Carl Sagan designed the Pioneer Plaques which were placed on board the 1972 Pioneer 10 and the 1973 Pioneer 11 spacecraft in case they came across extraterrestrial life| Images by Wikimedia Commons, altered by the author
How Carl Sagan Predicted Today’s USA 26 Years Ago
Most people know Carl Sagan for his TV series “Cosmos” where he successfully explained scientific phenomena to common people. This astronomer first worked as an associate professor at Harvard and later became a book author. He received many awards: the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Pulitzer Prize, and two Emmy awards, among others.
Sagan also set up the first messages on the spacecraft sent into space in 1972 and 1973 in case some smart ETs come across them: the Pioneer Plaque with the picture of a man and a woman, as well as the description of the location of the Earth in space. The second message was the 1977 Voyager Golden Record with different sights and sounds from our beautiful planet.
But a quarter-century after his death, we remember him for something far from scientific research — his foretelling skills.
Sagan’s quote that made all people wonder
The scientist wrote The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1995) where he discusses aliens and speaks in favor of science and against spirituality.
A few years ago someone came across Sagan’s prediction of the future of America in his book. If you’d read it in 1995, it would have sounded ominous. But 26 years later, we can only be surprised how far-sighted this science communicator was.
In 2017, the director of a science radio program Charles Bergquist posted Sagan’s quote on Twitter. It quickly went viral with 11.6 K retweets and 15.5 K likes. In only a few sentences Sagan successfully portrays the then future USA as a dystopian society, full of division, insecurity, mistrust, and authoritarian leadership.
He states that science is not only knowledge but a way of thinking. Then he continues:
“I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”
And he couldn’t have been more correct.
How was Sagan right in his predictions?
In his famous book, he explains science as healthy critical thinking. He also feels sorry people won’t trust it so much in the future (Something like the distrust in COVID-19 vaccines maybe?).
Sagan is also sorry for his children and grandchildren because they will live in a country whose citizens will be far from free. But more about it later on.
The scientist claims the all-American economy will more or less boil down to services and information. Industrial factories will employ workers in faraway countries. Now, when you look at the greatest American brands, Barbies and Fisher-Price are made in China, Levis and Nike in Vietnam, Ford in Mexico, Converse shoes in Indonesia, and Samsonite in India.
The astrophysicist also claims the future technology will be remarkable and could serve mankind. However, only a few people will have power over it, so sorry no greater cause. Better fly into space for fun while people are dying of curable diseases and don’t have money for insulin.
Unfortunately, those who can change something won’t even be able to understand what’s going on. Remember climate change? Military interventions fought for democracy? The mental health of people working like dogs so those guys can go to space again? Vaccines they hoard and then throw away instead of sending them to poor places where a deadly virus mutates into more contagious variants in a never-ending cycle?
It seems monopolists’ lobbying is stronger than any sense of politicians’ morality and justice.
And those who work all day and watch TV in the evening believe the political stars on their plasma screens. They are too tired and desperate for critical thinking anyway. With a bit of propaganda and storytelling, you can win them over and promise a better future once the elections pass. Then you can go back to serving lobbies.
Those who don’t believe public servants anymore will try to find the meaning in their little parts of the universe. In their homes spending hours on social media or trying to enter the metaphysical world via some simple rituals.
Sagan predicts people will lose faith in science. Like they don’t trust pharmaceutical companies and medicine today? Like they swallow Ivermectin without consulting a doctor to cure COVID-19?
Sagan is right again and no wonder people won’t trust science. Humans will be guided with some beliefs in the supernatural because life is too unpredictable and scary to rely on reason. You don’t need facts, you need someone to tell you everything’s gonna be all right. Science doesn’t do that.
How people in 2017 reacted to Sagan’s quote
When Charles Bergquist posted the quote, people started to respond:
Oh, yes, remember Trump’s Inauguration speech? The poor American nation whom he would restore single-handedly. He said factories had been closed while politicians had prospered. He was right: Establishments lived better than ever while common people were struggling. He just came to power and the Democrats were shocked and appalled. Was the end near with an orange tycoon in power?
