Star stuff?, in my apple pie?

Dinobot: [encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com image 282x179]

Others just want to call it stupid.

/Not speaking about youself or myself.

You use the words "tripping balls" but I don't think black tar heroin does what you think it does.

They should get Dr. Neil to reboot the Cosmos series for this generation. I bet it would plant the seeds for an even better future.

/I still get tears in my eyes when I watch "pale blue dot".

emotion_lotion: They should get Dr. Neil to reboot the Cosmos series for this generation. I bet it would plant the seeds for an even better future.

/I still get tears in my eyes when I watch "pale blue dot".

I'll see what I can do for you...

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/08/cosmos-to-get-a-sequel-hosted-b y- neil-degrasse-tyson/

This show basically activated my brain when I first watched it. I should show it to the kids, the oldest should understand most of it now.

Ogre840: I'll see what I can do for you...

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/08/cosmos-to-get-a-sequel-hosted-b y- neil-degrasse-tyson/

Not gonna lie, I popped a little nerd boner when I first heard about that.

I'm glad they are doing another show like this.

I'm apprehensive on how dumb it will need to be to reach the masses.

ds615: I'm glad they are doing another show like this.

I'm apprehensive on how dumb it will need to be to reach the masses.

What if doesn't?.

Reach the masses? Then I guess it doesn't matter, does it?

Or what if they don't dumb it down? That's not a real possibility, so brokers no further discussion.

What, exactly, did Carl Sagan do to receive so much adoration? Not snarky or sarcastic or anything, I'm genuinely curious about your thoughts on the man and why you find him an important figure.

I wish Carl was here today. Since he passed away, there are too many big things they've discovered that I can't wrap my mind around and I need help like his to understand them.

Carl is the only guy to whom I ever wrote a fan letter. At age 10, after having watched Cosmos a few years prior, then devouring The Cosmic Connection, Dragons of Eden, and Broca's Brain. Got a polite form letter back from Doubleday.

Taught me all about astronomy, relativity, DNA replication, neurology (some of the "split brain" anecdotes in Dragons of Eden were mindblowing at the time).

I've peeded back at it. The biology got dated, the astronomy and physics much less. Good times, good times.

Dinobot: [encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com image 282x179]

Why is it missing James Burke?



He made science most entertaining and exposed how invention are the stuff of high drama.

Dinobot: encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com

That image makes me smile on the inside.

Sagan really should have just stuck to solid astrophysics research. He lost a lot of credibility when he started spouting new-age pseudo-spiritual bullshiat

Frank N Stein: What, exactly, did Carl Sagan do to receive so much adoration? Not snarky or sarcastic or anything, I'm genuinely curious about your thoughts on the man and why you find him an important figure.

Can't speak for everyone, but I love Carl for two major reasons:
1) The man loved science. A love full of wonder for the Universe. And he a relentless desire to share that with everyone. When Cosmos first came out, it was a pretty major TV event, and it inspired a lot of people. He brought science to the masses in a way that was understandable and accessible, but never dumbed down.
2) He was also a tireless promoter of the scientific method, rational thinking, skepticism, and free thinking.

VictoryCabal: 2) He was also a tireless promoter of the scientific method, rational thinking, skepticism, and free thinking.

Maybe at first. Some of his later stuff, especially with the spiritual tinge was really off the deep end.

DrunkenBob: Dinobot: [encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com image 282x179]

Why is it missing James Burke?

[1.bp.blogspot.com image 300x180]

He made science most entertaining and exposed how invention are the stuff of high drama.

Yep. I actually prefer Connections to Cosmos, I find it both more entertaining and educational. Plus Burke doesn't accent every other word.

Both Carl Sagan and James Burke are awesome.

The Day the Universe Changed was science history as Wagnerian opera

Having just spent 4 hours in near-freezing temps knocking off a big chunk of the Herschel 400/400 II lists, I'm getting a kick out of this thread.

Ginnungagap42: taurusowner: VictoryCabal: 2) He was also a tireless promoter of the scientific method, rational thinking, skepticism, and free thinking.

Maybe at first. Some of his later stuff, especially with the spiritual tinge was really off the deep end.

I'm honestly curious, what is Sagan's spiritually tinged stuff? I can't seem to remember anything off the top of my head, but it's been a while since I read his books.

He could make you feel insignificantly small when compared to the cosmos. I think that's what people mean.

Frank N Stein: What, exactly, did Carl Sagan do to receive so much adoration? Not snarky or sarcastic or anything, I'm genuinely curious about your thoughts on the man and why you find him an important figure.
He invoked wonder in science.

Ginnungagap42: taurusowner: VictoryCabal: 2) He was also a tireless promoter of the scientific method, rational thinking, skepticism, and free thinking.

Maybe at first. Some of his later stuff, especially with the spiritual tinge was really off the deep end.

I'm honestly curious, what is Sagan's spiritually tinged stuff? I can't seem to remember anything off the top of my head, but it's been a while since I read his books.

Oakenshield: Ginnungagap42: taurusowner: VictoryCabal: 2) He was also a tireless promoter of the scientific method, rational thinking, skepticism, and free thinking.

Maybe at first. Some of his later stuff, especially with the spiritual tinge was really off the deep end.

