.
Oh, that's ok. Thanks Deedee.
"I finished re-reading Contact about a year ago, with a different perspective from when I first read it in high school"
That's a good idea...I need to re-read that again. It would probably be interesting now that I have a different way of thinking.
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