Carl%20Sagan%20-%20The%20Demon%20Haunted%20World
Carl%20Sagan%20-%20The%20Demon%20Haunted%20World Carl%20Sagan%20-%20The%20Demon%20Haunted%20World
THE DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD divinely inspired - a phrase with many meanings. But what if it's simply made up by fallible humans? Miracles are attested, but what if they're instead some mix of charlatanry, unfamiliar states of consciousness, misapprehensions of natural phenomena and mental illness? No contemporary religion and no New Age belief seems to me to take sufficient account of the grandeur, magnificence, subtlety and intricacy of the Universe revealed by science. The fact that so little of the findings of modern science is prefigured in Scripture to my mind casts further doubt on its divine inspiration. But of course I might be wrong. Read the following two paragraphs - not to understand the science described, but to get a feeling for the author's style of thinking. He is facing anomalies, apparent paradoxes in physics; 'asymmetries' he calls them. What can we learn from them? It is known that Maxwell's electrodynamics - as usually understood at the present time - when applied to moving bodies, leads to asymmetries which do not appear to be inherent in the phenomena. Take, for example, the reciprocal electrodynamic action of a magnet and a conductor. The observable phenomenon here depends only on the relative motion of the conductor and the magnet, whereas the customary view draws a sharp distinction between the two cases in which either the one or the other of these bodies is in motion. For if the magnet is in motion and the conductor at rest, there arises in the neighbourhood of the magnet an electric field with a certain definite energy, producing a current at the places where parts of the conductor are situated. But if the magnet is stationary and the conductor in motion, no electric field arises in the neighbourhood of the magnet. In the conductor, however, we find an electromotive force, to which in itself there is no corresponding energy, but which gives rise - assuming equality of relative motion in the two cases discussed - to electric currents of the same path and intensity as those produced by the electric forces in the former case. 38
Science and Hope Examples of this sort, together with the unsuccessful attempts to discover any motion of the earth relative to the 'ether', suggest that the phenomena of electrodynamics as well as of mechanics possess no properties corresponding to the idea of absolute rest. They suggest rather that, as has already been shown to the first order of small quantities, the same laws of electrodynamics and optics will be valid for all frames of reference for which the equations of mechanics hold good. What is the author trying to tell us here? I'll try to explain the background later in this book. For now, we can perhaps recognize that the language is spare, technical, cautious, clear, and not a jot more complicated than it need be. You would not offhand guess from how it's phrased (or from its unostentatious title, 'On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies') that this article represents the crucial arrival of the theory of Special Relativity into the world, the gateway to the triumphant announcement of the equivalence of mass and energy, the deflation of the conceit that our small world occupies some 'privileged reference frame' in the Universe, and in several different ways an epochal event in human history. The opening words of Albert Einstein's 1905 paper are characteristic of the scientific report. It is refreshingly unselfserving, circumspect, understated. Contrast its restrained tone with, say, the products of modern advertising, political speeches, authoritative theological pronouncements - or for that matter the blurb on the cover of this book. Notice how Einstein's paper begins by trying to make sense of experimental results. Wherever possible, scientists experiment. Which experiments suggest themselves often depends on which theories currently prevail. Scientists are intent on testing those theories to the breaking point. They do not trust what is intuitively obvious. That the Earth is flat was once obvious. That heavy bodies fall faster than light ones was once obvious. That bloodsucking leeches cure most diseases was once obvious. That some people are naturally and by divine decree slaves was once obvious. That there is such a place as the centre of the Universe, and that the Earth sits in that exalted spot was once obvious. That there is 39
- Page 3 and 4: THE DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD Carl Sagan
- Page 5 and 6: The Demon-Haunted World Science as
