This is way too classy for me.
[Laughter] For some reason that escapes me
now, I was, I was watching a rerun of Seaquest
last week.
For those of you, if, if you don't know what
that is, Seaquest was a science fiction program
back in the 90's about a state of the art
submarine whose mission was to explore the
uncharted regions of Earth's oceans.
It starred Roy Scheider and a cast of actors
who, I'm sure, all bought new cars mid-way
through season one, before they discovered
they were on a terrible show doomed to be
cancelled.
The point of this is that one of the crew
members was a super-smart dolphin named Darwin,
and as I was watching the show, trying to
decide whether to swallow the whole bottle
of sleeping pills now or during the end credits,
it occurred to me that if this show were made
today two things would be different.
One, Roy Scheider's character would have a
meth addiction, and two, the name Darwin would
probably be changed to something else.
There would be a conversation among network
executives that the name Darwin might be too
polarizing or too - Or too politically charged.
They wouldn't want to turn off or alienate
a significant portion of their audience.
Somewhere between the 1990's and today, the
acknowledgement of scientific achievement
and the embrace thereof ceased, in many parts
of this country, to be a source of pride and
became a taboo specter with threatening overtones.
Now while there is absolutely no defensible
reason for this to have occurred, we all know
how it occurred.
Now science has always been, as we know, exploited
and politicized in some form or another, but
in the past ten years of so it seems like
that politicization has been on steroids.
Long accepted scientific truths have been
brought into question largely, who we kidding,
by one side of the aisle, solely for the purpose
of generating passion that can be reshaped
to suit various agendas.
And the other side of the aisle has not really
put up much of a fight.
Instead they've allowed the situation to fester,
instead of leading us back to the truth as
a leader should.
By fearing for political standing instead
of fighting for the truth, they have essentially
revealed the same fear betrayed by those hypothetical
network execs who were nervous about naming
a talking fish Darwin.
I guess they're mammals, huh?
Ann?
And unfortunately the press has done little
to help repair the damage.
They routinely report the noisy ravings of
fringe level anti-science bellowers, who would
not even have been on Walter Cronkite's radar,
let alone press-worthy.
As a result, a nationwide scientific regression
has taken place.
We should be in the midst of an excitement
filled national discussion on the frontiers
of science, such as the fascinating concept
put forth by quantum physics that the universe
may have been conceived by a quantum fluctuation
in one of the higher dimensions of the space-time
continuum.
Instead, we're still trying to get people
to understand that, as personally uncomfortable
as some find the fact, we all evolved from
Robin Williams.
[Laughter] At some point during all this,
someone has to stand up and loudly say, all
right, enough, cut the crap.
First of all, evolution really happened.
It's not in debate.
Some of the milestones along the way are still
being uncovered, but it doesn't mean that
a member of Congress should suddenly get to
call the whole thing into question.
I've never seen gravity questioned or politicized
in any way.
And in the grand scheme of the universe, we
probably understand gravity less than we understand
evolution.
It just doesn't make people as uncomfortable
so it's a less effective tool of manipulation.
Now there have been many reason for this cultural
shift, and while it may not have tipped the
scales, one thing is certain.
We took a big, big hit when we lost Carl Sagan.
He was a man of science who was regularly
in the public eye.
He used to appear on the Johnny Carson Show
alongside big stars like Harrison Ford, Bill
Cosby, and Jerry Van Dyke.
[Laughter] Yeah.
And he, and he belonged in the spotlight.
He was a great popularizer of science.
A man who understood that scientific advancement
is something that affects us all on a daily
basis whether we're aware of it or not.
He knew that if there's a walled up, if there's
a walled off separation between the academic
world and the public at large, it doesn't
do anyone any good.
It was partially thanks to the efforts of
Carl that the case of science phobia, from
which we suffer today, had a much harder time
proliferating in the decades prior.
He translated for those of us who don't even
remember how to use a protractor.
He not only found creative ways of explaining
dense scientific to us without ever appearing
condescending or superior, but he did so with
such an obvious passion, enthusiasm, and love
for the subject matter that it was impossible
not to want to go along for the ride.
With Carl it wasn't, we evolved from microscopic
organisms, that's scary and unsettling.
Instead it was, we evolved from these incredible,
fascinating, totally alien-seeming creatures.
Isn't that amazing?
You want to know more?
Yeah, so do I.
Let's try and learn the answer to the mystery
together.
Which is another thing I always admired about
Carl.
He tended to speak less in terms of us as
a country, and more in terms of us as a species.
He was truly a man who thought ahead of his
time and, and honestly ahead of our time as
well.
Now I never had the chance to meet Carl, which
I greatly regret, but I've been lucky enough
to befriend, and later work alongside, his
wife Ann Druyan, whose blinding brilliance,
unbounded imagination, and incredible strength
of character, have made me feel as though
I know them both.
She's one of those people whose brain is so
formidable and so constantly bursting with
new ideas that, I'll tell you, if I were that
smart, I would have to smoke pot, too.
Sorry, sorry Ann.
[laughter] I mean we're what, like six months
away from legalization, it's fine.
[Laughter] The work that Ann has done on the
new Cosmos series is, I can tell you now,
everything we all hoped it would be and more.
And the series is, of course, hosted by the
brilliant and charismatic Dr. Neil deGrasse
Tyson, who has emerged as the heir apparent
to car, to Carl's rare combination of wisdom
and communicative power.
Ann continues the work that she and Carl began
together, in full force.
And it is not only my privilege to know her,
but I am a better man by the association.
So let me say I am thrilled and humbled to
be connected in some tiny, microscopic way,
to the extraordinary life's work of Carl Sagan,
a man who opened my eyes and the eyes of millions
of others to the ever-expanding wonders and
mysteries of science.
Thank you.
