Carl%20Sagan%20-%20The%20Demon%20Haunted%20World

The Man in the Moon and the Face on Mars
confined than nature intended.' By what process he has plumbed
the intentions of Nature is not revealed.
Of the images he presents, Michell concludes that
their mystery remains essentially untouched, a constant
source of wonder, delight and speculation. All we know for
sure is that nature created them and at the same time gave us
the apparatus to perceive them and minds to appreciate their
endless fascination. For the greatest profit and enjoyment
they should be viewed as nature intended, with the eye of
innocence, unclouded by theories and preconceptions, with
the manifold vision, innate in all of us, that enriches and
dignifies human life, rather than with the cultivated single
vision of the dull and opinionated.
Perhaps the most famous spurious claim of a portentous pattern
involves the canals of Mars. First observed in 1877, they were
seemingly confirmed by a succession of dedicated professional
astronomers peering through large telescopes all over the
world. A network of single and double straight lines was
reported, crisscrossing the Martian surface and with such
uncanny geometrical regularity that they could only be of
intelligent origin. Evocative conclusions were drawn about a
parched and dying planet populated by an older and wiser
technical civilization dedicated to conservation of water
resources. Hundreds of canals were mapped and named. But,
oddly, they avoided showing up on photographs. The human
eye, it was suggested, could remember the brief instants of
perfect atmospheric transparency, while the undiscriminating
photographic plate averaged the few clear with the many blurry
moments. Some astronomers saw the canals. Many did not.
Perhaps certain observers were more skilled at seeing canals. Or
perhaps the whole business was some kind of perceptual delusion.
Much of the idea of Mars as an abode of life, as well as the
prevalence of 'Martians' in popular fiction, derives from the
canals. I myself grew up steeped in this literature, and when I
found myself an experimenter on the Mariner 9 mission to Mars -
the first spacecraft to orbit the red planet - naturally I was
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