“I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time—when the Unites States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”
—Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World (1995) page 25 (via spytap)
Carl Sagan the cynic. Where are the optimists?
(via mikehudack)
Rafer sez:
The only cynical part is “almost without noticing.” We’ve noticed. Otherwise, it’s called skilled futurism.
(via rafer)
Josh says: Carl Sagan’s “Demon Haunted World” is a fantastic book. I took a seminar class in my first year of college entirely devoted to it.
