Science is a way to not fool ourselves.
Carl SaganRead
The prediction of nuclear winter is drawn not, of course, from any direct experience with the consequences of global nuclear war, but rather from an investigation of the governing physics.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights that the concept of nuclear winter is based on scientific investigation rather than firsthand experience.
Carl Sagan emphasizes that the idea of nuclear winter, which refers to the severe climatic effects following a global nuclear war, is not derived from actual experiences of such events but from a thorough understanding of the underlying physics. This insight serves as a reminder of the need to rely on scientific inquiry to comprehend potential catastrophic outcomes.
Themes
Nuclear WinterScienceGlobal WarClimate ChangePhysics
In practice
Example use cases
In a climate change conference, one could reference this quote to highlight the scientific basis of the consequences of nuclear warfare.
More from Carl Sagan
All quotes βIn more than one respect, the exploring of the Solar System and homesteading other worlds constitutes the beginning, much more than the end, of history.
Carl SaganRead
How smart does a chimpanzee have to be before killing him constitutes murder?
Carl SaganRead
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.
Carl SaganRead
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.
Carl SaganRead
The simplest thought, like the concept of the number one, has an elaborate logical underpinning.
Carl SaganRead
Similar quotes
If you ask almost any of them, 'Do you stand behind your theory? Is this the answer?' I think almost everyone would say, 'No, no, no. I'm just trying to expand the range of possibilities.' We really don't know what's going on.
Saul PerlmutterRead
The challenge of global warming should stimulate a whole raft of manifestly benign innovations - for conserving energy and generating it by 'clean' means (biofuels, innovative renewables, carbon sequestration, and nuclear fusion).
Martin ReesRead
I have not been able to discover the cause of those properties of gravity from phenomena, and I frame no hypotheses; for whatever is not deduced from the phenomena is to be called a hypothesis, and hypotheses, whether metaphysical or physical, whether of occult qualities or mechanical, have no place in experimental philosophy.
Isaac NewtonRead
In the last analysis the entire field of psychology may reduce to biological electrochemistry.
Sigmund FreudRead
As a theoretician, I am proud to be part of a counter revolution... discovering that quantum field theory language was not dead and finished but had not really been explored thoroughly enough.
Peter HiggsRead
Remember that all models are wrong; the practical question is how wrong do they have to be to not be useful.
George E. P. BoxRead