Review - Demon-Haunted World, by Carl Sagan
"There is nothing which can better deserve our
patronage than the promotion of science and literature.
Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness."
- George Washington, address to Congress, 8 January 1790
Carl Sagan was a world-renowned scientist, noted particularly for his background in cosmology. Sagan published literally hundreds of scientific papers wrote or co-wrote almost two-dozen books. That the general populace was not science-literate during his day (arguably not much better in ours either) caused Sagan a lot of grief. He attempted to champion something of a new enlightenment in which science could again rule supreme as decision-maker, political policy-guide and spiritual cornerstone. Sadly, congress and rest of the government was usually far too preoccupied with the creationist, pro-religion mindset that Sagan was attempting to educate and to him, science was but a dimly-lit candle in the dark, surrounded by the shrouding blackness of superstition and ignorance. He ultimately came to regard the traditional humanizing myths of religion - or perhaps better said, simply superstition in general - to be intellectual demons that ought to be dispelled from the human consciousness.
In Demon-Haunted World, Sagan illustrates how important science was, is, and will continue to be on Earth.
"I don't know to what extent ignorance of science and mathematics contributed to the decline of ancient Athens, but I know that the consequences of scientific illiteracy are far more dangerous in our time than in any that has come before. It's perilous and foolhardy for the average citizen to remain ignorant about global warming, say, or ozone depletion, air pollution, toxic and radioactive wastes, acid rain, topsoil erosion, tropical deforestation, exponential population growth." (p. 10)
Sagan's simple point is that ignorance, while blissful, will lead to our downfall if several pressing environmental and social concerns are not addressed. Concerns which he believes can be solved within the realm of science.
"We can pray over the cholera victim, or we can give her 500 milligrams of tetracycline every twelve hours. ... We can try nearly futile psychoanalytic talk therapy on the schizophrenic patient, or we can give him 300 to 500 milligrams a day of chlorzapine." (p. 13)
Science has the power to better the lives of humans and ultimately save us from what could potentially harm us. Sagan wants you to think of science like a tool that we can use against the forces that threaten us....whether natural disasters are hitting cities, bigger and stronger animals are threatening human lives in the wild, microbial life brings about microscopic bacterial terror, or intelligent life from the cosmos comes calling for precious renewable resources - science is what will save us. We might be well-off today,
"...but micro-organisms mutate. New diseases spread like wildfire. There is a constant battle between microbial measures and human countermeasures." (p. 14)
Sagan conveniently glosses over the horrors of science-gone-awry in the hands of hate-mongering totalitarians, but when it comes to fighting back against death and the chaotic forces of the world science has and will be our best weapon to survive.
Superstition does nothing to stay on top of the evolutionary arms-race that we know as life. No religious leaders have institutionalized the rigorous testing of their doctrines to establish a falsifiable knowledge-base on which to make rational and informed decisions.
"Scientists are intent on testing those theories to the breaking point. They do not trust what is intuitively obvious. That the Earth is flat was once obvious. That heavy bodies fall faster than light ones was once obvious. That bloodsucking leeches cure most diseases was once obvious. That some people are naturally and by divine decree slaves was once obvious. That there is such a place as the centre of the Universe, and that the Earth sits in that exalted spot was once obvious." (p. 39)