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A Science Icon Died 17 Years Ago. In His Last Interview, He Made A Warning That Gives Me Goosebumps.

His dark prediction about the future has become our present.

Jefferson:  It wasn't enough to enshrine some rights in the constitution and the bill of rights, the people had to be educated and they had to practice their skepticism in their education otherwise we don't run the government- the government runs us.

We live in an age based on science and technology with formidable technological powers.

If we don't understand it, by we I mean the general public, if it's something that "oh I'm not good at, that I don't know anything about it", then who is making all the decisions about science and technology that are going to determine what kind of future our children live in?  Just some members of congress, but there's no more than a handful members of congress with any background in science at all.

Claim on “Attacks Thwarted” by NSA Spreads Despite Lack of Evidence

The agency, President Obama, and members of Congress have all said NSA spying programs have thwarted more than 50 terrorist plots. But there’s no evidence the claim is true.

 The NSA has publicly identified four of the 54 cases.

“The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars.” -CS

Reading Stephen Hawking’s opinion piece in The Guardian today made me think again of Sagan...  Specifically, the Pale, Blue Dot and his last interview with Charlie Rose...  if you’re familiar with either then it will be no surprise why I had to choose a Carl Sagan quote as the title of this post...  

There’s a lot to unpack in Stephen Hawking’s opinion piece in The Guardian today...  his words tie together so many themes that you will find in my online collections and things I share...   

“This is the most dangerous time for our planet” 

Sounds pretty dire, huh?  But at the end of the day I agree that there’s hope... 

One Last Thought (via my page on space/perspective)

“I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of 100,000 miles their outlook could be fundamentally changed. That all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument silenced. The tiny globe would continue to turn, serenely ignoring its subdivisions, presenting a unified facade that would cry out for unified understanding, for homogeneous treatment. The earth must become as it appears: blue and white, not capitalist or Communist; blue and white, not rich or poor; blue and white, not envious or envied.” — Michael Collins, Gemini 10 & Apollo 11 astronaut

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ps

Who is CS?  Carl Sagan of course...  I recently posted about him because it was Cal Sagan day a few weeks ago...  funny enough, he also came up today in a discussion at work in reference to the recent post about his course notes, course materials, and more being available in an online Library of Congress collection...  check out the links for more information and food for thought...  

Digital Literacy

SSSC Digital Literacy workshop

TEDxWarwick - Doug Belshaw - The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies

artificial intelligence infographic ftd19

Previous Travels Through Europe

Peace or Violence?

Is World History Becoming More Peaceful or More Violent?

Updates:  

Ray Kurzweil: The world isn’t getting worse — our information is getting better

Why the World Is Better Than You Think in 10 Powerful Charts

I am now a published author!!!

I can’t believe it!  I have been working for so long on this and it’s done!  Well, there are some things I’d like to update (as well as working on the formatting so I can upload it to the Amazon and Google stores), but for the most part the first edition is done!!!!!!!!!!!!  

TheEdTechBible.com Direct link to the ETB on the iBookstore

So grateful I have a lot of wonderful people that have supported me in this endeavor, but none more than my very dear friend Kim, who is also the editor of the book.  I could not have done it without her.  (btw, when you check out her website, click on her YouTube channel and subscribe!)   

The manager and the moron

But this situation of linear movement is rapidly changing in every respect. And the greatest change is one that our Rip Van Winkle economist, looking only at the figures, wouldn’t even notice: In the past 20 years we have created a brand-new form of capital, a brand-new resource, namely knowledge.

Up until 1900, any society in the world would have done just as well as it did without men of knowledge. We may have needed lawyers to defend criminals and doctors to write death certificates, but the criminals would have done almost as well without the lawyers, and the patients without the doctors. We needed teachers to teach other ornaments of society, but this too was largely decoration. The world prided itself on men of knowledge, but it didn’t need them to keep the society running.