| Many of us were saddened to learn of the death of Stephen Jay Gould recently. Gould was not only a great scientist and prolific writer, he was a marvelous communicator and staunch defender of science and the value of rational thinking to the general public. His passing leaves yet another void in the battle against pseudoscience and irrational thought that will be sorely missed. While mourning Gould and re-reading some of his work; I began to think of the other great voices of reason we have lost over the last several years: Feynman, Asimov and Sagan, to name just a few; and I began to wonder where their replacements would come from. To be sure there are still many out there waging the battle for skepticism and scientific thought and doing their best to combat wild beliefs and unfounded claims of a pseudoscientific nature, but who will join them. Statistics about scientific literacy in the United States though somewhat improved continue to be sadly disappointing. On television I see everything from talking to the dead to pet psychics and I must admit I'm beginning to feel a little pessimistic about the future of rational thought. Hopefully, I am wrong and am being too cynical. Still it is up to everyone that believes in the value of skeptical thinking and the scientific method to make a stand and do whatever he or she can to combat the "armies of the night" as Isaac Asimov called them in an old essay; and light that "candle in the dark" according to Sagan. That candle must never be allowed to go out or thoughtful reason and skeptical inquiry may cease to exist and science approach levels that it endured during the dark ages. Surely, I am exagerrating the extent to which we might fall, but any loss of progress that the great minds of history from Socrates to Galileo to Darwin to Gould have made would be tragic. In closing, I feel more optimistic after writing that last sentence. To be certain, we have lost many wonderful thinkers and others have filled their shoes and progress continues to be made. But, in no way is the battle over. We must, as stated earlier, continue to battle myth and illogical thinking in any way that we can; and in this way, we continue the work of people like Stephen Jay Gould. |
| GOULD, SAGAN AND THAT CANDLE IN THE DARK |
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