But those who lived outside the USA could see the bigger picture. Trump’s speech was propaganda but it was neither the first nor the last one. His foreign politics would soon be similar to his predecessors’. The world has already seen it all. America has been going through a historical cycle typical of every world power, or as one Twitter user wrote:
“There is a preponderance of the evidence that *many* civilizations rose to great heights, and had massive falls from grace.”
Still, it’s hard to believe your motherland is slipping and tripping since it’s the greatest.
Back to Sagan’s quote. Some people saw his “awesome technological powers in the hands of a very few,” as billions of dollars owned by very few people. Others interpreted them as the powers of social and mass media:
“Communication under the control of the very few. Facebook, Google, Twitter, Foxnews, CNN…”
Some tweeps saw the “crystals we are clutching at” as our cell phones. There’s a lot of magic and comfort in virtual reality when the outside world is teeming with injustice and pain.
Still, if you step back, you’ll see social media depriving us of the quality of real life.
There were Twitter users who saw people’s “critical faculties in decline” as the trend of bad education all over the world. Anyway, smart is funny. We’ve been mocking nerds in the movie industry for at least forty years now.
Someone found the text following Sagan’s quote. It supported the theory about education:
“As I write, the number one video cassette rental in America is the movie “Dumb and Dumber”. “Beavis and Butthead” remains popular (and influential) with young TV viewers. The plain lesson is that study and learning — not just science, but of anything — are avoidable, even desirable.”
It’s the year 2021 and people live how Sagan predicted at the end of the 20th century. And after reading his quote on Twitter, many called him a prophet. Bergquist himself wondered if Sagan either had had the time machine or a crystal ball. But considering his stand on spirituality and mysticism, it must have been the time machine. Or it’s just that sometimes you can see the future clearly although it looks like a nightmare to others.
Sources:
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, Library of Congress
A disturbing 1995 prediction by Carl Sagan accurately describes America of today, Big Think
Yes, the Eerie Carl Sagan Prediction That’s Going Viral Is Real, Gizmodo
The Incipient Unraveling Of The Western World As Seen By Visionary Spanish Philosopher José Ortega y Gasset (1929)
Las mejores frases de José Ortega y Gasset
“Enamorarse es sentirse encantado por algo, y algo sólo puede encantar si es o parece ser perfección”.
“El amor auténtico se encuentra siempre hecho. En este amor un ser queda adscrito de una vez para siempre y del todo a otro ser. Es el amor que empieza con el amor”.
“El amor, a quien pintan ciego, es vidente y perspicaz porque el amante ve cosas que el indiferente no ve y por eso ama”.
“Los hombres más capaces de pensar sobre el amor son los que menos lo han vivido; y los que lo han vivido suelen ser incapaces de meditar sobre él”.
“El progreso no consiste en aniquilar hoy el ayer, sino, al revés, en conservar aquella esencia del ayer que tuvo la virtud de crear ese hoy mejor”.
“La belleza que atrae rara vez coincide con la belleza que enamora”.
“El malvado descansa algunas veces; el necio jamás”.
“El deseo muere automáticamente cuando se logra: fenece al satisfacerse. El amor en cambio, es un eterno insatisfecho”.
“No hay amor sin instinto sexual. El amor usa de este instinto como de una fuerza brutal, como el bergantín usa el viento”.
“A la república solo ha de salvarla pensar en grande, sacudirse de lo pequeño y proyectar hacia lo porvenir”.
“De querer ser a creer que se es ya va la distancia de lo trágico o lo cómico”.
“El hombre no tiene naturaleza, sólo tiene historia”.
"Stupid People Are Too Stupid To Know They're Stupid"... And That's Just The Beginning
"Pardon Him, Theodotus; He Is A Barbarian And Thinks That The Customs Of His Tribe And Island Are The Laws Of Nature." George Bernard Shaw On The Nature Of Personal Stupidity And Social Stupefaction
"The Decisive Distinction Between People Who Can Think And Those Who Can't"
"A Confession: I'm Starting To Write Off Stupid People As Incorrigible"
Education Or Catastrophe (With Special Emphasis On The Teaching Of History)
Compendium Of Best "Pax" Posts On The Cornerstone Necessity Of Education
Thanks to George J. Ziogas.
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