

The Dragon in My Garage - markessien
http://web.archive.org/web/20050105135620/http://spl.haxial.net/religion/misc/carl-sagan.html

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tdonia
"The 'Dragon' is a metaphor for God." should have been omitted from the
preamble. if the reader cannot figure out that the dragon = god the rest of
the argument is in more trouble than explicitly asserting that can fix. and
for the rest of us, it's a lousy spoiler.

~~~
ricree
It's been a while since I read Demon Haunted World, but I'm pretty sure that
the Dragon wasn't even supposed to specifically be a metaphor for God.
Instead, it was supposed to be a metaphor for all supernatural claims. In
particular, Sagan had previously spent a large amount of time in the earlier
parts of the book discussing claims of alien abductions, and relating them to
historical cases of "demonic possession". While this story can certainly be
used as a metaphor for God, I believe that focusing on that misses the overall
point of the story.

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davidw
Ugh. Reddit has an atheism subreddit for this kind of stuff.

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kajecounterhack
Now all the article needs is a manual that is purportedly written two thousand
years ago that rules "dragons exist in garages." And then all peoples with
garages and dragons need to have a special purpose for existence (making
people aware of the reptilian friends in the garages), and he'd have modern
religion in a nutshell.

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d0mine
In Defence Of The Dragon

The Dragon is a metaphor for hope and justice in a world where there is no
hope and never will.

It is easy to disregard the Dragon if suffering is not a part of your daily
life.

~~~
jjames
It is an entirely other assertion that The Invisible Dragon alleviates
suffering, beyond existing.

Let's imagine those who say there is a dragon living in their garage contend
that the dragon is a required salve for the harms of living in a hostile
world. Though I can not prove (though still approaching with an open mind) the
physical existence of a dragon in anyone's garage, I can not argue against the
proclaimed effect on those who find their suffering abated. That is, the
effect is real if you say it is; the dragon is not.

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tsally
I was assigned to read this book in AP Psychology in high school. Discovering
Carl Sagen alone made that class worth it. I now own quite a few of his works
and would highly recomend all of them to anyone. The Demon-Haunted World
should be required reading, regardless of whether you agree with his
viewpoints. Each chapter is a starting point for a powerful, exciting
intellectual discussion.

~~~
unalone
What is the Demon-Haunted World about? I've always loved this essay, but I
don't know anything else about Carl Sagan.

~~~
ivey
I'm not sure where to begin.

Demon-Haunted World is about skepticism, and how to use science and rational
inquiry to avoid scams, pseudoscience, hoaxes, and possibly religion. It is
not a strictly atheist book, although you could read it as one if you tilt
your head properly.

But how can you not know anything else about Carl Sagan?

He wrote many books popularizing science, including _Contact_ , _The Dragons
of Eden_ , _Broca's Brain_ , and _Cosmos_. He also co-wrote and hosted the
series _Cosmos_ on PBS, which is the most-watched PBS show in history, and
well worth watching on DVD.

He was founder and first President of The Planetary Society
(<http://www.planetary.org/>). He was an avid supporter of SETI. He assembled
the gold plaque that went into space on Pioneer 10, and the golden records
that went out on the Voyager probes.

As an astronomer, he made several important hypotheses about the structure of
other planets, particularly Venus, and drew connections between Venus and
Earth-based global warming and greenhouse emissions.

He was active in investigating UFO claims, including serving on the Ad Hoc
Committee that reviewed the Air Force's Project Blue Book. He was convinced of
the probability of extra-terrestrial intelligence, but equally convinced that
we had not encountered it yet.

Most importantly, he brought us the phrase "billions and billions", even
though he never said it himself until long after it was a joke.

Here's a collection of quotations: <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan>

And one for the road: _"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you
must first invent the universe."_

