Carl Sagan on the dumbing down of America

The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media... lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstitution, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.

~ Carl Sagan, 1995

Michael Brendon Dougherty on how Covid-19 warped assessments of risk

At some point, the pandemic — the provisional and practical judgments in favor of caution that can justify restrictive behaviors — became an unshakeable moral purpose.  Actual weighing of risks went out the window: There’s a deadly disease out there; my actions can contribute to the end of the disease or to its spreading in perpetuity. 

It’s as if a circuit has been fused.  While caution and restrictive behavior can be justified by a conscience informed by the risks, the human mind can also make calculations based on superstition.  And one frighteningly common one is the equation of science with truth, fear with realism, and caution with virtue.

~ Michael Brendon Dougherty, "COVID-19 Rewired Our Brains," National Review, May 3, 2021

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky speaks before the
House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis,
April 15, 2021

Babe Ruth on superstition

I have just one superstition. Whenever I hit a home run, I make certain I touch all four bases.

~ Babe Ruth

Bertrand Russell on conquering fear

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty.  To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

~ Bertrand Russell