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)
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Via physicsandcake, on some days I wish I was as dorky and as elegant as Carl Sagan:
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy…
Sagan said it best:
That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every…
By Dr. Mark R. Showalter
Planetary Astronomer at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute
In 1609, Galileo introduced to the world his new invention, the astronomical telescope. It opened up new opportunities to explore a territory that all prior generations had…
"Resources exist to be consumed. And consumed they will be, if not by this generation then by some future. By what right does this forgotten future seek to deny us our birthright?" -Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
The dream of humanity has long been to identify an inhabited world beyond Earth, to know…
Can has quote?
Deep, man. Real deep
Pithy.
Yeah, obviously my first attempt at posting from by Blackberry was not remarkably successful.
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.