My interest for Astronomy and Astrophysics comes from this man. It began when I watched his tv series about the cosmos. I think that it was in the seventies, but I'm not sure.

December 20th this year will be the tenth anniversary of his death ...

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Anne

© anne schmidt - L'Humeur Bleue

My interest for Astronomy and Astrophysics comes from this man. It began when I watched his tv series about the cosmos. I think that it was in the seventies, but I'm not sure.

December 20th this year will be the tenth anniversary of his death ...

for info

Astronomy Picture of the Day

and

Ann Druyan Talks About Science, Religion, Wonder, Awe . . . and Carl Sagan

For Ann Druyan

In the vastness of space and the immensity of time,
it is my joy to share
a planet and an epoch with Annie.

and

Most Visible Member of the Scientific Community of the Planet Earth

as you see i am also a great Fan

Greetings from Germany NRW
Ulli

My interest for Astronomy and Astrophysics comes from this man. It began when I watched his tv series about the cosmos. I think that it was in the seventies, but I'm not sure.

December 20th this year will be the tenth anniversary of his death ...

for info

Astronomy Picture of the Day

and

Ann Druyan Talks About Science, Religion, Wonder, Awe . . . and Carl Sagan

For Ann Druyan

In the vastness of space and the immensity of time,
it is my joy to share
a planet and an epoch with Annie.

and

Most Visible Member of the Scientific Community of the Planet Earth

as you see i am also a great Fan

Yes I can see that you are a fan ! :)

Thank you very much for the links ! The picture pays him justice, I think.

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Anne

© anne schmidt - L'Humeur Bleue

One of Sagan's really significant ideas is that the reason we haven't had any SETI success is that no civilization (including ours) can survive its own technology for long enough to communicate.

I'm sure he hoped that was wrong as much as I do.

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My interest for Astronomy and Astrophysics comes from this man. It began when I watched his tv series about the cosmos. I think that it was in the seventies, but I'm not sure.

December 20th this year will be the tenth anniversary of his death ...

I think that most everyone in Astronomy and Astrophysics has been effecited in some way by him. He ranks pretty high on my list of people that I would of like to of meat in person.

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/Central Florida Astronomical Society

One of Sagan's really significant ideas is that the reason we haven't had any SETI success is that no civilization (including ours) can survive its own technology for long enough to communicate.

I'm sure he hoped that was wrong as much as I do.

That`s a pretty large assumption that "All" intelligent civilizations will destroy themselves.

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That`s a pretty large assumption

Carl Sagan made a lot of very large assumptions about things he couldn't have possibly known and provided no scientific data or scientific facts to back those assumptions other than the lack thereof, reducing them to just another mans opinion... However, he did seem to be very knowledgeable in his field of study... ;)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

One of Sagan's really significant ideas is that the reason we haven't had any SETI success is that no civilization (including ours) can survive its own technology for long enough to communicate.

I'm sure he hoped that was wrong as much as I do.

We're certiantly making a concerted effort... but know what we survived the Cold War and maybe we'll survive this one. I'm sure a good number of civilizations do blow themselves to hell and back, but you also can't say that it is a 100% certity that every civilization will blow its self to crap, statsiticly atleast a few would have to survive.

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/Central Florida Astronomical Society

One of Sagan's really significant ideas is that the reason we haven't had any SETI success is that no civilization (including ours) can survive its own technology for long enough to communicate.

I'm sure he hoped that was wrong as much as I do.

If I recall correctly that was one of his ideas that was a possibility in his mind and not what he thought was actually the case. Remember also that Sagan was very politically oriented in his thinking and when he was in his prime there was the cold war. The events of his time surely had an influence on some of his thinking.

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Founder of BOINC team Objectivists. Oh the humanity! Rational people crunching data!
I did NOT authorize this belly writing!

One of Sagan's really significant ideas is that the reason we haven't had any SETI success is that no civilization (including ours) can survive its own technology for long enough to communicate.

I'm sure he hoped that was wrong as much as I do.

If I recall correctly that was one of his ideas that was a possibility in his mind and not what he thought was actually the case. Remember also that Sagan was very politically oriented in his thinking and when he was in his prime there was the cold war. The events of his time surely had an influence on some of his thinking.

