It is very difficult to evolve by altering the deep fabric of life; any change there is likely to be lethal. But fundamental change can be accomplish… - Carl Sagan

It is very difficult to evolve by altering the deep fabric of life; any change there is likely to be lethal. But fundamental change can be accomplished by the addition of new systems on top of old ones.

There is no other species on Earth that does science. It is, so far, entirely a human invention, evolved by natural selection in the cerebral cortex for one simple reason: it works. It is not perfect. It can be misused. It is only a tool. But it is by far the best tool we have, self-correcting, ongoing, applicable to everything. It has two rules. First: there are no sacred truths; all assumptions must be critically examined; arguments from authority are worthless. Second: whatever is inconsistent with the facts must be discarded or revised. We must understand the Cosmos as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be. The obvious is sometimes false; the unexpected is sometimes true. Humans everywhere share the same goals when the context is large enough. And the study of the Cosmos provides the largest possible context. Present global culture is a kind of arrogant newcomer. It arrives on the planetary stage following four and a half billion years of other acts, and after looking about for a few thousand years declares itself in possession of eternal truths. But in a world that is changing as fast as ours, this is a prescription for disaster. No nation, no religion, no economic system, no body of knowledge, is likely to have all the answers for our survival. There must be many social systems that would work far better than any now in existence. In the scientific tradition, our task is to find them.

Our very existence in that distant time requires that we will have changed our institutions and ourselves.

Kita memang cenderung menciptakan kosmologi yang akrab bagi kita. Meskipun telah berusaha keras, kita tidak terlalu kreatif. Di dunia Barat, Surga itu tenang dan seperti awan, dan Neraka itu seperti di dalam gunung berapi. Dalam banyak cerita, kedua alam itu diatur oleh hierarki dominasi yang dipimpin dewa atau iblis. Kaum monoteis berbicara tentang raja di atas segala raja. Di setiap budaya, kita membayangkan sesuatu seperti sistem politik kita sendiri yang menjalankan Alam Semesta. Tidak banyak yang mencurigai kemiripan ini.