I'm honestly curious, what is Sagan's spiritually tinged stuff? I can't seem to remember anything off the top of my head, but it's been a while since I read his books.

[upload.wikimedia.org image 220x327]

I read that book, and I think you're mischaracterizing it.

Dinobot:

WHAR Julius Sumner Miller? Whar?

Oakenshield: Ginnungagap42: taurusowner: VictoryCabal: 2) He was also a tireless promoter of the scientific method, rational thinking, skepticism, and free thinking.

Maybe at first. Some of his later stuff, especially with the spiritual tinge was really off the deep end.

I'm honestly curious, what is Sagan's spiritually tinged stuff? I can't seem to remember anything off the top of my head, but it's been a while since I read his books.

[upload.wikimedia.org image 220x327]

That was a book of skepticism against superstition.

Shadow Blasko: TopoGigo: Dinobot:

WHAR Julius Sumner Miller? Whar?

ADVENTURES... IN ... SCIENCE!

...and PHYSICS is my business.

(Why didn't he ever say, "and business is good"?)

Oakenshield: Ginnungagap42: taurusowner: VictoryCabal: 2) He was also a tireless promoter of the scientific method, rational thinking, skepticism, and free thinking.

Maybe at first. Some of his later stuff, especially with the spiritual tinge was really off the deep end.

I'm honestly curious, what is Sagan's spiritually tinged stuff? I can't seem to remember anything off the top of my head, but it's been a while since I read his books.

[upload.wikimedia.org image 220x327]

Thanks for the reminder to add that to my to-read list.

Russ Feingold's Brass Balls: Oakenshield: Ginnungagap42: taurusowner: VictoryCabal: 2) He was also a tireless promoter of the scientific method, rational thinking, skepticism, and free thinking.

Maybe at first. Some of his later stuff, especially with the spiritual tinge was really off the deep end.

I'm honestly curious, what is Sagan's spiritually tinged stuff? I can't seem to remember anything off the top of my head, but it's been a while since I read his books.

[upload.wikimedia.org image 220x327]

I read that book, and I think you're mischaracterizing it.

This. In some of the later episodes of Cosmos he might lean a bit towards the philosophical, but it comes with dealing with issues like the death and birth of the universe, questions that we have no answers for an quite possibly never will. Any other time religion or superstition is brought up it is with a sense of disdain if not outright contempt.

taurusowner: VictoryCabal: 2) He was also a tireless promoter of the scientific method, rational thinking, skepticism, and free thinking.

Maybe at first. Some of his later stuff, especially with the spiritual tinge was really off the deep end.

We are a bunch of weird talking monkeys floating around on a rock, surrounded by a seemingly limitless amount of space. Speculation is warranted.

His 'deep end' stuff wasn't really that weird in the context of all human ideas, just as the pale blue dot isn't really that significant in the context of the universe.

VictoryCabal: Frank N Stein: What, exactly, did Carl Sagan do to receive so much adoration? Not snarky or sarcastic or anything, I'm genuinely curious about your thoughts on the man and why you find him an important figure.

Can't speak for everyone, but I love Carl for two major reasons:
1) The man loved science. A love full of wonder for the Universe. And he a relentless desire to share that with everyone. When Cosmos first came out, it was a pretty major TV event, and it inspired a lot of people. He brought science to the masses in a way that was understandable and accessible, but never dumbed down.
2) He was also a tireless promoter of the scientific method, rational thinking, skepticism, and free thinking.

Ishkur: He spoke of sophisticated concepts in science and astronomy with a poetic eloquence that simultaneously entertained children and engrossed the imaginations of adults. And he did it with aplomb. No one had ever done that before. He was modern science's first Great Communicator for a new technological age, making complex technocratic subjects easy to understand and leaving the audience wanting more, like every great teacher.

Watch Pale Blue Dot and tell me the man did not have a gift.

PhDemented: He invoked wonder in science.

Ah I see. Perhaps I was a little too young to get into Sagan when he was around.

Cosmos and The Demon-Haunted World where among the things that I enjoyed the most when I was a teenager.

Always grateful of my dad for giving be the books and getting the series on DVD...

Sagan was mischaracterized as an atheist many times, when in fact he was more often self-described as an agnostic/secular humanist. Neil De Grasse Tyson has said this very same thing, yet the atheists still continue to "claim him," as he says.

I saw Sagan more as a Spinozan agnostic, where the universe was "God," and the laws of physics were the tenets of his beliefs. The point he tried to make time and time again (and succeeded) is that the universe is full of more wonder than we can possibly imagine, and we don't need any architectures of human society and morality to support it...the naked cosmos is ultimate truth enough.

I think what happened is that as his marijuana use became more well-known, people saw him as this sort of New Age science hippie, which he certainly was not. He argued vehemently against pseudoscience in his lectures and books, and would probably find that to be a tremendous insult.

He also rose in popularity at the outset of fundamentalist religious influence in politics. As he saw science being shoved more and more to the backbone of American society, replaced with religion, pseudoscience and just plain prideful ignorance, and I believe he was as others have said the Greatest Communicator for science we've ever had, and his tireless pursuit of teaching and warning others about what we as humans were doing to our species and our planet is unparalleled.