Carl Sagan on Balancing Skepticism & Openness

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May 28, 2012

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What we need is not the will to believe but the will to find out.

- Bertrand Russell -

Carl Sagan on Balancing Skepticism & Openness

"Seven years ago this week, David Foster Wallace argued that "learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think." Yet in an age of ceaseless sensationalism, pseudoscience, and a relentless race for shortcuts, quick answers, and silver bullets, knowing what to think seems increasingly challenging. The art of thinking critically is a habit that requires careful and consistent cultivation. In his remarkable essay titled "The Burden of Skepticism," originally published in 1987 Carl Sagan -- always the articulate and passionate explainer -- captured the duality and osmotic balance of critical thinking beautifully"... { read more }