Carl Sagan died a month ago. I met him once only but I have loved his books and I shall miss him as a ‘candle in the dark’.*7 I dedicate this lecture to his memory, and shall use quotations from his writings. The remark about predicting eclipses is from the last book he published before he died, The Demon-Haunted World, and he goes on: You can go to the witch doctor to lift the spell that causes your pernicious anaemia, or you can take vitamin B12. If you want to save your child from polio, you can pray or you can inoculate. If you’re interested in the sex of your unborn child, you can consult
...more
