Chapter 4(B): A Universe Not Made For Us

Question 0

Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 48

Subjectivity’s Deception

Answer 0

science has taught us, because we have a talent for deceiving ourselves, subjectivity may not freely reign.

Question 1

Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 47-48

Consoling Lie

Answer 1

The only morality left is that of the consoling lie

Question 2

Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 49

Moral Ambiguity

Answer 2

Science has brought many of us to that state N. Hawthorne found H. Melville: “He can neither believe, nor be comfortable in his unbelief.”

Question 3

Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 50

Questioning Archaic Assumptions

Answer 3

of course, worldview consensus is comforting, clashes of opinion–unsettling…But unless we insist, against all evidence, that our ancestors were perfect, the advance of knowledge requires us to unravel then restitch the consensus they established

Question 4

Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 49-50

We’re Johnny-come-latelys

Answer 4

We long to be here for a purpose, even though, despite much self-deception, none is evident…We’re Johnny-come-latelies. We live in the cosmic boondocks. We emerged from microbes and muck. Apes are our cousins. Our thoughts and feelings are not fully under our control…And on top of all this, we’re making a mess of our planet and becoming a danger to ourselves.

Question 5

Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 51

If it takes a little myth and ritual to get us through

Answer 5

especially when times are hard, we become desperate for encouragement, unreceptive to the litany of great demotions and dashed hopes….if it takes a little myth and ritual to get us through the night that seems endless, who among us cannot sympathize and understand?

Question 6

Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 54

Deducing A Designer: Extracting Order from Chaos

Answer 6

we are forever hoping to find, or at least safely deduce, a Designer. But instead, we repeatedly discover the natural processes—collisional selection of worlds, say, or natural selection of gene pools, or even the convection pattern in a pot of boiling water—can extract order from chaos…

Question 7

Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 54-55

Let us find ourselves a worthy goal

Answer 7

The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life’s meaning. We long for a Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from childish mistakes. But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable…if we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.