Hoy hace 10 años murió uno de los grandes visionarios que este pálido punto azul ha visto: Carl Sagan.

Científico, astrónomo, escritor. Una persona encantadora que tenía la particular capacidad de hacerse entender, de maravillar con sus historias, de despertar el deseo de saber mas.

El mundo sería un lugar mejor, si tuviéramos mas personas como el Dr. Sagan.

Les dejo algunas frases ciertamente interesantes:

A galaxy… is a fluid, made up of billions of stars all bound together by gravity.

It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.

Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however vague, however unfulfilled, to support or prop up their beliefs. Yet has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science?

Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.

I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true.

In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,’ and then they actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.

The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by God one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying… it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity.

The major religions on the Earth contradict each other left and rightYou can’t all be correct. And what if all of you are wrong? It’s a possibility, you know. You must care about the truth, right? Well, the way to winnow through all the differing contentions is to be skeptical. I’m not any more skeptical about your religious beliefs than I am about every new scientific idea I hear about. But in my line of work, they’re called hypotheses, not inspiration and not revelation. (Dr. Arroway en Contact).

Tengo la serie Cosmos en la compu, si alguien la quiere (y lo conozco, pues tampoco se trata de enviarla al otro lado del mundo) dígame y se la quemo. También tengo sus libros Contact, Cosmos y El Cerebro de Broca.

Creo que si alguna vez construimos una nave interestelar, deberíamos llamarla La Sagan.

No olvides leer mi reseña de Contact.