Carl has been dead for 6 years today. His writings and his clear thinking have had a large impact on me and who I am today. Without people like Carl I would still be completely lost in the world of mysticism.
I dedicate this thread to his memory:
Carl Sagan
by donkey 22 Replies latest jw friends
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Realist
he was a great man!
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freeman
Had I listened to the words that this man said about a certain cult some years ago, I would have had a lot less pain in my life today.
What a brilliant man, and what a tremendous loss to the universe his death represents.
Freeman
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Utopian_Raindrops
Donkey!!
Thank-you so much for this thread!!
I had not relised it had been so long since his death.
I think Carl Sagan has helped mold alot of young minds. I had the most horible crush on him as a teen**sigh**
For you he freed you from mysticisim. For me he showed me the wonders of our universe and made me believe in a Creator. Isn't that funny?
I don't believe in unexplanable things because of him though. I think there is a good scientific explanation for everything but, always connected(directly or indirectly) to an intelegant source.
I just love how Yervant Terzian, said: "Carl was a candle in the dark" How very very true.
Agape,
Utopian_Raindrops
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JT
Carl Edward Sagan was born Nov. 9, 1934, in Brooklyn, N.Y.
JUST THINK HE WAS BORN around the corner from Bethel perhaps-
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JT
If i had only know this year earlier as one posted commented already
Carl Sagan's Remarks About Jehovah's Witnesses False Prophecies
Alan Feuerbacher
A few years after the complete collapse of everything C. T. Russell had predicted, J. F. Rutherford began a process of replacing Russell's unfulfilled predictions with a series of invisible and spiritual events associated with the years 1914 and 1918. By the early 1930s the process was complete.
An interesting comment on this transformation was made by Carl Sagan in his book Broca's Brain (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979, pp. 332-333):
Doctrines that make no predictions are less compelling than those which make correct predictions; they are in turn more successful than doctrines that make false predictions.
But not always. One prominent American religion confidently predicted that the world would end in 1914. Well, 1914 has come and gone, and -- while the events of that year were certainly of some importance -- the world does not, at least so far as I can see, seem to have ended. There are at least three responses that an organized religion can make in the face of such a failed and fundamental prophecy. They could have said, "Oh, did we say '1914'? So sorry, we meant '2014.' A slight error in calculation. Hope you weren't inconvenienced in any way." But they did not. They could have said, "Well, the world would have ended, except we prayed very hard and interceded with God so He spared the Earth." But they did not. Instead, they did something much more ingenious.
They announced that the world had in fact ended in 1914, and if the rest of us hadn't noticed, that was our lookout. It is astonishing in the face of such transparent evasions that this religion has any adherents at all. But religions are tough. Either they make no contentions which are subject to disproof or they quickly redesign doctrine after disproof. The fact that religions can be so shamelessly dishonest, so contemptuous of the intelligence of their adherents, and still flourish does not speak very well for the tough-mindedness of the believers. But it does indicate, if a demonstration were needed, that near the core of the religious experience is something remarkably resistant to rational inquiry.
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RunningMan
Although I never met, him, I consider him to be a close personal friend. He is sadly missed. (Along with Isaac Asimov)
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Robdar
I can still hear him say "billions". What a brain, what a scientist. He was my first crush when I was a teen. Carl, your stories of the Cosmos thrilled me. You inspired me and so many others. Thank you.
Robyn
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IronGland
You know he never actually said that....
he smoked Pot.
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