Eines der großen Werke von Sagan. Jeder, der sich für Astronomie, Kosmologie und die Zukunft des Menschen interessiert, sollte dieses Buch gelesen haben!
Bereits 1994 geschrieben hat das Buch bis heute nichts von seiner Aktualität eingebüßt. In einer gut verständlichen Sprache ordnet der Autor zunächst unsere Spezies in ihrer Bedeutung in das Universum ein und setzt sich dabei sehr überzeugend mit überkommenen Weltsichten auseinander. Einen weiteren Schwerpunkt bildet die Begründung der Notwendigkeit der Raumfahrt, wobei deren Durchführung durch Menschen bzw. Roboter sehr überzeugend diskutiert wird. Die Bedeutung der durch die Raumfahrt bereits damals gewonnenen Erkenntnisse für unser Weltverständnis und das unseres Planeten wird nachvollziehbar dargestellt. Schließlich entwickelt C. S. eine Vision für die Menschheit, die sich als Folge ihres phylogenetischen Erbes nahezu zwangsläufig in den Raum ausbreiten wird. Dies nicht zuletzt um sich dadurch von den hier herrschenden Gefahren für ihre Entwicklung zu befreien. In einer Zeit und in einer Welt, in der ein zunehmendes Gegeneinander von Staaten und Ideologien zur Verfestigung von Positionen führt, die Bewegung immer mehr einschränken, wäre es hilfreich, die Gedanken C. Ss. erneut aufzugreifen. Raumforschung und -erkundung als gemeinsames Interesse einer zukunftsorientierten Menschheit könnte den Blick auf das Verbindende und darauf aufbauend das Notwendige für unsere gemeinsame Zukunft auch jenseits dieses wunderbaren und ebenso geschundenen Planeten lenken - und in Zeiten wie den heutigen ist die Verständigung auf gemeinsame Interessen sicher hilfreicher als das Beharren auf Positionen.
He never says it. But it's a sequel, par excellence, to the classic _Cosmos_. Sequels are usually disappointing. This is one of those rare cases where the sequel is better than the original. I had read this book in hardcover and ended up buying my own paperback copy while in Ithaca (Sagan's hometown) because I had nothing to read and a long ride back home. I'm a fan of Sagan - can't help it - because even though he's a brilliant scientist, he somehow manages to be a great writer as well. This book is no exception. Sagan's basic idea is that the destiny of humanity is to expand out to the stars. And even though this idea reeks with echoes of Manifest Destiny, I have to agree. In Manifest Destiny, there were Indians - here, no intelligent life that we know of. And if there is something out there, wouldn't we want to know about it? Like so many great works of popular science, Sagan starts out by tracing the changes in our views of the world, from our conceit that we were the center of the Universe to the backwater position that we're in today. Sagan's idea of generalized chauvinisms comes up - first in place (the obvious), then in time (if there was other intelligent life, it's not around any more), and, if I recall correctly, in chemical basis (life must be made out of carbon). He refutes all these ideas - and why not? Who said that silicon can't conquer the universe? My personal favorite part of the book is Chapter 5, "Is There Intelligent Life On Earth?" Sagan asks us to "[imagine yourself as] an alien explorer entering the Solar system after a long journey through the blackness of interstellar space". As we examine the Earth at finer and finer resolution, what do we see? I won't tell you - it's a bit unexpected - but the answer will surprise you. Who said scientists can't be humorous? A large portion of the book surveys the prospects of life elsewhere in the Solar System - Venus, Mars, Io, and Titan (but, surprisingly, not Europa) figure prominently. (Sagan did research on Titan tholins, precursors to organic molecules found on Titan.) It's interesting - maybe a bit out of place in Sagan's overall idea, but who cares? So why don't we leave Earth? Why are we still stuck on this pale blue dot? The politicians, says Sagan. They don't see far enough into the future - all they care about is their own re-election. And it's even too far for normal humans to see, sometimes. But it's worth it - evolution demands that we adapt. Near the end, we find this passage: "It will not be we who reach Alpha Centauri and the other nearby stars. It will be a species very much like us, but with more of our strengths and fewer of our weaknesses, a species returned to circumstances more like those for which it was originally evolved, more confident, farseeing, capable, and prudent - the sorts of beings we would want to represent us in a Universe that, for all we know, is filled with species much older, much more powerful, and very different." (p. 329) Perhaps this illustrates the inspirational quality of Sagan's writing. So why are we still here?
A suburb well rounded take on all the basic major aspects for the human future in space that also manages to stay grounded in reality, except possibly some of the parts on terraforming, but every field needs its visionaries. Also interesting is the reactions of people to Sagan's usual bit on the nature of humanity, some people balk quite violently when faced with their (and that of their fellows) ignorance, arrogance and cosmic insignifigance. I suppose that's only natural, but Sagan also offers an alternative to our stupidities in rational understanding and wonder at the universe, even though Sagan himself acknowledges that he is hardly an unsympathetic and indifferent observer to humanity and is hence sometimes swaed by our prejudices and failings. As for the final word on the design arguement for a cosmic creator, which is brought up in Bale Blue Dot: we are proudcts of this universe, its logical then that as a survival mechanism we would see the universe in a way that made sense to us and stimulated our minds to fruther interact with our enviroment, its how the human species survived in the past, and things are more complex now, but it is still how we survive. In fact Sagan makes that very point somewhere in this and (more so) in his other books.
