Remember the late Carl Sagan, the theoretical astronomer? Sagan was probably the only astronomer to be regular quest to the Tonight Show. For all I know, Sagan was very good theoretical astronomer. Not my cup of tea. However Sagan never limited his opinions to just theoretical autonomy. Sagan has opinions on everything. The problem was that Sagan was an expert in one area, astronomy, he wanted you to believe the was an expert on everything.
In response to Sagan rather finite body of knowledge but rather infinite set of pronouncements, I developed the Sagan Principal. It holds that a person’s expertise diminishes the farther they are from their expertise. Sagan wondered pretty far.
Speaking of lost wanderers, David Freddoso, National Review, links to this quote from the one, b/k/a Barack Obama:
[T]he most critical part of our strategy is to ensure that we do not return to an economic cycle of bubble and bust in this country…The budget I submitted to Congress will build our economic recovery on a stronger foundation so that we don’t face another crisis like this 10 or 20 years from now.
The last time I checked Obama has a hack lawyer, who has never released his college or law school transcripts and never published anything, he himself, has written. Obama has trouble understanding laws or executive orders he has signed. Translation, if Obama is really a lawyer, he not a very good one.
So this hack lawyer makes this radical economic pronouncement that somehow economic recovery is magically linked to enacting his bloated three trillion dollar budget. Since when? Obama has no economic credentials.. He cites no economic experts who can collaborate his theory. In short Obama gives us no reason to believe that his private theory is true.
Tags: astronomer sagan, Barack Obama, carl sagan, cup of tea, david freddoso, dollar budget, economic credentials, economic cycle, economic experts, economic recovery, infinite set, school transcripts, stronger foundation, study economics
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March 26th, 2009 at 10:06
I would not limit Carl Sagan’s legacy by calling him a “Theoretical Astronomer”, he believed that as the dominating race in this planet, we need to be smart, to observe, to ask questions and yes to have theories, but never be fooled that what we wish for, often is not the real deal. He was a fierce proponent of skeptical thinking, questioning and learning that all theories are required to pass the rigorous obserbations and conclusions of science. He never proposed to be an expert on everything, not one minute. He spoke with passion about science because he knew it was the most important legacy he could leave us. Finite body of knowledge? well…yes! who knows everything?
March 26th, 2009 at 11:28
largely concur. I believe it was Carl Sagan who said that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. My Sagaj Principle is based on the observation that no matter how large you defined Sagan’s field of expertise, he wandered rather far away from it.
Of course offering theories on Sagan was not my purpose. My prupose as and it be sceptical, very sceptical, about some hack lawyer, Obamaa, offering moonbat theories of economics based on uttterly no eviidence.