Science is a way to not fool ourselves.
Carl SaganRead
It means nothing to be open to a proposition we don't understand.
Interpretation
Understanding is crucial for meaningful dialogue and decision-making.
This quote by Carl Sagan emphasizes the importance of comprehension in discussions or propositions. Being open to ideas is meaningless if one lacks the understanding required to evaluate or appreciate them, highlighting the necessity of knowledge and critical thinking in any engagement with new concepts.
In practice
In a debate, you can use this quote to emphasize the need for understanding before forming opinions.
Science is a way to not fool ourselves.
In more than one respect, the exploring of the Solar System and homesteading other worlds constitutes the beginning, much more than the end, of history.
How smart does a chimpanzee have to be before killing him constitutes murder?
The hole in the ozone layer is a kind of skywriting. At first it seemed to spell out our continuing complacency before a witch's brew of deadly perils. But perhaps it really tells of a newfound talent to work together to protect the global environment.
There is a reward structure in science that is very interesting: Our highest honors go to those who disprove the findings of the most revered among us. So Einstein is revered not just because he made so many fundamental contributions to science, but because he found an imperfection in the fundamental contribution of Isaac Newton.
The simplest thought, like the concept of the number one, has an elaborate logical underpinning.
For I now realize that what overcame me that evening was a sudden awareness of the power of intuition, the supra-logic that cuts out all routine processes of thought and leaps straight from problem to answer.
For to speak the truth, there are but few that care thus to spend their time, but choose rather to be speaking of things to no profit.
Something is aware of even the energy of confusion inside of you. There is no need to get unconfused. Leave it - it will pass.
An argument is made that there are just too many question marks about the near future; wouldn't it be better to wait until things clear up a bit? You know the prose: "Maintain buying reserves until current uncertainties are resolved," etc. Before reaching for that crutch, face up to two unpleasant facts: The future is never clear and you pay a very high price for a cheery consensus. Uncertainty actually is the friend of the buyer of long-term values.
It is natural to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes to that siren until she allures us to our death.
Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.
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