Whatever his faults, Sagan often wrote beautifully and
brilliantly. While in Tokyo, wrapped up in the
details of living and working there, I stepped back
and
decided to start doing some English-language reading
for pleasure. His "The Demon-Haunted World: Science
As a
Candle in the Dark" was a brilliant highlight of that
time of my life, and personal inspiration for me to
revisit my larger-scale extropian interests (including
interacting more actively with you guys again).
Check it out:
"http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345409469/qid=974408269/sr=1-1/106-8447285-2345219"
Russell
--- Spudboy100@aol.com wrote:
> He was brilliant as a inspirer and sharer of
> scientific knowledege. He was
> also big time into the Ganja and this at age 55-60!
> He was a big time
> schmuckeroo when it came time to face down the
> Soviets, when they wished to
> Glom West Asia and Western Europe--and glom it they
> would have, had not the
> West and Old Man Reagan showed them a fist, and the
> will to use it. Carl
> Sagan was chicken ala Carl on the money for SDI,
> and basically viewed the
> world so pessimistically, that surrender was better
> then annihilation-well
> yeah! But people of a sneakier frame of mind could
> see that it wasn't exactly
> the sure destinty of humanity-at least at that
> point. I like Freeman Dysons'
> ( a Strong Democratic Socialist) response to Carl's
> Nuclear Winter scenario,
> with his Nuclear Spring--using the same data.
>
>
> n a message dated 11/16/2000 3:20:24 PM Eastern
> Standard Time,
> amara@amara.com writes:
>
>
> > From: "Michael S. Lorrey" <retroman@turbont.net>,
> Wed, 15 Nov 2000 10:47:22
> > -0500
> >
> > >Sagan was showboating buffoon who was doing
> memetic programming.
> >
> > Pretty strong words, Mike.
> >
> > I wonder if you've read his scientific papers, his
> popular
> > works, seen his old Cosmos TV series, or met or
> worked with
> > the fellow.
> >
> > Yes indeed, he had a particular agenda, which he
> promoted in
> > various media.
> >
> > He also was a well-respected scientist by his
> peers.
> > (try typing his name in NASA ADS to get an idea of
> the volume
> > and breadth of his research)
> >
> > He ran a solid research department at Cornell.
> >
> > His TV series inspired a whole generation of
> astronomers.
> >
> > And believe it or not, he was a nice man too.
> >
> > I certainly would not call him a showboating
> buffoon.
> >
> > Amara
> >
>
>
>
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