Carl Sagan lives until the present day?

I'd expect his focus on highlighting pseudoscience to the general public to continue and become more refined. A Demon-Haunted World showed him to be pretty passionate about it.

He's not going to tear a new one off of Intelligent Design, and I doubt his effects upon education policy or the thinking of people in general is going to be very measurable in comparison to OTL. You could see him causing some divergence in the fates of a number of younger individuals, but I wouldn't expect the ripples from that to have much of an impact for years to come.
 

Susano

Banned
You could see him causing some divergence in the fates of a number of younger individuals
Well, I guess ultimately he led me to atheism ;)
But hey, weve Dawkins now, I dont think Sagans would be more effective on this issue. Though it would be nice if this "new atheism" thing wouldve come about earlier...
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
The American public would be more informed about the Galileo and Cassini missions, and especially the Mars rovers, because the networks would have kept calling Sagan to do interviews about them. Until Neil deGrasse Tyson came along, there really was no "Mr. Science" to the American public, and the media doesn't turn to Tyson a much as they did to Sagan.

Imagine how amazing it would have been had Sagan produced a follow-up mini-series documntary, thirty years after the original Cosmos. A lot has been discovered since then, to say the least.

I imagine he would also have been a major figure in the public opposition to the Bush administration, especially in regards to climate change policy.
 
With Carl Sagan around, how much room would there be for the "new atheists"? Their niche, so to speak, is already filled.

Also, the NAs turn a lot of people off due to how strident they are. Sagan, due to his politeness and kindly demeanor, would probably be more effective for the secular/rationalist movement.
 

Michael Busch

Bill Nye would continue to have competition as the lead promoter for the Planetary Society.

Observation: this goes in After 1900. Sagan was not quite that old.
 
Well, I guess ultimately he led me to atheism ;)
But hey, weve Dawkins now, I dont think Sagans would be more effective on this issue. Though it would be nice if this "new atheism" thing wouldve come about earlier...

He didn't do that for me, but he certainly had an effect on my life. The "younger" reference is his having an impact on more people later, as he wouldn't have to do so from beyond the grave.
 
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