The Demon Haunted World Science As A Candle In The Dark Summary

Sagan’s reasoning behind writing The Demon Haunted World Science as a Candle in the Dark is summed up within the book’s title. Our world full of demons, in all manners of the word. People fear things that cannot be explained and it is this fear that creates a vulnerability that can be exploited for other’s gain. Religion and other belief based groups fulfill our need for answers by providing a path of least resistance towards conclusions that have no empirical support. If these beliefs were contained in a vacuum, then Sagan would have no reason to write his book, however the allure of quick solutions, security, and reassurance cause the most pleasing ideas and beliefs to control a majority of the world's population. The current culture of knowledge and education is something that Sagan addresses in his conversations with his airport driver, a person that he sees as intelligent and mislead, “Our cultural motifs, our educational system, our communications media had failed this man. What society permitted to trickle through was mainly pretence and confusion. It had never taught him how to distinguish real science from the cheap imitation. He knew nothing about how
There is no way to counter this claim because it forces the opposition to disprove a belief that has no inherent logic. People can be hit by an infinite number of trains and the belief will remain intact. A falsifiable idea would allow us to see the danger and find a solution that works and expel those that do not. Perhaps you determine that the best way to prevent danger is to avoid the tracks at certain times based on the train’s schedule. We can prove that this is not the best approach by observation, we witness a train running behind or ahead of schedule and determine that our solution is not foolproof, and then we work to find a better