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Showing Original Post only (View all)Carl Sagan's prediction of an America he never lived to see [View all]
Prediction starts at 2:24What is alarming to me is how quickly, relatively speaking, the progress of the industrial revolution is unraveling.
It reminds me of this passage from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous though I am not an alcoholic (my dad was).
This world of ours has made more material progress in the last century than in all the millenniums which went before. Almost everyone knows the reason. Students of ancient history tell us that the intellect of men in those days was equal to the best of today. Yet in ancient times material progress was painfully slow. The spirit of modern scientific inquiry, research and invention was almost unknown. In the realm of the material, men's minds were fettered by superstition, tradition, and all sorts of fixed ideas. Some of the contemporaries of Columbus thought a round earth preposterous. Others came near putting Galileo to death for his astronomical heresies.
Even in the present century [1900s], American newspapers were afraid to print an account of the Wright brothers' first successful flight at Kitty Hawk.
Even in the present century [1900s], American newspapers were afraid to print an account of the Wright brothers' first successful flight at Kitty Hawk.
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There's a biblical passage that springs into my mind sometimes: there's nothing new under the sun
captain queeg
Jan 2022
#1
Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite OT books because it pounds on the illusions that
PatrickforB
Jan 2022
#26
Wow, is THAT a blast from the past! I read Dragons of Eden in the way-back-when -
PatrickforB
Jan 2022
#30
Yes, I belong to a Noetic Sciences discussion group that meets one Saturday a month.
PatrickforB
Jan 2022
#32
Sagan was prescient, an intellectual equal to Michelangelo, but why less celebrated is itself
Alexander Of Assyria
Jan 2022
#18