Thor Muller

Carl Sagan in the house

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:07:27 -0700

Recently, I noticed that Carl Sagan’s Cosmos was available on Netflix and I was blasted back to my 8 year old self, stumbling into the living room while my parents watched Carl wax eloquent from his dandelion-shaped starship. I have a few flashbulb memories from the show, such as Carl calculating the total number of alien civilizations that might be likely given the trillions (now known to be sextillions) of stars. Even more I remember him calculating the number of those civilizations that would have self-destructed once they were able to destroy themselves with nuclear weapons. The show was nothing if not reflective of its late cold war context. Only a few years later the country would be transfixed in front of The Day After, the ultimate downer of a made-for-tv movie that summed up the flip-side of Reagan’s “morning in America.”

So it was with these complicated feelings that I sat Quinn, my eleven year-old, in front of the TV and made him watch with me. What struck me these many years later was not the cold war mood, but the deep spiritual feeling that Carl brought to his exploration of science. His lecture on discovery and the vastness of space is a secular sermon, and an incredibly moving one at that. As the first episode went on, this feeling only deepened, and my sense of loss of Carl in the world deepened with it.

In college, at the University of Iowa, I saw Carl give a lecture once. I’m ashamed to say I only remember two things about it. 1. He asserted that he never actually used the words, “billions and billions” which the SNL-caricature of him famously used. It seemed to really bother him (to be fair, I have heard him say “Billions” in precisely the way the caricature does, just not in its doublet form). 2. A guy stood up during the Q&A portion and proceeded to talk for several minutes about nothing anybody in the audience could understand. We thought it must be something too smart for our liberal arts ears. Then Carl responded: “I have no earthly idea what you just said, but I thank you for your comment.” We felt in good company!

So I had some personal connection to the man, but we never really got close.

The next week after watching the first few episodes, Quinn went to school, where he and his peers were visited by a geologist. They talked about the history of the universe, the earth and life. Quinn was proud that he had command of many of the ideas fresh on his mind. He came home ready to watch more episodes.

While poking around YouTube together that night he spotted a video of Carl Sagan from 1966. What a find it was. A fresh-faced Carl sitting next to a large, eye-patch wearing CIA operative being interviewed by Walter Cronkite about the rash of recent flying saucer sightings. The CIA guy said a few words and then let the young Cornell professor explain his research findings.

He easily demolished the “evidence” and logic of the UFO sightings. But what really stood out was his explanation: the reportings of alien visitations had a pattern—the aliens were deeply concerned with the fate of humanity, were virtually omnipotent with the unimaginable powers, and they came in white robes. This was religion, not science! he said. In the scientific age people could no longer believe in a personal God, so they were transferring the deep desire for one onto a pseudo-scientific alien race.

After the explanation, Walter Cronkite thanked them and said, “there you have it folks. The best science in the world concludes that there are no flying saucers.” It was a response almost impossible to imagine a major network news anchor having today to an objectively stated atheistic statement. The impression I have watching this archival video is that this was an age with much more mainstream respect for science as a fundamental way of understanding the world.

If scientists in 1966 had broadly stated a climate change threat our response likely would have been very different than the broad denial we see today (we did respond to Sputnik by putting men on the moon, after all). I hate to think it but maybe climate change hit forty years too late for us to have the cultural intelligence to respond to it. Perhaps Carl’s worry about nuclear Armageddon was only slightly misplaced.

Bow ties are cool. (Taken with Instagram at Vernon)

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:29:01 -0700

Bow ties are cool. (Taken with Instagram at Vernon)

The view from the penthouse. (Taken with Instagram at The Ritz...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:48:49 -0700

The view from the penthouse. (Taken with Instagram at The Ritz Carlton Hotel)

Pagoda in Blue (Taken with instagram)

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:59:16 -0800

Pagoda in Blue (Taken with instagram)

Soda boy (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:02:44 -0800

Soda boy (Taken with instagram)

Fog lights (Taken with instagram)

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:00:09 -0800

Fog lights (Taken with instagram)

Breakfasting Southern-style before my trip home. (Taken with...

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 08:25:58 -0800

Breakfasting Southern-style before my trip home. (Taken with Instagram at Waffle House)

It takes a lot of LCD screens to run a cable news network....

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:57:23 -0800

It takes a lot of LCD screens to run a cable news network. (Taken with Instagram at CNN Center)

My little plane to Toronto (Taken with Instagram at Gate G32)

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:16:00 -0800

My little plane to Toronto (Taken with Instagram at Gate G32)

NYFD 4Ever (Taken with instagram)

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:14:05 -0800

NYFD 4Ever (Taken with instagram)

The kids at my son’s “maker school” are doing...

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:27:51 -0700

The kids at my son’s “maker school” are doing full-on building construction. This is Kid-land in progress. (Taken with instagram)

What does it MEAN??? (Taken with Instagram at Under The Bay...

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:40:44 -0700

What does it MEAN??? (Taken with Instagram at Under The Bay Bridge)

Lasers #tomkat (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 19:44:21 -0700

Lasers #tomkat (Taken with instagram)

Morning comes at last, and with it a wedding day. #tomkat ...

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 07:53:48 -0700

Morning comes at last, and with it a wedding day. #tomkat (Taken with Instagram at Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa)

A date with…destiny? #tomkat (Taken with Instagram at Park...

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:36:29 -0700

A date with…destiny? #tomkat (Taken with Instagram at Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa)

Young Charles Manson awoke to the smelll of bacon and visions of...

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 11:43:34 -0700

Young Charles Manson awoke to the smelll of bacon and visions of vengeance dancing in his head /cc @jonathangrubb (Taken with Instagram at Mullertown West)

RVIP in peace (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 03:54:35 -0700

RVIP in peace (Taken with instagram)

Epic night unfolding on the RVIP Lounge roving through SF /cc...

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 23:21:43 -0700

Epic night unfolding on the RVIP Lounge roving through SF /cc @amylola and @portia (Taken with instagram)

Young muralists at work (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:14:46 -0700

Young muralists at work (Taken with instagram)

Shopping while Rome burns (Taken with Instagram at Costco)

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:10:05 -0700

Shopping while Rome burns (Taken with Instagram at Costco)