- Page 7: To Tonio, My grandson. I wish you a
- Page 11 and 12: Contents Preface: My Teachers 1 1 T
- Page 13 and 14: Preface My Teachers It was a bluste
- Page 15 and 16: My Teachers started the project eag
- Page 17 and 18: My Teachers values, and see if your
- Page 19 and 20: The Most Precious Thing wipers rhyt
- Page 21 and 22: The Most Precious Thing magazines o
- Page 23 and 24: The Most Precious Thing issues? As
- Page 25 and 26: The Most Precious Thing children ha
- Page 27 and 28: The Most Precious Thing are seen as
- Page 29 and 30: The Most Precious Thing to find tha
- Page 31 and 32: The Most Precious Thing commanding
- Page 33 and 34: The Most Precious Thing magic power
- Page 35 and 36: The Most Precious Thing So pseudosc
- Page 37 and 38: The Most Precious Thing Pseudoscien
- Page 39 and 40: 2 Science and Hope Two men came to
- Page 41 and 42: Science and Hope 1656, attacking th
- Page 43 and 44: Science and Hope they may pretend,
- Page 45 and 46: Science and Hope will tell you wher
- Page 47 and 48: Science and Hope author doesn't kno
- Page 49: Science and Hope Joseph Taylor and
- Page 53 and 54: Science and Hope • Despite plenti
- Page 55 and 56: 3 The Man in the Moon and the Face
- Page 57 and 58: The Man in the Moon and the Face on
- Page 59 and 60: The Man in the Moon and the Face on
- Page 61 and 62: The Man in the Moon and the Face on
- Page 63 and 64: The Man in the Moon and the Face on
- Page 65 and 66: The Man in the Moon and the Face on
- Page 67 and 68: The Man in the Moon and the Face on
- Page 69 and 70: The Man in the Moon and the Face on
- Page 71 and 72: The Man in the Moon and the Face on
- Page 73 and 74: 4 Aliens 'Truly, that which makes m
- Page 75 and 76: Aliens question of whether responde
- Page 77 and 78: Aliens 1690, 'is not entertaining a
- Page 79 and 80: Aliens suck diseases out of the hum
- Page 81 and 82: Aliens accompanied by flashing ligh
- Page 83 and 84: Aliens sleight of hand, switched ge
- Page 85 and 86: Aliens A hoax? Impossible, almost e
- Page 87 and 88: Aliens following meticulous diagram
- Page 89 and 90: 5 Spoofing and Secrecy Trust a witn
- Page 91 and 92: Spoofing and Secrecy erosion of con
- Page 93 and 94: Spoofing and Secrecy radio receiver
- Page 95 and 96: Spoofing and Secrecy aircraft to mi
- Page 97 and 98: Spoofing and Secrecy other communic
- Page 99 and 100: Spoofing and Secrecy doing their co
THE DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD<br />
divinely inspired - a phrase with many meanings. But what if it's<br />
simply made up by fallible humans? Miracles are attested, but<br />
what if they're instead some mix of charlatanry, unfamiliar states<br />
of consciousness, misapprehensions of natural phenomena and<br />
mental illness? No contemporary religion and no New Age belief<br />
seems to me to take sufficient account of the grandeur, magnificence,<br />
subtlety and intricacy of the Universe revealed by science.<br />
The fact that so little of the findings of modern science is<br />
prefigured in Scripture to my mind casts further doubt on its<br />
divine inspiration.<br />
But of course I might be wrong.<br />
Read the following two paragraphs - not to understand the<br />
science described, but to get a feeling for the author's style of<br />
thinking. He is facing anomalies, apparent paradoxes in physics;<br />
'asymmetries' he calls them. What can we learn from them?<br />
It is known that Maxwell's electrodynamics - as usually<br />
understood at the present time - when applied to moving<br />
bodies, leads to asymmetries which do not appear to be<br />
inherent in the phenomena. Take, for example, the reciprocal<br />
electrodynamic action of a magnet and a conductor. The<br />
observable phenomenon here depends only on the relative<br />
motion of the conductor and the magnet, whereas the customary<br />
view draws a sharp distinction between the two cases<br />
in which either the one or the other of these bodies is in<br />
motion. For if the magnet is in motion and the conductor at<br />
rest, there arises in the neighbourhood of the magnet an<br />
electric field with a certain definite energy, producing a<br />
current at the places where parts of the conductor are<br />
situated. But if the magnet is stationary and the conductor in<br />
motion, no electric field arises in the neighbourhood of the<br />
magnet. In the conductor, however, we find an electromotive<br />
force, to which in itself there is no corresponding energy, but<br />
which gives rise - assuming equality of relative motion in the<br />
two cases discussed - to electric currents of the same path and<br />
intensity as those produced by the electric forces in the<br />
former case.<br />
38