The new season of
Cosmos, which premieres
tonight, demonstrates the remarkable stickiness of a great idea. In 1973—years before there was
Cosmos the book and
Cosmos the original television series—Carl Sagan wrote a book called The Cosmic Connection. It mixed cutting-edge astronomical discoveries with informed speculation, philosophical ruminations on the scientific method, and elements of personal memoir.
It was a science book not quite like any that had been published before. Sagan subtitled it "An Extraterrestrial Perspective," and that is how it read. It was a deeply personal, quirky, passionate account told by someone whose mind had just returned from a journey far, far beyond Earth (billions and billions of miles away, you might say). I read it as a child and was captivated. I had lot of good company. The Cosmic Connection was a hit, Sagan ended up as a semi-regular guest on The Tonight Show, and for many people he became the definitive public face of science.
The connection that began with that book remains unbroken. In 1980, The Cosmic Connection begat the
Cosmos TV show on PBS, which has reportedly been seen by 500 million people around the world. Sagan died in 1996 but his voice returned in a 2014 sequel,
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, again co-created by Sagan's widow Ann Druyan and now hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson. I had some quibbles with the show's history, but enormous admiration for its message and its creativity.
Now
Cosmos and the essence of Sagan are back for
Cosmos:
Possible Worlds, with Tyson once again piloting the show's signature "spaceship of the imagination."
A lot has changed since the time of The Cosmic Connection and the original
Cosmos. Back then, the existence of planets around other stars was a matter of speculation; now it is
scientific fact. The possibility of building spaceships that sail on light was just an intriguing technical idea; now there is a
light sail circling above Earth, due in no small part to the efforts of Sagan and Druyan. Society has changed, too. The current season was delayed while Tyson was
investigated (and cleared) for charges of sexual misconduct.
What hasn't changed are the essentials of what made Sagan's original books and episodes so enduring. Like its predecessors,
Cosmos: Possible Worlds is alive with the wonder of discovery. It reminds us that the scientific method can be a disruptive process, one that sometimes appears threatening to those who hold political and cultural power. Science is no simple force for good, however. It is a human endeavor, and it therefore carries within it the same desires and biases and emotions that permeate everything we do.
At its best, though, science can help us stand outside ourselves, to gain an expanded perspective on our behavior and on our place in the universe. It can help guide us past our limitations, and it can reveal how tiny we are within the glorious vastness of nature.
Cosmos: Possible Worlds has its quirks and hokey moments; those come with the territory. Above all, though, it radiates a giddy sense of possibility—of thinking greater thoughts, of seeing unknown vistas, of making the world a better place. Like The Cosmic Connection 47 years ago, it is a welcome beacon in a world that too often seems fixated on darkness.
For some perspective on all that perspective, I spoke with host Neil deGrasse Tyson about the new series of
Cosmos, and about what its vision means to him. A lightly edited version of our conversation follows.