NatureBit
flexghost.Listen to Carl Sagan’s thoughtful response to “are you a socialist?”
Jon Het.@flexghost , we need to change who we put in office. No lawyers, no soldiers... scientists and comedians I think.
Ω 🌍 Gus Posey@flexghost A true genius in every category.
Nonya Bidniss 🥥🌴@flexghost American politicians generally have a very flawed, narrow understanding of what national security is, hence they also misunderstand the scope of efforts and investments necessary to bring it about.
Claude@Nonya_Bidniss @flexghost The USA, if Reagan hadn't cut taxes for the rich to the extend he did, would have money for both national security and taking care of people.
@switch My point is that taking care of people must be understood as one of the integral pillars of national security. Our politicians who are beholden to billionaires because of an intentionally broken political system find it inconvenient to understand this. The essential constituent of a strong, secure nation is a healthcare-secure, dwelling-secure, well-educated citizen. @flexghost
@Nonya_Bidniss I agree 100%. Thanks for the explanation. I had almost added "moreso national security and taking care of people are not mutually exclusive" to my comment above. @flexghost
Astrobach 
@flexghost I feel the need to clarify for our younger folks that he isn't referencing "Star Wars" the movie but rather a delusional Reagan era project to do with nuclear missiles.
Seán Fenian@rorystarr @flexghost ... as well as numerous other weapons, most of which didn't actually exist ...
Dustin@rorystarr @flexghost thank you, I didn't understand how Star Wars (movie) made sense in this context.
@gargantuanthud @flexghost when he said $20 Billion I was like "People are going to be really confused where he got that number" haha
Nazani@rorystarr This is a good idea. Thank you.
SabreToothTigress/ZenDragoness@rorystarr @flexghost You are very good in pointing it out, wanted to do the same, left people in europe thought at the time, now the USA is really getting crazy, righties looked dreamily at the USA, concerning star wars.
Primo@rorystarr @flexghost oooohhhh
Neal Babcock (he/him)@flexghost I would have voted for him if he ever ran for office, no question about it.
Laurel L Russwurm@flexghost
We could surely use him now.
We could surely use him now.
WTL@flexghost I really, really miss Carl Sagan.
@WTL I didn’t know if him until he died but he must have been even more inspiring when he was live on tv
@flexghost I read Contact when I was in high school and I was hooked. I don't think I saw Cosmos (we didn't have cable available in our rural area) until years later, but I read everything of his that I could. Every video of him that I've seen reenforces what a wonderful mind he had.
Oliver SchafeldI just rewatched an episode of Carl Sagan's Cosmos. I don't know of any science program or book that has come close to it ever since...
Then again, probably no chance of today's TikTweet 10-second-attention-span audiences to ever sit through an hour of education and storytelling.
Oh, b.t.w. the book is on Archive.org
Mental@oliver_schafeld The whole thing about the attention span being worse is an unscientific rumor, funnily enough created by a part of the Microsoft Marketing team.
Please stop spreading this lie, young folks these days are probably spending too much time on electronical devices, but so are the rest of the generations.
Carl Sagan was a great person and he surely wouldn't want his work to be gatekept, or rather used to spread negativity towards the young.
Clark@flexghost My hero! He has been for a looong time!
@Hundpappa excellent choice
@flexghost It is so beautiful and precise, that it brought tears to my eyes!
KozmykStop voting for Republicans. That's all.
Trojan Duck@flexghost I was an organizer with SANE back in the late '80's and had the good fortune to meet him at an anti-nuclear benefit dinner. It was a real thrill. "Star Wars," for younger folks who may not know, was the Strategic Defense Initiative. A really bad idea cooked up by that idiot Reagan.
Matt Godden@flexghost While Sagan is a hero, dodging the socialist question by claiming to not know what a “Socialist” is, and dissing “the dole” (UBI) does illuminate his inherent American-ness. The most progressive Americans still often carry capitalism as a subconscious assumption underlying their beliefs, and can still look pretty rightwing to a lot of folks outside America. The Overton window for a belief in the “natural” or “default” state of economics in America is VERY skewed towards Capitalism.
Inorganic Fella@flexghost He's essentially right but he's wrong about some of the details particularly the economics. He's fundamentally right that compassion is pragmatic. That is the factor that everyone, including liberals, seem to miss. He is right that we have homeless and high infant mortality because we want it to be that way. He is wrong about the economics because he approaches it as a zero-sum game and economics doesn't work that way. There isn't a fixed amount of money. Spending money on defense doesn't take money away from health care. In fact, we spend more on health care per capita than almost everywhere else yet have much worse outcomes. That is where he is wrong again, due to this being an old recording. We are not 19th in infant mortality rate. He lived in the good old days before we moved to 53rd best in infant mortality. We have double the infant mortality as Portugal and Chechia and triple the infant mortality rate as Norway and Singapore. Our country is broken on purpose.
Richy222
Barbara Monaco@flexghost I love Carl Sagan. His time on earth was a gift to humanity. Greatly missed.
electragician@flexghost Brilliant!
Dom_Sathanas
John Yarlett aka Scooby62@flexghost He wasn't wrong & it hasn't changed
Chris Lamke@flexghost Love the alt-text! Sagan is wonderful. I wish we still had him with us.
@flexghost here's a nice written commentary on the piece for anyone interested: https://www.openculture.com/2020/10/carl-sagan-responds-thoughtfully-to-ted-turners-question-are-you-a-socialist.html
Stargeezer Smith
jtsWow. We were as high as 19th on infant mortality. Never thought we could ever be so high. 54th and rapidly falling now.
https://usafacts.org/articles/what-is-the-us-infant-mortality-rate/
And with abortion bans going in everywhere across the country this ranking is only going to plummet.
ridicol 🍉🇵🇸 🏳️🌈💚@flexghost "we're spending money on the wrong stuff" = militarisation
Because this is the only business that the US is a leader of
Because this is the only business that the US is a leader of
Doug BostromAnd now we're ~34th down on infant mortality, degenerating from 19th.
lunchy@flexghost i wish i could be a tenth as articulate on the spot as sagan was