“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” said Carl Sagan; a dictum which asks us to use the scepticism of Hume to dismiss miracles and false claims. But what is extraordinary, should common sense be our guide to science? This innate scepticism at the heart of science needs to be cha... Read more
Science is the best way we know to develop reliable knowledge. It’s a collective and cumulative process of assessing evidence that leads to increasingly accurate and trustworthy information.
This is a universe whose components eventually assembled themselves in such a way that they would turn around, look at themselves, and try to understand how they and their universe had been created; a universe whose building blocks would become intelligent.
Once upon a time, about 200 million human lifetimes ago, a universe began. This was not just any universe. It was a universe with some very remarkable properties. Were there an infinite number of physical laws that could have been used to build a universe, or were the laws that could produce a viabl... Read more
Maybe one of the most profound realizations of our species: We are the universe made to ask itself where it came from and why … / For all admirers, fans & followers of the one and only Carl Sagan • Millions of unique designs by independent artists. Find your thing.
Carl habitually conveyed false depictions of what indeed is skepticism; conflating it in the quote below with cynicism and completely missing the fact that skepticism involves precisely an active, researching and open mind. Pretending that possessing an open mind is somehow the opposite of skepticism, and involves giving all ideas ‘equal validity.’
The discovery of life on another planet might seem incompatible with faith in a deity. Yet many theologians are already open to the existence of extraterrestrials
Many philosophers and scientists believe that we need an explanation as to why the laws of physics and the initial conditions of the universe are fine-tuned for life. The standard two options are: theism and the multiverse hypothesis. Both of these theories are extravagant and arguably have false pr... Read more
Atoms have intelligence – now there’s a major idea in itself.
“In this article the author attempts to explain a theory that states that reality is a “self aware, self conscious construct, aka it is intelligent.” Through a discussion starting with the birth of reality from quantum foam deciding its own set of laws all the way to the neurons in our brains and their constituent atoms, the author states that atoms are information processors since the brain is an information processor. And as such, atoms have a real (although extremely low level) form of intelligence.”
In my Astronomy class at The Beekman School, I often refer to a scene in Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos series, where he states that humans are the universe looking back at itself. I explain that this is traditionally referred to as an anthropic statement. It’s also not far from the old kabbalist... Read more
calm down… check this “Almost as soon as he starts speaking, Sagan starts spewing out inaccuracies right away. Sagan correctly identifies the Serapeion as having originally been a temple, but he incorrectly claims that it later stopped being a temple and was converted into the “annex” of the Great Library of Alexandria.
It is true that the Serapeion does seem to have been used at one point to house some of the books from the Library of Alexandria’s collection, but….. “
Carl Sagan Was Really Bad at History - Tales of Times Forgotten
Carl Sagan’s thirteen-episode documentary series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which originally aired on PBS in 1980, is the most watched PBS documentary series in history. The miniseries, which is, broadly speaking, about the history and importance of science, has had a massive influence on both our... Read more
The question of how the brain gives rise to subjective experience is the hardest of all. Mathematicians think they can help, but their first attempts have thrown up some eye-popping conclusions
In my Astronomy class at The Beekman School, I often refer to a scene in Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos series, where he states that humans are the universe looking back at itself. I explain that this is traditionally referred to as an anthropic statement. It’s also not far from the old kabbalist... Read more
I think I agree. Here’s why.
Ah, yep – if you’re killing people for money.
Ahh, nope.
You can still just choose the set of evidence you want to use – depending on your existing standpoint. So no help really.
This is a universe whose components eventually assembled themselves in such a way that they would turn around, look at themselves, and try to understand how they and their universe had been created; a universe whose building blocks would become intelligent.
Someone’s making Billions and Billions.
Sagan gave up hope and accepted despair to remain true to bad philosophy.
Carl habitually conveyed false depictions of what indeed is skepticism; conflating it in the quote below with cynicism and completely missing the fact that skepticism involves precisely an active, researching and open mind. Pretending that possessing an open mind is somehow the opposite of skepticism, and involves giving all ideas ‘equal validity.’
Well I hope he doesn’t get in touch with us…. heh
Maybe the universe designed itself after some “fine-tuning”. READ THIS https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11153-018-9692-z
Atoms have intelligence – now there’s a major idea in itself.
“In this article the author attempts to explain a theory that states that reality is a “self aware, self conscious construct, aka it is intelligent.” Through a discussion starting with the birth of reality from quantum foam deciding its own set of laws all the way to the neurons in our brains and their constituent atoms, the author states that atoms are information processors since the brain is an information processor. And as such, atoms have a real (although extremely low level) form of intelligence.”
calm down… check this “Almost as soon as he starts speaking, Sagan starts spewing out inaccuracies right away. Sagan correctly identifies the Serapeion as having originally been a temple, but he incorrectly claims that it later stopped being a temple and was converted into the “annex” of the Great Library of Alexandria.
It is true that the Serapeion does seem to have been used at one point to house some of the books from the Library of Alexandria’s collection, but….. “
lol, do the Math(s)
Unless you believe the biocentric theory – whereby our consciousness creates the universe – for it to experience.
Neil Tyson is often getting the credit for Sagan’s insight – as per the article https://www.beekmanschool.org/articles/we-are-universe-experiencing-itself
Loved the idea that we are concious matter since I first watched cosmos. here’s the bit where he says the quote
We are a way for the cosmos to know itself
(3 upvotes)We are but a collection of atoms with consciousness – matter with curiosity
(4 upvotes)