Carl Sagan’s Best Tricks to Improve Productivity

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Carl Sagan is a renowned astronomer, cosmologist, author and, most obviously, a scientific communicator and host of the Cosmos show. His views on science and life in general are both inspiring and inspiring. Let’s take a look at a few of his ideas that are useful to all of us.

Hone Your Nonsense Detection Kit

Sagan was primarily a scientist, which means that he had a very specialized view of the world. In his book, A Haunted Demon World, he describes what he calls a “Nonsense Detection Kit.” A collection is essentially a tool for checking arguments and finding misconceptions. This is a great toolbox for skeptical thinking. Here’s part of his kit:

  • Where possible, there should be independent confirmation of “facts”.
  • Encourage knowledgeable advocates of all viewpoints to discuss the evidence in a meaningful way.
  • The arguments of the authorities do not matter much – the “authorities” have made mistakes in the past. They will do it again in the future. Perhaps it is better to say that there are no authorities in science; at the most, there are specialists.
  • Promote more than one hypothesis. If there is something that needs to be explained, think of all the possible ways to explain it. Then think of tests that you can use to systematically refute each of the alternatives. What survives, a hypothesis that resists rebuttal in this Darwinian selection among “a few working hypotheses,” is far more likely to be the correct answer than if you were simply guided by the first idea you liked.
  • Try not to get attached to a hypothesis just because it is yours. This is just an intermediate point in the search for knowledge. Ask yourself why you like this idea. Compare this honestly with the alternatives. See if you can find reasons for refusal. If you don’t, others will.

The Sagan kit is here, of course, not just for science. It’s great for everything from presidential debates to statistics . When you challenge these biases , you leave with a better vantage point. It’s also a good toolbox if you’re arguing at work, giving a presentation at school, or even just having a lively discussion at the dinner table. The better you spot nonsense, the better your arguments will ultimately be.

Examine Your Beliefs Carefully

When you want something to be true, it’s very easy to make yourself believe it, even if it’s impossible to prove it. Speaking to his daughter about the afterlife, Sagan said the following :

Then, very fondly, he told me that it can be dangerous to believe in something just because you want it to be true. You can be deceived if you do not question yourself and others, especially people in positions of authority. He told me that anything that is really real can stand the test.

However, your own idea of ​​the afterlife should not be affected here. It’s more about being in control. We all constantly fool ourselves into loving certain things into thinking that you are the best or whatever . You are brainwashing yourself because you want something to be true, and that keeps you from discovering something new.

Remember your place in the universe

It’s easy to get carried away with your own problems and forget about the rest of the world. But Carl Sagan’s famous speech about pale blue dots reminds us that, as important as we may think these issues are, they are really nothing in the big scheme of things. Sagan speaks wonderfully about it here:

This point of pale light challenges our postures, our imaginary conceit, the delusion that we are in a privileged position in the universe. Our planet is a lonely particle in a huge enveloping cosmic darkness. In our obscurity, in all this immensity, there is no hint that help will come from somewhere else to save us from ourselves.

Sagan talked a lot about this in his books and about the Cosmos, but he repeated the same idea to his daughter :

“You are alive right now. This is an amazing thing, ”they told me. They said that when you consider the almost infinite number of forks in the path leading to the birth of any person, you should be grateful that you are that person. Think of the sheer number of potential alternate universes where, for example, your great-great-great-grandfathers never meet, and you never will. Moreover, you have the pleasure of living on a planet where you evolved to breathe air, drink water, and love the warmth of a nearby star. You are connected to generations through DNA – and even in the more distant past – to the Universe, because every cell in your body has been cooked in the hearts of stars. “We are stars,” my father said, and he made me feel this way.

When it comes to the point, it’s about perspective. You don’t need to go into the details (or distances) that Sagan is making here, but remember that everyone has a different view of the world. Whether you’re dealing with negativity , solving problems, or dealing with painful memories , trying to look at a situation from a different angle is always worth it.

Diversify your knowledge

It’s easy to get stuck in one field and then think about it all the time. But as we know side projects are worth it, and diversifying your skills is a great way to ensure you always have a job. Sagan knew this, and while he definitely spent a lot of time thinking about space, he also spent a lot of time researching other things. This reading list from the Library of Congress shows how much time he spent reading outside of his field. Here are just a few of his selected reading materials:

There are countless others on this list that you might not expect to see, including stories by Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, and more. The fact is that Sagan knew that for creative thinking it is necessary to expand his knowledge of the world, going beyond the scope of science. It clearly paid off as Sagan became not only a great scientist but also a fantastic storyteller and communicator.

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