I’ve found myself looking up previous read books and old videos that speak to bigger pictures and “the vision thing” as we all continue to trundle through these interesting times.
One video I revisited was a lecture Carl Sagan at his 60th birthday symposium at Cornell (he regrettably died just two years later). Evidently, the lecture was unavailable to the public at large for decades, but through a course of events, was recovered from its Sony Betacam prison and now available to everyone online (note, you will occasionally hear a buzz and other noise in the background).
Some things that particularly strike me in the lecture (I’m trying not to be too spoiler-y in case readers are skimming this first):
- Humans have always been observers in a very scientific sense and up for using technology
- Our languages manage to preserve, and subliminally perpetuate, some outmoded ways of seeing the world (e.g. “sunrise”).
- The concept of “demotion” aka some humans being upset about their lack of uniqueness in various areas of sapience.
- How hard it is to match a chimp’s technological prowess
- The photo of Earth as “the pale blue dot” and thoughts about it (I have seen variants of this section online in many places)
In addition, there is a half hour Q&A which has some great sections:
- Going back to the concept of demotions and consciousness observed in other primates
- The nature of God
- How he himself can be extremely subjective and human-centric
All in all, if you want to become re-acquainted with Carl Sagan’s perspective on life, the universe, and everything… or you just want something thoughtful to listen to, it’s a good watch.