Politicians Should Listen To Carl Sagan FAST!

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer who actively campaigned against nuclear weapons and pointed out the potential dangers, like a nuclear winter. Given that Israel and Iran are at war, while Russia and Ukraine have been going at it since years now, it is important for politicians to set aside their egos and read this wonderful, humanizing speech by Carl Sagan.

Background

The Pale Blue Dot is an image that was taken by NASA at Carl Sagan’s suggestion. The astonishing picture came from Voyager 1, a spacecraft launched in 1977 to study the outer solar system. When Voyager was about to exit the solar system, it turned around one last time to take a farewell photo. Earth appears as a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena, Sagan quipped.

The picture is evidence enough of our tininess in the universe. The enormity of space cannot be comprehended from our comfortable air conditioned rooms, but when you look at a picture like Pale blue dot, something moves you from the inside. That yearning to find our place in the Cosmos and persistent urge to "make it big" in Earth lingo, are challenged by this point of pale light.

Significance

Sagan used this image to challenge arrogance and nationalism. He pointed out that there is no hope that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. We have to protect our fragile planet, which is the only place we know of in the universe that supports life in all its glory.

In gaming terms, Earth is a checkpoint, a reminder that life happened here. The problem is, our intelligence has become quite dangerous in modern times. Blinded by power and ego. Therefore, politicians must find a few seconds from their busy schedules and take a look at Pale blue dot.

According to Carl Sagan, astronomy is a humbling experience and presents a possibility of peace. When we recognize how small our disputes look from the perspective of the universe and that earth is the only home we will ever know we will cherish it more perhaps. Sagan once said: "If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another."

Technicals

Pale blue dot was taken in February, 1990 from a staggering distance of 6 billion km. Of the 640,000 individual pixels in the image, Earth appears as a tiny pixel suspended in a ray of sunlight. A narrow angle camera aboard Voyager 1 was used to capture Earth's location. Earth looks blue in the photograph primarily because of Rayleigh scattering of sunlight in its atmosphere.

Excerpt

Here is a small excerpt from pale blue dot speech by Carl Sagan which every politician should read: The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.