Hi Robert,

In what way was Carl Sagan's thinking influenced by the political events of his "prime" in your mind ? :)

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Anne

© anne schmidt - L'Humeur Bleue

Historically speaking, the 1970's were still a turbulent time in America as well as Europe. Sagan was a product of his time. Would anyone claim that Carl Sagan was a 'right winger' ?

I think not. He was on the left. He criticized issues politically that he really had no expertise in or even a well thought out mindset of. Some of the things he asserted were just plain silly. If you have a PHD in physics it doesn't make you an expert in say,...skin care or electrical work. Expertise is just that....expertise. And that means you have studied within your field. Often he overstepped his bounds. Now, it's ok for anybody to voice their opinions but he sought more by using his credentials to somehow lend credence to his political opinions.

He was a member of the left or far left back then and was outspoken about it. This is no secret. His wife, Ann Druyn, is even more left wing than he was after his death. She alludes to this easily in the newer releases of the Cosmos series. In conclusion, my point is that he was much more vulnerable to political, cultural, and social influences than most other scientists are. And that is a flaw, not a virtue.

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Founder of BOINC team Objectivists. Oh the humanity! Rational people crunching data!
I did NOT authorize this belly writing!

Historically speaking, the 1970's were still a turbulent time in America as well as Europe. Sagan was a product of his time. Would anyone claim that Carl Sagan was a 'right winger' ?

I think not. He was on the left. He criticized issues politically that he really had no expertise in or even a well thought out mindset of. Some of the things he asserted were just plain silly. If you have a PHD in physics it doesn't make you an expert in say,...skin care or electrical work. Expertise is just that....expertise. And that means you have studied within your field. Often he overstepped his bounds. Now, it's ok for anybody to voice their opinions but he sought more by using his credentials to somehow lend credence to his political opinions.

He was a member of the left or far left back then and was outspoken about it. This is no secret. His wife, Ann Druyn, is even more left wing than he was after his death. She alludes to this easily in the newer releases of the Cosmos series. In conclusion, my point is that he was much more vulnerable to political, cultural, and social influences than most other scientists are. And that is a flaw, not a virtue.

Okay, I begin to understand your point.

Anyhow, all what he was, including his political feelings, made him a fascinating man and a fascinating scientist. Scientists are men or women, and they should be attached to showing this quality, as Sagan did. They cannot remain dry and cold minds. In my point of view; Sagan, by being and showing who he really was, made science more approachable by people like me, who have no knowledge in that field. More, he made it more respectable. Before him, science was highly disputable because too "hush hush".

I don't think that his way of being geopardized his work as a scientist. And I'm quite sure that writing his books and making the tv series "Cosmos" helped him a lot by allowing him to get a clearer point of view on what he had accomplished.

Personally, when I want to know exactly where I am in my life, or else, I imagine that I'm explaining it to someone, like a teacher would do. And it works !

In the seventies, I was less that 20 years old and I remember the political chaos that was reigning here. He was one of the men that made me think that maybe there was still hope in Humanity, because he came down his pedestal of searcher and Big Head of the scientific galaxy, towards us, foolish ignorant people. He taught us what he knew and made us dream !:)

He has good and valuable followers, such as Hubert Reeves, to mention only the most well known. :)

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Anne

© anne schmidt - L'Humeur Bleue

I agree that he was a very effective salesman for science.

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Founder of BOINC team Objectivists. Oh the humanity! Rational people crunching data!
I did NOT authorize this belly writing!

Carl Sagan...a great man indeed, but the biggest distributor of disinformation about ET and the UFO's! FACT.


Cool he smoked weed though....

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Agreed, Carl Sagan was a great man. However human, and prone to influence as each and every one of us are. I am sure each of us have our own ideas/assumptions and feelings about the Bush administration and the "War on Terror", and we would be influenced by this just as Sagan was by the cold war turbulence. Sagan was a human, who happened to be a brilliant scientist.

I am new to Sagan's material, and I find that the more I read I become more interested in Astronomy and Astrophysics. I interpret his assumption that advanced/advancing civilizations would not survive their own technology in the same way I interpreted Hawkings suggestion to colonize space: these statements make us think about how we can prove them wrong, whether that was their intention or not.

