4 rules of Carl Sagan, that will change your way of thinking
Tips / / December 19, 2019
People may deceive himself over the years, wishful thinking, and without questioning the dubious things. And this applies to all areas of life, ranging from small errors in the home and ending with serious personal settings, which can destroy lives. What is more important: the search for truth or pleasant illusion?
Below we describe the four rules of life of Carl Sagan, who has devoted his life to finding the truth, I put forward a set of hypotheses about the space that has not yet been disproved, and helped ordinary people to learn more about how our arranged Universe.
Sagan (1934-1996)
American astronomer and astrophysicist, author of books popularizing science, the author and narrator of the mini-series "Space: a personal journey."
If you apply these four rules in your life, you will be able to learn and understand a lot more to become a scholar and a good storyteller, a fighter for truth and justice, and a cheerful person who always knows that it is possible to look at the problem from different sides.
Kit for the detection of false information
Sagan was primarily a scientist, which determines its particular view of the world. In his latest book "A world full of demons. Science - like a candle in the dark"He said that could be called" kit for the detection of nonsense. "
This kit helps to test argument and find out what information is false. And it's a great tool for developing critical thinking. Here is part of the "set":
- Wherever possible, there should be an independent confirmation of the facts.
- Encourage debate with evidence between supporters of different points of view.
- Arguments "authoritative" experts have no more weight than the statements of the other participants in the debate. "Authorities" were wrong in the past, what prevents them from doing so in the future? In science, there is no concept of "authorities", or at least there are experts here.
- Do not use only hypothesis and conjectures. If there are strange moments, try to find an explanation for them, with approaching from different directions. Then think of how these explanations can be checked by means of tests and refute all but one - the faithful. So you will be much more likely to come across the right answer than simply clinging to the first available theory that you feel successful.
- You should not rest against the idea simply because it is yours. Your hypothesis - it's just another point on the path to knowledge. Ask yourself why you prefer this particular idea, compare it with alternative views, think about what would make you abandon it. If you do not come up with this, come up with others.
This set of tips is suitable not only for science. It is good for any dispute or discussion - from the presidential debate before the debate at the dinner table. The better you define false information, the stronger will be your arguments and more correct - conclusion.
Carefully study your own beliefs
If a person wants something to be true, it is very easy to begin to believe it. Especially if it is impossible to prove. Here is an excerpt from the memoirs of the daughter of Carl Sagan of his father talking. Astrophysicist tried to explain to his daughter that he is thinking about the existence of the afterlife.
He very gently told me that could be dangerous to believe in something simply because you want it to be true. You can greatly mistaken, if not to question their beliefs, and especially the views of "respected" people. He said that all that really exists, can be checked by the study.
This applies not only to the afterlife and your religion, but also applies to all your beliefs in this life. Do you believe that love some things and others can not stand that you are good in one case and the other would amount to nothing.
You think so just because you want it to be true, you rinse your brains themselves erect a wall between themselves and something new.
Often check their beliefs, any of them, even the most "reinforced concrete" can be misleading.
Be aware of their place in the Universe
So easy to get lost in their own problems and forget about the rest of the world. In his opening speech, dedicated to the famous shot Pale Blue Dot ( «The pale blue dot" picture of planet Earth, made with the greatest possible distance from the it with a probe "Voyager 1"), Carl Sagan reminded of how much importance we attach to their problems, and how little they actually mean in the scale Universe. Here is an excerpt of the speech:
Our posturing, our imagined importance, the illusion of our privileged status in the universe - they all succumb to this point of pale light. Our planet - only a single speck of dust in the surrounding darkness of space. In this great emptiness there is no hint of the fact that someone would come to help us in order to save us from our own ignorance.
In his books and in the mini-series "Cosmos" Carl Sagan continues to reveal the subject. Such ideas, and he repeated to his daughter:
Right at that moment you live. It's amazing. If you believe in the fact that millions of different variations lead to the birth of one particular person, you should be grateful for what you are - are you at this very moment. Think of the incredible amount of potential alternative universes where your ancestors have never met and you will never exist.
Moreover, you have the pleasure of living on the planet, where you can breathe the air, drink the water and enjoy the warmth of our nearest star. We are linked through DNA with generations of ancestors, and even more - with the whole universe, because the material for each of our body cells was prepared in the stars hearts. We consist of stellar material.
Awareness of such a scale and of their place in this world is fun and unusual sensations, but that can be obtained in addition to them?
As you can see, you can look at any problem from different points of view: in your life your scale problems mean a lot, but they do not mean anything on the scale of one planet, not to mention the scale Universe.
When you solve problems or have a negative and painful memories, just try to look at it from the other side and you will see that everything is not so bad.
Diversify your knowledge
So easy to get stuck in one area knowledge and spend all your time on her studies. However it is known that the third-party projects and unusual activities for you to help develop skills.
The desire to diversify their knowledge helps to understand that you will always have something to work on.
Sagan was aware of this, and despite the fact that a large part of his time was spent on space exploration, he found time for other things. Here is a list of books to be read from a Library of Congress, which shows how various interests were Carl Sagan.
- Tale "Immoralist" Andre Gide.
- The tragedy "Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare.
- "The State", Plato.
- "History of Western Philosophy: Kant and the Nineteenth Century ', Vol IV of, Jones.
- "Education - a way to freedom," Robert Maynard Hutchins.
This is only some of the topics which interested Sagan. It read literature list was huge number of works, including short stories by contemporary authors like Huxley and Bradbury.
Sagan realized how important it is to diversify your knowledge in the field of science a variety of information about the real world - from politics and philosophy to literature.
New knowledge in various fields provide a fresh look at things and develop creative thinking.
Perhaps that is why Carl Sagan was not only an outstanding scientist, but also a great storyteller and interesting to talk to.
If you are a professional in the business, or even in a few areas, there will always be areas where you know nothing about and do not know.
Here is a huge ocean of information. Continue to explore the world, and you will become a knowledgeable person and a wonderful storyteller, and beliefs, and thinking itself never zakosteneyut.