Carl Sagan Essays (Examples)

descendents of Adam and Eve, but it's more difficult for people who demand logic. Ever thought how, when and why did the universe evolve? Why were the apes and monkeys created with striking resemblance to humans? What's the reason that you were created? Ever thought what actually a 'thought' is -- a materialistic existence, or a physiochemical phenomenon? Ever thought how did your intelligence evolve? Ever tried making silly guess about how did human come up with this state of behavior and what is reason behind his complex thought generation? Can you identify the evolutionary purpose of sleep and dream, that of signs language and that of innate fears and myths? What decides the intelligence level? This is all discussed in an 'inteligen-to-meter', Pulitzer Prize Winning, 1977 book by Carl Sagan, The Dragons of the Eden- Speculations on the evolution of the human intelligence, to guage the ever arrogant human…

Despite the fact that these programs are making every effort to not present a "balanced view" of the topics they cover, they still incite a "thirst" for the topic. In fact, by producing such "wonder" regarding phenomena that is explainable via the scientific method and a skeptical approach, these programs are actually motivating readers to perform their own research and studies on these topics. Such research could certainly inspire students to pursue various aspects of science related to those depicted on television that captivate their imagination the most, and allow for them to enter that field as a result. The disclaimer even adds to this sort of result. By readily acknowledging to viewers that there are alternate opinions and considerations related to a specific subject, the disclaimers for these pseudoscience programs are actually encouraging viewers to perform their own research -- the most prudent of which inevitably involves the scientific…

He is both likeable and credible in his delivery. His topic is one that arouses anger in many, because their faith does not allow them to see his truth. Is it only Sagan's truth? This analysis illustrates that through clear presentation, concise case building, appeal to emotion on a familiar level, and common values, that the truth belongs to everyone. He does not profess to have all the answers. The author simply points to the consequences of ignorance in the past and the possible penalty of ignorance for the future. He allows for counter argument and refutes each with clearly defined logic. He does not allow for organized religion, but he does allow for spirituality. He writes, "hen we recognize our place in an immensity of light-years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of…

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There are few Carl Sagans in the world today. Sagan was a dynamic scientist whose discussions about the universe were conveyed an excitement about the unknown and the opportunities for exploration that was contagious. There is a weighty apathy that permeates the American collective that needs to be reinvigorated with the excitement, hope, pride and enthusiasm of yesterday. It is perhaps time to move beyond the shuttle and space station programs, and time for more in depth exploration and colonization of the moon with an eye towards that as a jumping off point for a manned mission to Mars. It is time for NASA to be innovative, and to think of tomorrow by encouraging and attracting the youth of today - perhaps with video games that incorporate the science of space exploration and development. One never knows what untapped young genius might become the next great space explorer.

Today,…

"It is not just a Catholic and Protestant Debate"(13).
Some Catholic statements, like the 1968 papal encyclical Humanae Vitae, condemn the practice on grounds of the created order, which is thought to be structured in such a way that all sexual expression must be open to procreation. Other statements, notably various declarations issued from 1969 to 1989 by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) in the U.S. appeal instead to the nature of the human person and the idea that life begins at conception. Abortion must be rejected, such statements argue, because it terminates a human life. Yet a third subgroup can be identified. Statements like the NCCB's well-known 1983 pastoral on peace and the Catholic bishops of France's 1979 declaration do not emphasize the doctrines of creation and human persons but argue against abortion by granting priority to the gospel.

In addition, in the Protestant Church, several statements…

Search for Extraterrestrial Life: The Existence of Non-Human Intelligent Beings in Our Galaxy
The possibility of extraterrestrial life has always intrigued philosophers, scientists, theologians and even lay people for centuries. The fascinating question of whether there are other intelligent creatures in space, however, remains unsolved despite technological advancements in science particularly because thus far, there still lacks conclusive evidence. Motivations for the search for non-human life range from scientific and philosophical levels, technical and practical levels, to even the need to eliminate the loneliness of the human race in time and space. Scientists and astronomers remain committed to the search because the answer to this question has profound consequences: it will explain the nature and destiny of intelligent life on the universe, the culmination of evolution in different galaxies and provide more insight on the role of human beings on the universe, as well as what they are capable of…

That is not to suggest that scientific criteria can necessarily pinpoint any specific instant or moment in time when a developing fetus can logically be considered a living human being, but only because such precision is impossible.
In principle, there is no doubt that medical science can identify the various stages of fetal development associated with the biological structures and processes that make us human. Likewise, they can identify the point where suffering becomes possible because neurological development produces the ability to perceive pain (Levine, 2008).

Therefore, the appropriate use of scientific criteria would be to link ethical concern for the fetus to sentience, and simply to err on the side of caution where pinpoint identification of sentience is impossible to know with certainty.

