5 ms·

Sagan is good for high schoolers maybe. Not really scientific books at all. He is popular because he was hyped in the media for being accessible. Those people

Sagan is good for high schoolers maybe. Not really scientific books at all. He is popular because he was hyped in the media for being accessible. Those people dumb down science for the masses - it harms society on the long run imo

chistev 6mo ago
If a science book is too heavy, you'll get less people interested in science than would normally be. Carl Sagan significantly influenced Neil deGrasse Tyson (another popular science writer), for example. But I'm not sure if Tyson would have pursued science regardless of Sagan's influence.
- ghighi7878 6mo ago
  And me. I have a PhD in computational fluid dynamics
gbil 6mo ago
This really struck a chord for me. The majority of the people I know - including me - want to be drawn into a topic somehow and that somehow is story telling. People like Sagan and Tyson are amazing story tellers, they will draw you in with their use of language, their voice and pace and will open the doors for everything else. This is how great teachers do it and this is what is missing for most of the people to be interested into a topic, no matter how basic it is.
piva00 6mo ago
Making information more accessible and approachable never harms society in the long run. Your view is just a snobbish and rigid one, Sagan made science topics interesting for more people, from those people very likely many got inspired enough to pursue deeper science training. Dumbing down is necessary to make it interesting for people who feel it's unapproachable, it breaks a barrier, I have no idea how you look at this and think "this is harming society"...
- gnz11 6mo ago
  I’ve read a lot of hot takes on HN, but Carl Sagan harming society is on a whole new level.
ultratalk 6mo ago
https://xkcd.com/397/ https://xkcd.com/397/ (the zombie feynman one)
BrandoElFollito 6mo ago
As an ex-physicist, I cannot disagree more. When explaining something to people outside of science, I was ok with 60% accuracy. Even 50% and some technical lies was fine if this would encourage them to learn more. Some came back to say "you lied!!" and these were one of my most cherished victories. In lectures for 1st year students, I would have here and there an asterisk with "almost true", to which we would come back a semesters or two later. Dumbing down science to dumb up people is wonderful.
jeffwass 6mo ago
This is a terrible take, and I say this having a PhD in Physics. Many physicists have written popular articles and books for the general population. Eg Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Brian Cox. Improving accessibility of advanced concepts is nothing to scoff at.
igleria 6mo ago
do you want to gatekeep science even more than it is?
ur-whale 6mo ago
> Sagan is good for high schoolers maybe. Even though I think you are wrong on this, you seem to be saying it like it's a bad thing ? Why ? What, exactly, is wrong about inspiring high-schoolers ?
Ancapistani 6mo ago
I took classes in high school in subjects that weren’t even discovered yet when Oxford was founded. It’s only “scientific” because it’s new, not because it’s too difficult to understand.
mmmBacon 6mo ago
It’s ironic what you wrote because it was Carl Sagan who first developed the theory to explain the Venusian climate. I met Carl Sagan and he was not a person who dumbed down anything. He had a profound impact on planetary science on top of inspiring many including myself to pursue physics. I think the fact that we are all still talking about Carl 30 years after his death is strong evidence of his impact.

chistev 6mo ago

If a science book is too heavy, you'll get less people interested in science than would normally be. Carl Sagan significantly influenced Neil deGrasse Tyson (another popular science writer), for example. But I'm not sure if Tyson would have pursued science regardless of Sagan's influence.

ghighi7878 6mo ago
And me. I have a PhD in computational fluid dynamics

gbil 6mo ago

This really struck a chord for me. The majority of the people I know - including me - want to be drawn into a topic somehow and that somehow is story telling. People like Sagan and Tyson are amazing story tellers, they will draw you in with their use of language, their voice and pace and will open the doors for everything else. This is how great teachers do it and this is what is missing for most of the people to be interested into a topic, no matter how basic it is.

piva00 6mo ago

Making information more accessible and approachable never harms society in the long run. Your view is just a snobbish and rigid one, Sagan made science topics interesting for more people, from those people very likely many got inspired enough to pursue deeper science training. Dumbing down is necessary to make it interesting for people who feel it's unapproachable, it breaks a barrier, I have no idea how you look at this and think "this is harming society"...

gnz11 6mo ago
I’ve read a lot of hot takes on HN, but Carl Sagan harming society is on a whole new level.

ultratalk 6mo ago

https://xkcd.com/397/ https://xkcd.com/397/ (the zombie feynman one)

BrandoElFollito 6mo ago

As an ex-physicist, I cannot disagree more. When explaining something to people outside of science, I was ok with 60% accuracy. Even 50% and some technical lies was fine if this would encourage them to learn more. Some came back to say "you lied!!" and these were one of my most cherished victories. In lectures for 1st year students, I would have here and there an asterisk with "almost true", to which we would come back a semesters or two later. Dumbing down science to dumb up people is wonderful.

jeffwass 6mo ago

This is a terrible take, and I say this having a PhD in Physics. Many physicists have written popular articles and books for the general population. Eg Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Brian Cox. Improving accessibility of advanced concepts is nothing to scoff at.

igleria 6mo ago

do you want to gatekeep science even more than it is?

ur-whale 6mo ago

> Sagan is good for high schoolers maybe. Even though I think you are wrong on this, you seem to be saying it like it's a bad thing ? Why ? What, exactly, is wrong about inspiring high-schoolers ?

Ancapistani 6mo ago

I took classes in high school in subjects that weren’t even discovered yet when Oxford was founded. It’s only “scientific” because it’s new, not because it’s too difficult to understand.

mmmBacon 6mo ago

It’s ironic what you wrote because it was Carl Sagan who first developed the theory to explain the Venusian climate. I met Carl Sagan and he was not a person who dumbed down anything. He had a profound impact on planetary science on top of inspiring many including myself to pursue physics. I think the fact that we are all still talking about Carl 30 years after his death is strong evidence of his impact.