You Rock, Carl Baby

Cosmos ends with a bang. Pun intended. The last two chapters were exquisite. Sagan theorizing why there has been no contact with other life forms in the universe, Sagan contrasting our potential self destruction to the benefits of space exploration.
Sagan was an optimistic guy, a lover of humanity, passionate about all things human and interstellar. Pretty cool for a scientist.
One theory that fascinated me is that it is a natural arc for life to emerge and evolve on a planet until it gets to a technological place where it can destroy itself. Which it does.
Describes planet earth perfectly.
So if other life forms are more advanced than us they have already destroyed themselves. Hence no contact.
Of course he explores the possibility of other life forms being so advanced that they have survived their own evil nature and are so far ahead of us that they merely observe us.
I like the destruction theory better. It makes more sense, given what we know about this planet.
Talks about the history of civilizations destroying other civilizations because of their differences and how we are now at the point, and have been for quite some time, of being capable of destroying the planet completely. Talks about this being a critical time for humanity, standing at the crossroads of death and transcendence.
Sagan: "......we have accumulated dangerous evolutionary baggage, hereditary propensities for aggression and ritual, submission to leaders and hostility to outsiders, which place our survival in some question. But we have also acquired compassion for others, love for our children, a desire to learn from history, and a great soaring, passionate intelligence." He admits to being unsure about which aspects of our nature will win out.
He believed in some ways space exploration would give us a broader perspective and help us to realize that we are all one. He was much more optimistic than I am.
"Hypnotized by mutual mistrust, almost never concerned for the species or the planet, the nations prepare for death." Right on, Carl. In 1980 the budget for the Department of Defense was 153 billion. The budget for the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency was 18 million. I'm sure the gap is much wider today.
Trying to figure out what the hell is up with human nature, he sites a cross cultural study that suggests that cultures that lavish physical affection on infants tend to be less violent. Those that don't, dig violence.
This is directly in line with my theory of Transference of Stupidity. Stupid parents produce stupid children. You see this in abundance in this country. Parents who communicate by yelling, parents whose kids are always crying.  I think there is a LOT more of that than there are intelligent, sensitive parents. We revere stupidity in this country and we pass it from generation to generation.
The book was cool. I learned a lot and it has a lot of pretty pictures. The footnotes were kind of scary though. There were so many footnotes that if I read them all I would still be reading the book in 2015 (assuming we get past 12/21/12).
The surprising thing that came out of reading it was a feeling for how petty and evil and vicious we humans are. Going back to the beginning of civilization consistently right up to today, the history is one of jealousy and violence, war and destruction.
The quest for knowledge is in direct contrast to that, although Sagan points out that the same technology and science that is directed towards nuclear weapons is also used in the exploration of space. There is a choice there, and if history is any indicator we humans will most assuredly make the wrong one.