We Batter This Planet As If We

The Aspirations Of Democracy Are Based On The Notion Of An Informed Citizenry, Capable Of Making Wise Decisions. The Choices We Are Asked To Make Become Increasingly Complex. They Require The Longer-term Thinking And Greater Tolerance For Ambiguity That Science Fosters. The New Economy Is Predicated On A Continuous Pipeline Of Scientific And Technological Innovation. It Can Not Exist Without Workers And Consumers Who Are Mathematically And Scientifically Literate.

Science Has The Cold Facts, But Lacks Religion's Social Organization And Ability To Inspire That Moves People To Act.

Contrary To The Fantasies Of The Fundamentalists, There Was No Deathbed Conversion, No Last Minute Refuge Taken In A Comforting Vision Of A Heaven Or An Afterlife. For Carl, What Mattered Most Was What Was True, Not Merely What Would Make Us Feel Better. Even At This Moment When Anyone Would Be Forgiven For Turning Away From The Reality Of Our Situation, Carl Was Unflinching. As We Looked Deeply Into Each Other's Eyes, It Was With A Shared Conviction That Our Wondrous Life Together Was Ending Forever.

Ten Long Trips Around The Sun Since I Last Saw That Smile, But Only Joy And Thankfulness That On A Tiny World In The Vastness, For A Couple Of Moments In The Immensity Of Time, We Were One.

We Are Living In A Society That Is Totally Dependent On Science And High Technology, And Yet Most Of Us Are Effectively Alienated And Excluded From Its Workings, From The Values Of Science, The Methods Of Science, And The Language Of Science. A Good Place To Start Would Be For As Many Of Us As Possible To Begin To Understand The Decision-making And The Basis For Those Decisions, And To Act Independently And Not Be Manipulated Into Thinking One Thing Or Another, But To Learn How To Think. That's What Science Does.