In principle, science (the discipline) is strictly objective; in practice, scientists are susceptible to human failings such as malice, egoism, and greed. The field of ethics…

DEFENDING a OMEN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE ABORTION
Abortion, or the elective termination of pregnancy likely predates recorded human history, being practiced within virtually every society throughout the world.(6)

In 1973, the United States Supreme Court very specifically decided that the United

States Constitution affords a fundamental right to individual privacy that absolutely prohibits governmental interference with a women's autonomous right to seek medical termination of unwanted pregnancy, except where deemed necessary to safeguard the woman's health paternalistically.(4) Ever since the legal issue was decided by the Supreme Court in 1973, a so-called pro-life lobby, spearheaded by religious opposition to any type of abortion has campaigned for and funded the proposition of legislation and policies designed to undermine the rights recognized and established under constitutional law in the United States.

Ultimately, the United States Constitution requires that the appropriate guidelines for defining legally permissible abortion rights and relative concern for the…

, 2005).
Even within the United States, the education system has proven itself to be extremely vulnerable to the detrimental influence of intellectual corruption by the excessive entanglement of ideology and formal education. Specifically, the infamous Scopes Trial featured the criminal prosecution for teaching evolutionary biology because it conflicted with prevailing religious dogma (Davidson, 1999). Much more recently, a conservative political agenda has dominated the educational systems of individual American states in which educational administrative authorities have sought (in some cases, quite successfully) to promote religious or quasi-religious dogma under the very thinly veiled guise of teaching nonsense such as "Intelligent Design" (Feldman, 2005; Mooney, 2005). Specifically, that approach (in conjunction with renewed attempts to challenge the legitimacy of established evolutionary science) was a deliberate attempt to promote particular religious beliefs in a manner designed to circumvent very explicit constitutional prohibition against that church-state entanglement (Feldman, 2005; Mooney, 2005).

Ultimately,…

Stellar parallax would be the theory conjured by Greek astrologists as a way to understand the distance of objects according to their optical size and shape. Stars could be measured based on their size and position in the sky, helping to create a more scientific comprehension of the scale of the galaxy.
3.

The general content of this chapter though is founded on the quote drawn from Carl Sagan. Bennett quotes the famous cosmologist when he indicates that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." (24) To illustrate this point, he provides nothing less than a history of scientific inquiry, referencing such historical touchstones as Ptolemy, Aristotle, Newton and Kepler. This narrative underscores the historical perspective on science, which denotes that the revolutionary provision of evidence by one thinker will build a foundation for the further evolution in any given field by his eventual successors.

orks Cited:

Bennett, J. (2008). Beyond UFOs:…

By eliminating supposed purpose and meaning that derives from delusional cultural beliefs in Creators and supposed "Gods," existentialism actually allows individuals to create genuine meaning by defining its purpose realistically rather than supernaturally.
Personal Constructs:

Personal constructs comprise individual beliefs, responses, and expectations of the behavior of others based on the individual's cumulative personal interpretation of interpersonal relationships and experiences with other people. Personal constructs may differ substantially from person to person even though exposed to many similar experiences because of the influence of hereditary factors, family dynamics, and subtle natural idiosyncratic intellectual and psychological differences.

Constructive Alternativism:

Constructive alternativism is a psychological approach that, in general, rejects traditional models of psychological therapy in which therapists assume a leadership position in favor of a model in which therapists simply assist patients discover the truth by examining the patient's perspective. More specifically, constructive alternativism relies on data in the form of…

Still, getting the right kind of care, at the right time, is often a struggle for patients. My friend passed away from her illness, but her experience opened my eyes to the need to mesh the personal needs of the patient with more effective diagnostic and treatment solutions. I had always wanted to embark upon a financial career, but now I knew what type of entrepreneurship I wished to devote my life to -- biotechnology.
Early detection must become a vital component of the war on cancer. Improving screening as well as the quality of treatment, pharmaceuticals, and care are critical components of the emerging 21st century heath care paradigm. Finding a way to financially contain costs, dispense care in a comprehensive and ethical fashion, and creating an effective strategy of prevention will all become the focus of the business of medicine. By becoming part of this graduate program, I…

Technology
There are a slew of Hollywood movies that directly or indirectly address the role of technology and its impact on human society and individual psychology. From 2001: A Space Odyssey to Wall-E, films about technology cause viewers to think about their own relationship with machines. One such movie is the 1997 film Contact, directed by obert Zemeckis and starring Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, and James Woods. Based on a book written by renowned scientist Carl Sagan, Contact is about the partially government-funded Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project. ooted in real life scientific endeavors, Contact is about the men and women dedicated to using technology to foster a greater human understanding of the Earth's and humanity's place within the universe. The film shows that technology is often mistrusted as a means by which to expand human consciousness; and that the masses of humanity too often fear technology because of…

.. (p. 79).
Conclusion

The research showed that Walker has "ridden the horse" that got him there and has parlayed his country music savvy into an enormous commercial success. Today, Walker has eleven number one single hits to his credit and has sold more than eight million albums. Moreover, Walker's forthrightness and courage following his diagnosis with multiple sclerosis has further endeared him to his legions of fans, and his country music continues to enjoy stellar sales. The last chapter has clearly not been written in the Clay Walker book, and most observers agree that he will continue to enjoy a highly popular career in the years to come.

eferences

Andsager, J.L. & oe, K. (1999). Country Music Video in Country's Year of the Woman. Journal of Communication, 49(1), 79. etrieved January 31, 2005 from Questia Library Database.

