Night Walkers and Mystery Mongers Summary- Carl Sagan

 

Carl Sagan

Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer and science writer. Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was the author, co. author and editor of more than 20 books.

Summary of Night Walkers and Mystery Mongers: Sense and Nonsense at the Edge of Science.

In the first paragraph, Carl Sagan talks about a master con man (one who cheats and tricks) named Alexander of Abonutichus. He was lived in Greece of the 2nd century AD.  He made money by cheating and deceiving the people. He was a pretentious person who showed some strange behaviour in front of people. He rushed through the marketplace as half-naked and shook long and loose hair.  Thereafter, he announced the advent or manifestation of a  mysterious God and started to run through the site of the temple.  There in the temple site, he discovered a goose egg sealed up by a baby snake. The snake was a long and obedient one that he bought from Macedonia. He made its face just like a human by clothing. People are so surprised by seeing a serpent with a human face. By using the serpent, he suggested a solution for unresolved questions.  People have to submit their questions in a sealed envelope to get the answer. What actually he did that when he was alone, he would lift off or duplicate the seal, read the message, remake the envelope, and attach a response. The number of visitors increased day by day, as a result, he earned several $100,000 per year.

In the next paragraph, Carl Sagan introduced another person named M Lamar Keene.  He was a pastor and a trustee of the Universal Spiritualist Association. He exploits people by using the spiritualistic medium. He was a self-confessed fraud. Because he confessed in the latter part of his life by saying that it is not possible to read and communicate with spirit. Like Alexander, He also read sealed envelopes and suggested a solution for unsolved problems. Instead of breaking the seal, he read the question with concealed bright lamb or by smearing lighter fluid. He would find the lost objects and communicate with the spirit of died man. In the later part of his life, he had confessed to all his mysterious fraud activities by saying that, this was an exploitation of the friends and relatives, who possess greater love for the dead man.

Sagan says that such fraud activities are based on simple tricks and strong self-confidence. Moreover, most of the clients are not skeptical,  they accept whatever is propagated by the con man.  In the next paragraph, he talks about the remarkable book published in 1852, Extra Ordinary Popular Delusion the  Madness of the crowd written by Charles Mackey. In the text, he exposes how people in other time were deceived by mysterious people. It discusses subjects like prophecy, faith healing haunted house, the crusades, and the influence of politics and religion on hair and beard. The text warns common people against getting trapped by mysterious activities. 

In the next paragraph, he talks about levitation. Levitation is the action of raising or lifting a person or thing in the air without any physical support. Supporters of levitation believe that people can raise and move through the air. Sagan says that if levitation was possible it would be scientific. This is not proven by science. This is the responsibility of its supporters to prove levitation in front of its skeptics.

In the next paragraph, he talks about the precognitive experience. Precognitive experience means the ability to perceive or understand matters beyond the senses.  In the last years, many precognitive events reported from different parts of America.  Usually, people may experience precognitive events like the death of a loved one, or a communication from a long-lost friend, etc. Here  Sagan says that precognitive event happens just because of emotional intensity with the subject, this is not an extrasensory ability.

In the next paragraph, he talks about flying saucers or  UFO. Flying saucers are well known to everyone. Sagan says that UFO is a  false concept. That is not a reality. But the light in the sky doesn't mean that we are being visited by beings from other planets like Venus.  Sagan says that strange light in the sky may be originated from a flight of luminescent insects, or an unconventional aircraft, or a conventional aircraft with an unconventional light pattern.  There are several UFO cases have been reported since 1947. But there is no good anecdotal and physical evidence for such cases. Therefore, in 1977, NASA declined an invitation to study the UFO report.

Now he recalls his experience in a restaurant. There were many people gathered around on the sidewalk and pointing to the sky with their fingers. They were delighted by seeing a UFO. But Sagan returned with the pair of binocular and clearly showed that that is not a UFO, it is an unconventional aircraft of NASA. The People's astonishment and excitement became ashes by the moment.  Here, he says that most of the observers are biased, more interested in the extraordinary stories, they don't want to know whether it is true or not. So the majority of the observers get disappointed in the act of Sagan.

Sagan says that those who are questioning unscientific belief systems are not afraid of novelty. Sagan and his friends are also interested in the belief like the possibility of life and intelligence on other planets. But, scientists, have to check the interference of personal interests and wishes in scientific belief.  All scientists have to be objective, and they are not supposed to be biased.

Professional scientists usually have an objective to be proved.  There are some objectives have more important and some others have least important. The majority of the scientists give the least importance to issues related to unscientific beliefs. Moreover, it consumes more time and effort. Here what Sagan is saying is that scientists should spend more time on such a topic and expose the reality behind the false belief.  

One of the disappointing things he described that many unscientific beliefs were already dismissed by science, but they never tried to propagate it through print or social media. This is a mistake because the success of science depends upon public support.  Most people don't know about Science and Technology. Therefore they are not capable to decide on scientific issues. This is the context where the pseudoscientist can easily deceive the people and make money.

Scientists are human, they are also having passions. But they never succumb before their passion. Finding always results in the combination of theory, intuition, and brilliant creativity. Apart from that, it also requires sceptical scrutiny of every step. Therefore, Sagan said that scientist has to work with theory, intuition, creativity and critical scrutiny, they never mix their passions with scientific experiments.

The success of science depends upon the self-correcting character of science. There must be a way of testing any valid idea. The character and beliefs of the scientists are irrelevant. Scientists do not consider any arguments from authority.  He wants to propagate every effective scientific thought through the schools and media. It brings a drastic change to our society.

Most of the beliefs take place, not based on the close examination. They are anecdotal, depending entirely on the validity of eyewitnesses. Most eyewitness is not reliable.

Now Sagan distinguishes between prejudice and post-judice. Prejudice means rejection of an idea or thing without a close examination.  If we reject an idea or a  thing after a close examination of evidence, it is called post-judice. Sagan says that post-judice is the basic requirement for acquiring knowledge.

The critical and sceptical examination is the method used in everyday practical matters as well as science. When buying a new car or a used car, we are very particular about many things, like written warranty, car dealer, working condition of particular parts, and test drive.  Same way, if we have a close examination of the person, who practices borderline belief, his ability will decline. So Sagan says that if we apply critical and sceptical examination on the borderline beliefs, we can understand the reality behind it.

There are several findings in modern science and mathematics that are more exciting and compelling than most of the doctrines of pseudoscience. Science is entirely different from pseudoscience as it is more intricate and subtle. And it evokes a sense of wonder. 'Being true' is the hallmark of science.

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