Carl Sagan Takes Questions

More From His ‘Wonder and Skepticism’ CSICOP 1994 Keynote

When Carl Sagan delivered his keynote address “Wonder and Skepticism” before a large audience at the CSICOP Conference in Seattle, Washington, June 23–26, 1994, a lively question-andanswer session followed. We published Sagan’s adaption of his talk as the cover article in the first bimonthly, magazine-format issue of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, January/February 1995. (We republished it after Sagan’s December 1996 death as the lead chapter in the last of four general SI anthologies I edited, Encounters with the Paranormal: Science, Knowledge, and Belief, Prometheus 1998, with my two-page epilogue.)

The Q/A session had been transcribed at the time along with the talk but put away and never published. A few months ago it was relocated, and Carl’s wife and collaborator, Ann Druyan, readily agreed that it should be published in the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. It appears here, with omission of only a few nonsubstantive exchanges.

If some of the specifics discussed seem dated, others are as topical as today’s news. And the general themes remain current. We then publish on page 37 a passionately felt postscript, “The Great Turning Away,” written specially for this issue by Ann Druyan. —KENDRICK FRAZIER, Editor

http://www.csicop.org/si/2005-07/sagan.html