If memory serves me correctly, I have shared this before here somewhere in the past.
However, every time that I see it, my jaws drop. I mean, the guy was obviously incredibly intelligent and insightful, as well all know. Still, it is almost eerie just how spot on he was in forecasting how horribly wrong the direction of this could was, and just where it would lead us.
Indeed, this has come to pass. I mean, everything that he saw coming has indeed come to pass, including the nation's once diverse economy being largely reduced to a service and information economy, and manufacturing power has been passed to other countries. When technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and our elected "leaders" (perhaps I should put elected in quotes as well, given the presence of big money politics, towing the party line for future campaign funds, Super PACS and Super Delegates and an electoral college that has repeatedly denied the candidate with the majority of overall votes from winning the White House) cannot even begin to grasp all of the problems that this nation now faces, and when people feel that they have lost control over their own lives, and can no longer question their leaders using serious knowledge as their weapon. He foresaw a time when we collectively could no longer distinguish between what feels good, and what is actually true, as we "slip back into superstitions and darkness."
Yes, Sagan saw this "dumbing down of America" decades before most people understood that it was going to happen, let alone that it was inevitable, and how an overpowering media would understand that they could grab our increasingly short attention with 10-second soundbites, rather than 30-second soundbites that were more common decades ago.
And who can deny his chilling closing lines regarding this grim future, which is our present day nation, when we are indeed bombarded with the "lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance” that Sagan saw decades ago?
This nation used to lead the world in almost every conceivable way. It once was far and away the wealthiest, most affluent, culturally influential, and economically and militarily powerful nation in the world, with the highest ranked education system to boot! We had a nation that was on top of the world, and where the future seemed bright!
So, what the hell happened? More importantly, how can we begin to restore at least some of the privileged status that we once so enjoyed, and yet clearly took for granted?
Personally, I believe that the best thing that we as a nation can do to start getting our sense of purpose and direction back is to listen to our scientists! We need to make facts matter again!
Because indeed, that is one of the main things behind our decline, and it is the reason why we now stand alone in the world as the only nation to reject the Paris Climate Accord on the basis that we do not believe in the science of climate change, and are not entirely convinced that it is either real, or at least that it is nearly as dire as expert scientists are warning us of! We still have the wealthiest economy in the world, and easily the most powerful military. Yet, tiny nations like Iceland are embarrassing us by leading us in clean alternative energy development? How disgraceful on our parts!
The worst of it is that we were warned, even well before Carl Sagan warned what kind of nation we would become with this quote from his 1995 book! Indeed, former President Jimmy Carter was spot on in terms of accuracy with the energy crisis and the need to develop alternative energy sources and to end our reliance on Middle Eastern oil. Also, Carter correctly diagnosed the moral failings within the nation that far too many Americans were allowing themselves to get away with in his so-called "Malaise" speech (that was not what he called it, though).
We had a chance to continue to improve as a nation, and to get a sense of purpose and direction back, because we had Jimmy Carter leading us, and he was that rare breed of politician who actually saw a future beyond the next election cycle.
Instead, we turned our back on him, and elected a good-looking man with a winning smile, who softly told us what we wanted to hear, rather than what we needed to hear, as Carter had. Carter lost the 1980 election in a landslide, and we were a worse nation as a result, and have been a worse nation ever since. That was the seed, if you will, of our current malaise, of our national decadence and decline, and these days, it seems that few people, regardless of their political affiliation, would argue that we have seen a serious decline in this nation.
Some truly patriotic Americans saw the danger, and indeed tried to warn us. President Jimmy Carter certainly did many decades ago, and we turned our backs on him. And indeed, noted scientists Carl Sagan also understood the storm that was coming, with downright eerie accuracy! Carl Sagan saw what the future foretold. Like a crystal ball. Perhaps he knew that we would elect a man as pathetic as Donald Trump as our "leader?"
Sagan predicted, back in 1995 (over two decades ago!) exactly the kind of nation that we now live in! Look at this quote:
“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...
“The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”
~ Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
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