(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



A personal reflection - knowledge and education moves us forward [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2024-11-09  

As my username implies, I’m more a story reader than a story creator — first story caveat applies — please be kind :)

Over the past few months, as my son works his way through elementary school, I’ve chosen to strengthen his lessons and learning by selecting background and ambient environments (music, podcasts, other oratories) while he studies or plays. Most recently, we’ve been listening and watching together an incredible series from the past: ”Cosmos: A Personal Journey” — the thirteen-part series from the 1980s narrated by Carl Sagan, on the Internet Archive.

As we listened to the comprehensively compelling storytelling about creation of the universe, the history of science and backgrounds of the astrologers, astronomers, explorers, mathematicians, scientists and other people who looked up into the sky and wondered how we came about, the insights and quotes from Carl Sagan continually struck me as prescient; not just of the eras of the 1980s, 90s and early aughts, but of today, tomorrow and well into the future. Quotes such as ‘Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” from episode 1, “The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean.”

In episode four (appropriately entitled ‘Heaven and Hell’), while Carl Sagan spoke of other planets in our solar system, and how the greenhouse effect on Venus makes it a hellish environment on which organic molecules stand little chance of becoming life, he offered the following particularly compelling insight — which prompted me to share here as my first diary (since joining in 2016) — that is apropos for all of us living through our current political maelstrom.

While explaining the story of a lunar impact witnessed by the Canterbury monks in 1178, this statement was narrated, and I felt chills of how true it rings today:

“In every time and culture, there are pressures to conform to the prevailing prejudices. But there are also, in every place and epoch, those who value the truth; who record the evidence faithfully. Future generations are in their debt.”

There are many other quotes from Carl Sagan, like the one in the image I chose from the Image Library for this post, that would be relevant today — but I will limit this story to the few I’ve posted. Watching this series on Cosmos, and sharing the writings of Carl Sagan with my son, is my commitment to my son gaining a healthy dose of skepticism in things that he reads and sees online and with his interactions with others. My goal is that he challenges those things which are doubtful, and at least seeks evidence for those extraordinary claims that will arise in his lifetime to aid in his decision-making. A ‘cosmos’ of his own — a harmonious universe juxtaposed against the chaos he will certainly face.

The Internet Archive was recently struck with service disruptions (DDoS — distributed denial of service attacks) in October. My first thoughts, given recent misinformation campaigns happening, were how some bad actors were denying access to critical information and, given today’s environment, how there are people who make every effort to keep my son and I from watching this very program. Thankfully, the Internet Archive service is restoring, and we’ve been able to join Carl Sagan on his personal journey of the Cosmos once again.

For those here at Kos who post and read news, updates and commentary from following sites I do and will not (we have no tv, nor do I visit sites such as F*x, Twitter/x or tr*th) in order to recap what’s happening in those other arenas, shedding light through the darkness, and bringing to us the daily challenges we all face, I encourage you to remain grounded in reality and ‘cure’ yourself of the propaganda you continually face to bring us insights of those who would keep us from true knowledge and personal growth. We, and our future generations, are in your debt. This Cosmos series, though focused on the universe and science, is one that may help you and others remain steadfast. Our journey should be one of knowledge and discovery — moving forward together.

We, as a nation, need to strengthen our collective education and ensure future generations are entering adulthood with a healthy view towards where we have been and where we are going. I will leave with one additional quote from Carl Sagan, from his book “The Demon-Haunted World — Science as a Candle in the Dark”

If we teach only the findings and products of science — no matter how useful and even inspiring they may be — without communicating its critical method, how can the average person possibly distinguish science from pseudoscience? … It is enormously easier to present in an appealing way the wisdom distilled from centuries of patient and collective interrogation of Nature than to detail the messy distillation apparatus. The method of science… is far more important than the findings of science.

Thank you for reading (and possibly commenting on) my contribution to this site. Cheers!

Update: totally forgot to add: happy birthday Carl Sagan! (Nov 9, 1934)

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/9/2284712/-A-personal-reflection-knowledge-and-education-moves-us-forward?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/