Cosmos: The Story of Cosmic Evolution, Science and Civilisation

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A mutation in a DNA molecule within a chromosome of a skin cell in my index finger has no influence on heredity. Fingers are not involved, at least directly, in the propagation of the species. (Chapter 2, “Genes and Brains”) Sagan discusses the story of the Heike crab and artificial selection of crabs resembling samurai warriors, as an opening into a larger discussion of evolution through natural selection (and the pitfalls of intelligent design). Among the topics are the development of life on the Cosmic Calendar and the Cambrian explosion; the function of DNA in growth; genetic replication, repairs, and mutation; the common biochemistry of terrestrial organisms; the creation of the molecules of life in the Miller–Urey experiment; and speculation on alien life (such as life in Jupiter's clouds). In the Cosmos Update ten years later, Sagan remarks on RNA also controlling chemical reactions and reproducing itself and the different roles of comets (potentially carrying organic molecules or causing the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event). Before the beginning of ancient times, people have glanced at the ether and attempted to understand those tiny points that sparkle up during nights in the sky. In Mozambique, the story goes, monkeys do not talk, because they know if they utter even a single word some man will come and put them to work. In any case, we do not advance the human cause by refusing to consider ideas that make us frightened. (Chapter 25, “The Amniotic Universe”)

Anything you don’t understand, Mr. Rankin, you attribute to God. God for you is where you sweep away all the mysteries of the world, all the challenges to our intelligence. You simply turn your mind off and say God did it.Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries.

Whitehouse, David (1999-10-15). "Sci/Tech Carl Sagan: A life in the cosmos". British Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 3 January 2010. People are rarely grateful for a demonstration of their credulity. (Chapter 5, “Night Walkers and Mystery Mongers: Sense and Nonsense at the End of Science”) Our intelligence and our technology have given us the power to affect the climate. How will we use this power? Are we willing to tolerate ignorance and complacency in matters that affect the entire human family? Do we value short-term advantages above the welfare of the Earth? Or will we think on longer time scales, with concern for our children and our grandchildren, to understand and protect the complex life-support systems of our planet? The Earth is a tiny and fragile world. It needs to be cherished. If we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers. Currently, there is absolutely nothing to be done regarding those transmissions: they have been set already.The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent to the concerns of such puny creatures as we are. When you calculate it, you’ll notice that the human planet is just one of the 1022 globes that Cosmos carries. Frighteningly unimportant. In the long run, the aggressive civilizations destroy themselves, almost always. It’s their nature. They can’t help it.

There is no other species on the Earth that does science. It is, so far, entirely a human invention, evolved by natural selection in the cerebral cortex for one simple reason: it works. It is not perfect. It can be misused. It is only a tool. But it is by far the best tool we have, self-correcting, ongoing, applicable to everything. It has two rules. First: there are no sacred truths; all assumptions must be critically examined; arguments from authority are worthless. Second: whatever is inconsistent with the facts must be discarded or revised. We must understand the Cosmos as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be. Carl Sagan". EMuseum@Minnesota State University. Archived from the original on May 28, 2010 . Retrieved October 8, 2009.

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Broca was quoted as saying, “I would rather be a transformed ape than a degenerate son of Adam.” (Chapter 1, “Broca’s Brain”) During the 5th to 4th hundredth years BCE, they began to have the claim that making experiments was similar to work with hands around fields. Hence, It was work appropriate for slaves. Naive intellectual consideration has to, in contrast, be theoretic. Proponents of doctrinal religions—ones in which a particular body of belief is prized and infidels scorned—will be threatened by the courageous pursuit of knowledge. We hear from such people that it may be dangerous to probe too deeply. Many people have inherited their religion like their eye color: they consider it not a thing to think very deeply about, and in any case beyond our control. But those with a set of beliefs they profess to feel deeply about, which they have selected without an unbiased sifting through the facts and the alternatives, will feel uncomfortably challenged by searching questions. Anger at queries about our beliefs is the body’s warning signal: here lies unexamined and probably dangerous doctrinal baggage. (Chapter 23, “A Sunday Sermon”) The price we pay for the anticipation of our future is anxiety about it. Foretelling disaster is probably not much fun; Pollyanna was much happier than Cassandra. But the Cassandric components of our nature are necessary for survival. ( Chapter 3, “The Brain and the Chariot”) This suppression had a huge influence on them. The scientific process of investigation and making experiments was only revived during the sixteenth century.