Carr, P., Cash, J. And Mcdill, B. (March-April 1998). The row on…

teaching space science. There are various complexities that affect the way that astronomy is taught, not the least of which is the enormity of scale that space science involves.
One of the basic requirements for understanding astronomy is coming to terms with the vastness of the universe. For example, a basic unit of astronomical measurement is the light year. Merriam-ebster defines the light year as "a unit of length in astronomy equal to the distance that light travels in one year in a vacuum or about 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers" (2011). hile this definition conveys factual data, it does little to make the concept real, that is, accessible to the average student.

Moreover, trying to convey the reality of light traveling at the unimaginably fast speed of 299,792 kilometers per second (186,282 miles per second) is indeed mind-boggling. Even at such amazing speeds, light takes years to…

Unilateralism and Preemptive Defense
The arguments for unilateralism and preemptive strikes outlined by conservative historians appear logical and well-documented but are essentially wrought with contradiction. In his recent documentary film called Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore delivered the premise that American culture is built on the promotion of fear. Fear underlies American foreign policy, especially after the terrorist attacks of September 11. In fact, those attacks offered the Bush administration easy fodder for propaganda to promote unilateralism and preemptive strikes on other nations. In spite of the huge practical leap from Bin Laden to Iraq, the administration launched its attacks on that nation with impunity and in spite of massive international opposition. The willingness of the American government to act without the slightest respect for the United Nations proves that America as a whole is under the spell of a cultural superiority complex. This complex is not only psychologically dangerous,…

It wasn't until the 1920s and '30s that their blue-collar counterparts began to get paid vacations as well.
Americans in the late 20th century "worked more days per year than workers in other prosperous nations, such as those in Europe, yet on average, had less vacation time (Sabga, 2001)." Americans averaged two to three weeks off a year, in sharp contrast to many European nations which guaranteed up to six weeks a year. This is due to the fact "unlike in other countries, particularly Europe, vacations in the United States are not guaranteed by the government (Sabga, 2001)."

oles of Women

Women have played important roles in science and technology, however many times they have faced "social, economic, and intellectual obstacles (Kohlstedt, 2004)." In the early 20th century, the United States benefited from the efforts of "women of distinction like Anna

Botsford Comstock and Ellen Swallow ichards, while in Europe…

Loss of loved ones is always traumatic and always requires sort-term and long-term emotional recovery. In situations where the family has the opportunity to hold a funeral ritual and also to include the remains in whatever particular way their culture prescribes, the funeral ritual provides an opportunity to fully (and publicly) express grief in the manner that (at least) eliminates the unconscious (or repressed) grief of loss that can otherwise re-emerge long after the typical grieving process. Families who have certainty about the loss of their loved one also have the opportunity afforded by psychological closure to begin the long-term process of emotional recovery to the normalcy of life without acute emotional sorrow or worry.
By contrast, in situations where their surviving family members lack certainty about the loss and have no opportunity to hold a funeral ritual, surviving family members may not have an opportunity to fully (or publicly)…

Both of them are very accurate but they do not work together and he tried to solve that problem for the rest of his life. Einstein knew that this problem would have to be solved if we wanted to understand exactly what happened to create the universe in the very first instant of time.
If Albert Einstein were alive today, he would also be trying to stop war because he was very opposed to warfare between nations. He would also be working to promote nuclear power plants for energy and to reduce or eliminate nuclear weapons as much as possible. During World War II, Einstein knew it was necessary to invent the atomic bomb to end the war but he was very opposed to nuclear weapons otherwise.

eferences

Goldsmith, D. (1997). The Ultimate Einstein. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Hawking, S. (2001). The Universe in a Nutshell. New…

saw a customer at a local food store 'sporting' a reusable grocery bag. But she was buying some plastic garbage bags. This immediately caused me to wonder: might it not be more efficient to stock biodegradable disposable grocery bags that people could use to transport groceries and then use at home as garbage can liners? Perhaps this might cause the least waste of all. After all, although reusable grocery bags may seem better than simply using plastic, disposable bags and throwing them out, many people reuse the disposable bags rather than purchasing grocery bags (which come with packaging and generate other types of waste, through the process of manufacturing and distributing the products).
Another danger of using recyclable grocery bags is that they may be viewed as a panacea, while they do nothing to contain the tremendous waste that results from the use of almost all packaged products, and the…

Smith notes that it may be impossible to unequivocally prove something with one hundred percent accuracy; rather, scientists seek probability.
The term theory is often misconstrued: Smith states that "theories always explain facts." Moreover, there is no clear demarcation between a theory and a hypothesis. Theories are basically broad hypotheses. Laws, on the other hand, are more restrictive and are often derived from theories. The practice of science entails experimentation as well as presentation to the scientific community. When the research is presented to other scientists, it is usually done so through peer-reviewed journals. Often other scientists will critique and critically evaluate the scientific experiment and attempt to replicate it. When the experiment has been replicated the hypothesis may become part of the canon of established science and from there, common knowledge.

Because science can only deal with what is observable and measurable, it can not apply to philosophy, aesthetics,…