.....Billions and Billions.......

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-- LabUIacS

Carl Sagan...a great man indeed, but the biggest distributor of disinformation about ET and the UFO's! FACT.


Cool he smoked weed though....

Did he smoke weed because of the pain due to his discease ? :(((

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Anne

© anne schmidt - L'Humeur Bleue

Agreed, Carl Sagan was a great man. However human, and prone to influence as each and every one of us are. I am sure each of us have our own ideas/assumptions and feelings about the Bush administration and the "War on Terror", and we would be influenced by this just as Sagan was by the cold war turbulence. Sagan was a human, who happened to be a brilliant scientist.

I am new to Sagan's material, and I find that the more I read I become more interested in Astronomy and Astrophysics. I interpret his assumption that advanced/advancing civilizations would not survive their own technology in the same way I interpreted Hawkings suggestion to colonize space: these statements make us think about how we can prove them wrong, whether that was their intention or not.

.....Billions and Billions.......

Welcome to the club of Carl Sagan's admirers here ! :)

What does Stephen Hawking states about colonizing space ? (another great man and mind !)

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Anne

© anne schmidt - L'Humeur Bleue

Agreed, Carl Sagan was a great man. However human, and prone to influence as each and every one of us are. I am sure each of us have our own ideas/assumptions and feelings about the Bush administration and the "War on Terror", and we would be influenced by this just as Sagan was by the cold war turbulence. Sagan was a human, who happened to be a brilliant scientist.

I am new to Sagan's material, and I find that the more I read I become more interested in Astronomy and Astrophysics. I interpret his assumption that advanced/advancing civilizations would not survive their own technology in the same way I interpreted Hawkings suggestion to colonize space: these statements make us think about how we can prove them wrong, whether that was their intention or not.

.....Billions and Billions.......

Welcome to the club of Carl Sagan's admirers here ! :)

What does Stephen Hawking states about colonizing space ? (another great man and mind !)

Thank You Anne.

Here is a link about Hawking's suggestion.

http://www.space.com/news/060613_ap_hawking_space.html

---

-- LabUIacS

Agreed, Carl Sagan was a great man. However human, and prone to influence as each and every one of us are. I am sure each of us have our own ideas/assumptions and feelings about the Bush administration and the "War on Terror", and we would be influenced by this just as Sagan was by the cold war turbulence. Sagan was a human, who happened to be a brilliant scientist.

I am new to Sagan's material, and I find that the more I read I become more interested in Astronomy and Astrophysics. I interpret his assumption that advanced/advancing civilizations would not survive their own technology in the same way I interpreted Hawkings suggestion to colonize space: these statements make us think about how we can prove them wrong, whether that was their intention or not.

.....Billions and Billions.......

Welcome to the club of Carl Sagan's admirers here ! :)

What does Stephen Hawking states about colonizing space ? (another great man and mind !)

Thank You Anne.

Here is a link about Hawking's suggestion.

http://www.space.com/news/060613_ap_hawking_space.html

Thanks ! :)

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Anne

© anne schmidt - L'Humeur Bleue

That`s a pretty large assumption

Carl Sagan made a lot of very large assumptions about things he couldn't have possibly known and provided no scientific data or scientific facts to back those assumptions other than the lack thereof, reducing them to just another mans opinion... However, he did seem to be very knowledgeable in his field of study... ;)

Sorry jeffrey, but... said in a tone of disgust: You friggin idiot.
"large assumptions about things he couldn't have possibly known" BULLSHIT. Where and when did you ever hear that? Let's go, step to the plate, give your quotes then.
"provided no scientific data or scientific facts to back those assumptions" The man always talked about the reasons he had to think something was likely or not likely. His books are stuffed FULL of references. The only reason YOU could say something like that, jeffrey, is because you IGNORE references given to you, like 'Oasis in Space', right? Right???


Carl Sagan EARNED respect from many in the world, because he was uncompromising in his principles of science. The principles of science is NOT to give some unfounded belief. That's what your claim amounts to. Twerp. You have no clue what science really is, or what science is all about.

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Never Forget a Friend. Or an Enemy.