Science is a way to not fool ourselves.
Carl SaganRead
Some racists still reject the plain testimony written in the DNA that all the races are not only human but nearly indistinguishable. . . .
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the shared humanity of all races, suggesting that any racial distinctions are superficial.
Carl Sagan's quote addresses the irrationality of racism by highlighting the scientific reality that all humans share a common DNA that makes racial categories nearly indistinguishable. It serves as a reminder that biological differences among races are minimal and that embracing our shared humanity is essential for fostering understanding and tolerance.
In practice
During a diversity training workshop to emphasize the importance of recognizing our shared humanity.
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.
If a man is to be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most.
The book, as it stands, seems to me to be one of the most frightful muddles I have ever read, with scarcely a sound proposition in it beginning with page 45 [Hayek provided historical background up to page 45; after that came his theoretical model], and yet it remains a book of some interest, which is likely to leave its mark on the mind of the reader. It is an extraordinary example of how, starting with a mistake, a remorseless logician can end up in bedlam.
Every Sri Lankan, and almost every visitor to Sri Lanka, carries a longing for the place in some small form - hiraeth, the Welsh call it - wherever they go and whatever their background. It binds them however much the war and politics might try to divide them.
We have believed - and we do believe now - that freedom is indivisible, that peace is indivisible, that economic prosperity is indivisible
Our individual life is brief, and perhaps the whole life of mankind will be brief if measured in astronomical scale
What greater grief than the loss of one's native land.
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