Mike Dunford was a graduate student in the Department of Zoology at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, where he studied evolution. Life as an army spouse has since moved him on to Pensacola, where he's currently trying to figure out what to do next. While he's doing that, he writes stuff here, although not usually in the third person. He's also a contributer to The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.Carl Sagan (November 9, 1934 - December 20, 1996)
Pale Blue Dot (p. 6)
Politics
Physical Science
Comments
Can has quote?
Posted by: Eamon Knight | November 7, 2009 2:21 PM
Deep, man. Real deep
Posted by: Hans | November 7, 2009 3:15 PM
Pithy.
Posted by: Anon | November 7, 2009 3:17 PM
Yeah, obviously my first attempt at posting from by Blackberry was not remarkably successful.
Posted by: Mike Dunford | November 7, 2009 6:15 PM
Yup. When you back up a few million miles and get the wider perspective the universe looks a lot different than it does from inside your living room window. The view doesn't put into perspective human issues that are local to the planet but it sure does put human issues into perspective with a larger and overriding scenario.
Now this is a challenge . . . and to meet such challenges requires a much broader perspective than is common. Carl Sagan focused attention on the need for the wider view and inspired millions. He reminds us that it is time to grow up. We should work hard to inspire others to reach even more distant points of view.
Posted by: Crudely Wrott | November 9, 2009 7:44 PM