Continuing my space odyssey-astronomy curiosity with another Carl Sagan book. I found Billions and Billions by Carl Sagan to be both immensely inspiring and deeply saddening. Carl dies. Spoiler alert. He passed in 1997 and in the final essay of this book we get a close up look at his struggle and life near the end. He’s even writing some of the words directly from the hospital bed. You get a sense of his frustration and hopelessness of fighting the disease, yet his relentless optimism for the future of humanity.
It’s always enjoyable to learn from the way he writes too. His high-minded sense of humor coupled with his magnificent mastery over the English language — I learn new words every time I read his books. (Note for next time to start a list of them.) As a humbly aspiring writer and human who tries to express thoughts, ideas, and opinions, I’m inspired and forced to question whether I try hard enough by his courageous and intelligent ways of tackling tough issues and taking a stance.
Sagan has a knack for forcing you to think deeply and be open-minded in many new ways. His essays take on the big issues humanity faces… and in 1996 many are still too similar to what we face today.
About race. Science proves we are all one race. The similarities in our genetic code are so close, our human kinship is an observable fact. We are one species. Nothing but minuscule variations in our genetic code create our surface-level characteristics. What it means to me is that science raises a compelling reason for why we are neither inferior nor superior to any other human on earth… or in the eons to come, our universe(s). We are life. But here and now on earth, access to education and resources have left many people in poverty and struggling with problems that my life is far insulated from. I still have plenty of problems and struggles and challenges towards peace of mind. And I imagine those who have vast wealth and access to higher societal levels than me still have a myriad of troubles. But to quote Sagan the system has put, “more black men in jail than in college.” Clearly, there’s more the system could provide to open minds to lifelong education, altruistic values and allow them to find more enriching opportunities our world has to offer. With a fraction of the amount of money our government spends on the military pointed towards education, we could do some incredible things. It also makes me wonder what ideas I could come up with to contribute… nothing golden just yet.
While race is still a fiery issue, I still believe our next step in human thought is to realize our shared oneness and unity with all life forms. A letting go of identification and our personal narratives — because the world still rumbles forth with the ego problem — what we need is to come around to an awareness that allows us to see ourselves as beings. Recognize our shared evolution and bond with each other. We’re all made of DNA. You, me, and even the jellyfish in the sea. When you look closely and think about it, how much different are we from a virus? We’re spreading over this earth and in many ways causing harm to it, destroying its atmosphere, plunging, and pillaging its resources… Of course, that’s a negative and cynical idea. Surely we can be more flowery and poetic about the beauty and joy that accompanies human life. While we have intellect and are responsible for many beautiful and valuable endeavors, we have to become aware of our collective insanity and violence towards each other and our planet — the home which supports us all. It’s going to take patience and time but I’m already ready for the world to unite and see all as one.
History has shown countries divided against themselves will not stand, while the future will reveal that a planet divided against itself cannot stand as well. We have to work together as one to keep the balance of life on earth alive and well. What we accomplished as a species to prevent millions of deaths from Coronavirus is simply astonishing and makes my skin tingle with joy and hope for humanity. We can work together. We can bond to achieve incredible things for the benefit of each other.
About our planet. It’s still amazing to me that so many people don’t care about the environment. It’s just not their problem, so they think. From all the meat production, to our sources of energy and our fuels to travel… companies aren’t doing enough and people aren’t creating enough demand for environmentally friendly options. With that said, I do think Carl would be excited to see some of the progress happening in the energy sector and the slow shift that’s starting to mount with electric cars. There is a shift in spending finally happening. But as long as we have our ego and identification problems, solving these larger-scale global efforts is going to be a toilsome challenge. We have to learn to value making decisions that benefit everyone.
About nuclear stuff. There’s the senseless and aggressive current stockpile and deployment of nuclear weapons — armed and ready to be launched at another human country. There’s the history of testing thermonuclear weapons which vaporized the Pacific Islands and their nearby reefs. There's terrifying and soul-sinking devastation as a result of using atomic bombs in combat on Japanese cities by the US. There’s also the catastrophic disaster of a nuclear plant in Chernobyl, but from all this insanity and these historical mistakes, science has shown the potential of clean and responsibly powered nuclear energy plants. The same technology of ICBMs that could be used to launch warheads around the planet, is the fundamental technology that we use to launch astronauts up into the shoreline of the cosmos. I wonder how else and hope we’ll continue to harness the power of science for good.
About science’s flaws. Sagan does not shy away from calling out science’s flaws or how scientists betray their institution by ignoring evidence of dangerous substances such as chlorofluorocarbons. For years we unwittingly sent these molecules up-up and away sailing through the sky from fridges, automobile air conditioners and aerosol cans to deplete the ozone layer. It took way too long to realize it and initiate the change. And it makes me wonder what corporations might be relying on now that causes danger to our health and planet? We have a right to be skeptical. And it becomes apparent that we need more scientists to be able to keep the balance of truth.
I also find Carl, the man, as an interesting character. He had three wives and fathered a fistful of kids too. As a single man, 32. I find it impressive how you could be bursting at the seams with knowledge and talent yet navigate these time-consuming relationships and fathering children. To me, I feel getting married would suck away so much time and energy, having kids would be the end of pursuing self-education and my creative pursuits. I figure I would have to spend all of that time making sure my child eats and with vigilance that he doesn’t run off a ledge. Anywhos, you also get a glimpse of what his relationship was with Ann Druyan, it’s inspiring, but I also realize what they must of went through to be together. They were friends, he was married, she was in a committed relationship, but despite that, they took a brave risk towards each other — and he found his creative companion which launched the glorious and timeless works like Cosmos. She was a muse who drove out the very best work from him. It would be easy to look at this story from another angle and say they were selfish and stupid and didn’t value the promise of marriage. But marriage... there’s something about it that I’m just not sure about. It’s an institution and idea of which I’m not the biggest roaring fan. And I can’t quite articulate it yet. But I do look up at the sky tonight and as I watch the golden haze of sun slowly fade into the night, I wonder romantically where my creative muse is? Where is my one in 7.8 billion? Is she out there on Bumble?