We've tended in our cosmologies to make things familiar. Despite all our best efforts, we've not been very inventive. In the West, Heaven is placid and fluffy, and Hell is like the inside of a volcano. In many stories, both realms are governed by dominance hierarchies headed by gods or devils. Monotheists talked about the king of kings. In every culture we imagined something like our own political system running the Universe. Few found the similarity suspicious.
Carl SaganIf we say that God has always been, why not save a step and conclude that the universe has always been?
Carl SaganEvery cell is a triumph of natural selection, and weโre made of trillions of cells. Within us, is a little universe.
Carl SaganThe method of science, as stodgy and grumpy as it may seem, is far more important than the findings of science.
Carl SaganAs agonizing a disease as cancer is, I do not think it can be said that our civilization is threatened by it. ... But a very plausible case can be made that our civilization is fundamentally threatened by the lack of adequate fertility control. Exponential increases of population will dominate any arithmetic increases, even those brought about by heroic technological initiatives, in the availability of food and resources, as Malthus long ago realized.
Carl Sagan