Personal Tribute to Carl Sagan

When America adopted its constitution (1789), there was one Congressperson per 30,000 people. Now it's one per 700,000. That's a quick measure of how much individuality has been diluted.
In a world of billions, we wait in lines for literally years of our lives. We are accustomed to being reduced to being numbers. How many people can grasp the values of both billions, and one?
I think Carl Sagan could. I know he cared about a 10 year-old he would never meet.
'Every one of us is precious in the cosmic perspective.... In a 100 billion galaxies, you will not find another. ... Our global civilization is clearly on the edge of failure.... A new consciousness is developing which sees the earth as a single organism and recognizes that an organism at war with itself is doomed. We are one planet. ... We know who speaks for the nations. But who speaks for the human species? Who speaks for earth?' (Carl Sagan, Cosmos, 1980). 'If we can't think for ourselves, if we are unwilling to question authority, then we're just putty in the hands of those in power.' (The Demon-Haunted World). 'What we DO with our world, RIGHT NOW, will ... powerfully affect the destiny of our descendants. It is well within our power to destroy our civilization and perhaps our species.... But we are also capable of using our compassion and our intelligence, our technology and our wealth, to make an abundant and meaningful life for every inhabitant of this planet.' (Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, 1990).
More info:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLkC7ralR30
Images: I made ones at 0:00, 2:46, 4:35, 7:24 and 7:33. Others are public domain, from NASA, except for the last image, from CarlSaganFoundation.org.

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• twinnumber3
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[AleinaTheBitten]

Great tribute.

Blessings,

Aleina

[twinnumber3]

@AleinaTheBitten Thank you so much, Aleina! Many blessings to You :)

[pnm1941]

It was so wonderful of you to have paid such a handsome tribute to a genius that has been forgotten by the public ever since he passed away. It was so good of you to have brought his name to the fore again! You are a genius at selecting such wonderful videos! Please go on! Best wishes,

Yours,

Priya

[twinnumber3]

@pnm1941 Thank you so much for watching, and for your wonderfully encouraging, generous comments, Priya :D All the Best 2U, J

[brychar66]

Great story Jonathan and a fitting tribute to both Carl Sagan and the unnamed boy. I absolutely adored the the 'Cosmos' TV series as it was first shown over here - I learnt a lot of science from that series.

[twinnumber3]

@brychar66 Thanks so much, Chas :D I really appreciate your viewings and commenting!

[twinnumber3]

@Effervescenceify

Hi J! I don't know exactly when the unit was formed- sounds likely to have been not too long afterwards. Thanks so much for watching! J

[Effervescenceify]

omgoddess that's so funny. i didn't realize he got his own unit!! i gotta remember that. 4 billion. he got it after he died, right?

[Effervescenceify]

carl was so special . I always loved him in cosmos.

[twinnumber3]

@woodsofodin Thanks so much for watching and commenting, A! Blessings 2U