Carl Sagan predicted the 2020's. A Star Wars critique then the rise of tech oligarchs and dumbing...

[JanMichael]

...down of society. The Star Wars critique is spot on then literally predicts the tech jerks. The loss of good manufacturing jobs, the rise of service jobs, and the idiocy of the celebrity focused world (made possible by the dumbing down). Unreal. The man was a gift to humanity.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. A genius who was also able to look into the future, I guess.

[NoMoreRepugs]

2. The Celebration of Ignorance describes the current Republican Party perfectly.

[Deuxcents]

3. He was a gift to humanity..

And we’d be wise to listen. Of all the people.. political, medical..whatever.. he was a man before his time. Ive been off DU for a week to get a relief..but this needs a comment. I live in Florida w/ a big rain event coming..gonna pull out a book from him and get lost..I so admire this man who left us way too soon.

[betsuni]

4. I loved how he popularized science, made it accessible and fascinating, his enthusiasm.

I had such a crush on him. His turtlenecks and corduroy, the special way he said "billions."

I remember watching an episode of "Cosmos" on TV with my very religious mother and being surprised she had no problem with his explanation of evolution, maybe because it was explained simply and clearly her brain understood without emotion getting in the way. Years later she was brainwashed by talk radio and would've refused to watch it, probably launched into a rant about secular humanism, how public schools and universities and feminists have destroyed America, and something about Sagan being a Jew.

Thank you, Carl Sagan, for helping me escape the dumbing down.

[Deuxcents]

5. Like your mom, I gre up in a religious home..

Many years ago on PBS, I taped every episode of Cosmos. I even have his books. I now watch these on YouTube. The Pale Blue Dot sums it up... Pink Floyd accompanied it..so cool. There iare some things that have no answers but he made them pique our interests.. how I wish he were still with us