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Persona #155

Carl Sagan

1934–1996
American astronomer and science popularizer; host of Cosmos (1980)

"We are made of star-stuff" — scientific naturalism as a reverent humanism of the cosmos

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where personas disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid (32 attributes) is shown.

Attribute Carl Sagan
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Curved
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Mediated
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Partial
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency None
Observer · Moral Authority Reason
Observer · Theological Method N/A
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Non-conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each persona's writings reveal about their stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Carl Sagan

Standard cosmological time, possibly without beginning depending on cosmology.

Space

Carl Sagan

Vast, general-relativistically curved.

Matter

Carl Sagan

Standard substantival matter; "we are made of star-stuff."

Observer

Carl Sagan

Plural physical observers; reverent-humanist stance; no metaphysical agency.

Energy

Carl Sagan

Standard physics.

Information

Carl Sagan

Information conserved at the world-scale; personal soul not.

Internal Tensions

Where each persona's working synthesis strains against itself.

Carl Sagan

Sagan's television persona was charged with sentimentality by some scientific colleagues (notably, his National Academy of Sciences blackball in 1992 was attributed to perceived populism). The Pale Blue Dot framing — Earth as a mote of dust in cosmic perspective — has been read as humbling and as evasive of moral urgency on the planet from which the photo was taken.