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Modern Darwinism makes it abundantly clear that many less ruthless traits, some not always admired by robber barons and Fuhrers - altruism, general intelligence, compassion - may be the key to survival.

Carl Sagan

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Carl Sagan
Age: 62 †
Born: 1934
Born: November 9
Died: 1996
Died: December 20
Astronomer
Astrophysicist
Cosmologist
Naturalist
Non-Fiction Writer
Novelist
Physicist
Planetary Scientist
Science Communicator
Brooklyn
New York
Carl Edward Sagan
Sagan
Carl E. Sagan
Carl E Sagan
C. E. Sagan
C.E. Sagan
C E Sagan
C. Sagan
C Sagan
Sagan C
Sagan C.
Sagan C. E.
Sagan CE
Many
Intelligence
Darwinism
Always
General
Robbers
Life
Compassion
Altruism
Modern
Admired
Clear
Ruthless
Less
Traits
Barons
Makes
Survival
Robber
May
Keys
Abundantly

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If intelligence is our only edge, we must learn to use it better, to shape it, to understand its limitations and deficiencies -- to use it as cats use stealth, as katydids use camouflage -- to make it the tool of our survival.
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If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then, we are up for grabs for the next charlatan (political or religious) who comes rambling along.
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The cannabis experience has greatly improved my appreciation for art, a subject which I had never much appreciated before.
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In our time, we have sifted the sands of Mars, we have established a presence there, we have fulfilled a century of dreams!
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The vast distances that separate the stars are providential. Beings and worlds are quarantined from one another. The quarantine is lifted only for those with sufficient self-knowledge and judgment to have safely traveled from star to star.
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Science is not only compatible with spirituality it is a profound source of spirituality.
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We are, in the most profound sense, children of the Cosmos.
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We are, each of us, a multitude. Within us is a little universe.
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Perhaps the depth of love can be calibrated by the number of different selves that are actively involved in a given relationship.
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One trend that bothers me is the glorification of stupidity, that the media is reassuring people it's alright not to know anything. That to me is far more dangerous than a little pornography on the Internet.
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Absolute certainty will always elude us. We will always be mired in error. The most each generation can hope for is to reduce the error. . . .
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Cutting off fundamental, curiosity-driven science is like eating the seed corn. We may have a little more to eat next winter but what will we plant so we and our children will have enough to get through the winters to come?
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It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
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In all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.
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Those who seek power at any price detect a societal weakness, a fear that they can ride into office.
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If the constellations had been named in the twentieth century, I suppose we would see bicycles and refrigerators in the sky.
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We invest far off places with a certain romance... Long summers, mild winters, rich harvests, plentiful game none of them lasts for ever. Your own life, or your bands, or even your species - might be owed to a restless few, drawn by a craving they can hardly articulate or understand, to undiscovered lands, and new worlds.
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We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.
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We are at a crossroads in human history. Never before has there been a moment so simultaneously perilous and promising. We are the first species to have taken evolution into our own hands.
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