The Pale Blue Dot

We humans are quite delusional. All the bloodshed, hatred, and cruelty that is continually conjured up in order to "momentarily be the master of a fraction of a dot." Whether this is describing the war mongering propaganda between nations or the disagreements between neighbors, it really doesn't matter. I can take responsibility for my portion of the dot.

We need a new / refocused perspective on our lovely "mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam".

Enjoy! Narrative below the video.



-- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known

"Everyone you love. Everyone you know. Everyone you've ever heard of... lives upon a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."

I only reply because there are other threads about the Pale Blue Dot here on ATS. With that said, and while it is a most special image of our world; I find the movie you posted relevant only because of its quick zip/flash of the most beautiful woman on Earth- Ms. Audrey Tautou. Truley spectacular!

Carl Sagan, on the other hand and IMHO, can eat his Demon Haunted World under a candle in the dark...cold, with applesauce.

::Edited for crunchy bits and retsin flavor::

reply to post by Tuned Agent


Yes, there are other threads here on this. The Pale Blue Dot is important to hear / see every once in a while. The last time this speech was posted on ATS, I think, was 2009... Past due to reiterate, IMO.

I hope your zeal for Ms. Tautou is the only reason you're saying that this video is only relevant because she's in it. The speech itself, (without Ms. Tautou, of course ), is very relevant.

I have not seen this before but found it quite humbling. Thanks for posting this OP S&F

Am I the only one that thinks the narrator sounds like Agent Smith from The Matrix

reply to post by StarTraveller


This was narrated by Sagan himself. It is a beautiful speech, is it not?

I like this version of the speech because in the description of the video the producer states that in answer to requests for different language subtitles, he's produced the following (with the help of others): Chinese, Korean, Estonian, Spanish, and German. He provides a translator site for other languages as well. This is very appropriate because It seems to me that Sagan's speech is not just for English speaking people, but for all humanity.

This was on Story of the Year's album, "The Black Swan" They chopped it up, and made it sound nice. But this was amazing.. It is a beautiful speech. It kind of makes me feel that we are only living inside of a cosmic neighborhood, happily minding our own business, while we go unnoticed by other life out there.

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


Well said Onlyhuman. The speech is grandiose to say the least, and Sagan always chose his words carefully. Still, and I just might be playing Devil's advocate here by nitpicking, but its the movie and Sagan's speech to an extent that I take issue with.

We look at the Pale Blue Dot and get all introspective, questioning our very existance on this small rock floating in the depths of the galaxy. Watching the movie makes us think about our accomplishments and our folly's, all of which are insignificant in the large playground around us. Sagan gets deep (as always), and leads many of us down a, dare I say,"spiritual" path that ultimately leads us to question our beliefs in everything. This is all fine, and I'm sure you've ended up feeling as small as I. Sadly, its Sagan who I think is laughing at us all from the grave, because if it were up to him, we'd be secure in knowing that most, if not all, our beliefs are based on mass hallucination and the resigned acceptance of the wrong social memes. Sagan is based purely in the cold harsh reality of science, which is exactly how I think he should have you feel about the Pale Blue Dot.

Throwing it out there- my two cents. Thoughts?