Today, while "using" facebook, I noticed an add that read something like, "Carl Sagan's dream was a world of rational thinking." Below was a picture of "the DNA fish" (as opposed to "the Jesus fish.")
I clicked it to discover that the DNA fish, is an actual moniker for an organization working toward the dissemination of science to (at least,) the folks on this planet with computers and access to the internet.
I'm a huge fan of Sagan, his work and what he was able to accomplish in his life, for we mere mortal men and women. I stand firm by my conviction that he was one of the most important men of the twentieth century. Everyone should read "Pale Blue Dot" and "Demon Haunted World."
Obviously, I'm also a fan of reason and understanding, so I wish all the best to "the DNA fish" whatever that might be, and for whatever it is worth. However, I do have my own fish to fry with both Sagan and the DNA fish, same as I do with any extremists.
There are things in this universe that continue to be unexplainable, Sagan leaves no room for the possibility of magic, if I may. It's not that he isn't open, for instance, to the idea of God, he just doesn't pretend to understand what that means. But he also thinks that to believe in nonsense is counterproductive. Why can't we believe our nonsense and not let it interfere with progress? The same complaints could be said of anyone who claims that we all must reside on either side of the following equation: we evolved from monkeys or God created us.
Obviously this is not a balanced statement. There is more room for play between those to options than between any liberal/conservative dichotomy. The fact that there are people existing, firmly entrenched in either of these camps means that we need work, still.
I'd like to suggest that everyone who finds themselves believing anything that they might find classified in one extreme or the other, simply examine why. For instance, why couldn't we just, for instance, believe whatever the hell we want about the religions of our choices and yet work toward our own futures despite those thoughts.
So many of our problems are produced by our inability or refusal to be forward thinking creatures. If this is true we have no one to blame but ourselves.
I clicked it to discover that the DNA fish, is an actual moniker for an organization working toward the dissemination of science to (at least,) the folks on this planet with computers and access to the internet.
I'm a huge fan of Sagan, his work and what he was able to accomplish in his life, for we mere mortal men and women. I stand firm by my conviction that he was one of the most important men of the twentieth century. Everyone should read "Pale Blue Dot" and "Demon Haunted World."
Obviously, I'm also a fan of reason and understanding, so I wish all the best to "the DNA fish" whatever that might be, and for whatever it is worth. However, I do have my own fish to fry with both Sagan and the DNA fish, same as I do with any extremists.
There are things in this universe that continue to be unexplainable, Sagan leaves no room for the possibility of magic, if I may. It's not that he isn't open, for instance, to the idea of God, he just doesn't pretend to understand what that means. But he also thinks that to believe in nonsense is counterproductive. Why can't we believe our nonsense and not let it interfere with progress? The same complaints could be said of anyone who claims that we all must reside on either side of the following equation: we evolved from monkeys or God created us.
Obviously this is not a balanced statement. There is more room for play between those to options than between any liberal/conservative dichotomy. The fact that there are people existing, firmly entrenched in either of these camps means that we need work, still.
I'd like to suggest that everyone who finds themselves believing anything that they might find classified in one extreme or the other, simply examine why. For instance, why couldn't we just, for instance, believe whatever the hell we want about the religions of our choices and yet work toward our own futures despite those thoughts.
So many of our problems are produced by our inability or refusal to be forward thinking creatures. If this is true we have no one to blame but ourselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for commenting.