[HN Gopher] A Surprising Side of Carl Sagan
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       A Surprising Side of Carl Sagan
        
       Author : QuarkForMrMark
       Score  : 33 points
       Date   : 2022-07-07 11:06 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (nautil.us)
 (TXT) w3m dump (nautil.us)
        
       | GeorgeKangas wrote:
       | That part of the book ( _Contact_ ) really bugged me.
       | 
       | The definition of pi is what determines the digits of pi, FULL
       | STOP. There's no room whatsoever, for any sort of agent to 'leave
       | a message' in those digits. I would think even a full-on theist
       | would be embarrassed to suggest otherwise.
        
       | the__alchemist wrote:
       | I loved that part at the end of the book! It's the sort of thing
       | that makes me love sci-fi: A "What-the-hell-if?" question to
       | ponder and toy with. And to spark the reglious part of our
       | brains; even (especially?) in non-religious people. In his books,
       | Sagan encourages people to feel as in awe of the natural world as
       | some do with religion. With that in mind, it fits. And, as little
       | mysticism can be fun in a world with rules. Stephenson includes a
       | (somewhat) similar mysticism in Cryptonomicon (And in a few of
       | his books that followed it)
        
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