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Quotations

Carl SAGAN and Ann DRUYAN


"As the infant is said to feel it is the center of its Universe, so we were once sure, not just of our central position, but that the Universe was made for us. This old, comfortable conceit, this safe view of the world has been crumbling for five centuries. The more we understood of how the world is put together, the less we needed to invoke a God or gods, and the more remote in time and causality any divine intervention had to be. The cost of coming of age is giving up the security blanket. Adolescence is a roller coaster ride.
The distasteful prospect of an indifferent Universe -- or worse, a meaningless Universe -- has generated fear, denial, ennui, and the sense that science is an instrument of alienation...
If the Universe really were made for us, if there really is a benevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient God, then science has done something cruel and heartless, whose chief virtue would perhaps be a testing of our ancient faiths. But if the Universe is heedless of our aspirations and our destiny, science provides the greatest possible service by awakening us to our true circumstances. In accord with the unforgiving principle of natural selection, we are charged with our own preservation -- under penalty of extinction."

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, A Search for Who We Are



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