--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I know that the consequences of…" description: "\"“I know that the consequences of scientific illiteracy are far more dangerous in our time than in any that has come before. It’s perilous and foolhardy..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75b/carl-sagan-160_acid-rain_i-know-that-the-consequences-of-scientif_2654795.jpg" --- # I know that the consequences of scientific illiteracy are… ![“I know that the consequences of scientific illiteracy are far more dangerous in our time than in any that has come before. It’s perilous and foolhardy for the average citizen to remain ignorant about global warming, say, or ozone depletion, air pollution, toxic and radioactive wastes, acid rain…” quote by Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75b/carl-sagan-160_acid-rain_i-know-that-the-consequences-of-scientif_2654795.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75b/carl-sagan-160_acid-rain_i-know-that-the-consequences-of-scientif_2654795.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75b/carl-sagan-160_acid-rain_i-know-that-the-consequences-of-scientif_2654795.jpg) > ““I know that the consequences of scientific illiteracy are far more dangerous in our time than in any that has come before. It’s perilous and foolhardy for the average citizen to remain ignorant about global warming, say, or ozone depletion, air pollution, toxic and radioactive wastes, acid rain, topsoil erosion, tropical deforestation, exponential population growth. Jobs and wages depend on science and technology. If our nation can’t manufacture, at high quality and low price, products people want to buy, then industries will continue to drift away and transfer a little more prosperity to other parts of the world. Consider the social ramifications of fission and fusion power, supercomputers, data “highways,” abortion, radon, massive reductions in strategic weapons, addiction, government eavesdropping on the lives of its citizens, high-resolution TV, airline and airport safety, fetal tissue transplants, health costs, food additives, drugs to ameliorate mania or depression or schizophrenia, animal rights, superconductivity, morning-after pills, alleged hereditary antisocial predispositions, space stations, going to Mars, finding cures for AIDS and cancer. How can we affect national policy—or even make intelligent decisions in our own lives—if we don’t grasp the underlying issues? As I write, Congress is dissolving its own Office of Technology Assessment—the only organization specifically tasked to provide advice to the House and Senate on science and technology. Its competence and integrity over the years have been exemplary. Of the 535 members of the U.S. Congress, rarely in the twentieth century have as many as one percent had any significant background in science. The last scientifically literate President may have been Thomas Jefferson.\* So how do Americans decide these matters? How do they instruct their representatives? Who in fact makes these decisions, and on what basis? —”” [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Scientific illiteracy threatens society because citizens cannot evaluate critical issues or influence policy without understanding science. **In simple terms:** Lack of science knowledge harms decision‑making. Key Takeaway Improve public science education. Themes science literacy citizen engagement policy technology environment Mood concerned urgent hopeful Type advisory motivational When to use this quote - Voting - community meetings - personal health choices - career planning - environmental activism Key Concepts Scientific method risk assessment technological dependence Questions to Reflect On - How can individuals become better informed about complex scientific topics? - What role should education play in fostering scientific literacy? A Different Perspective Changing political priorities can limit access to scientific expertise. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Air pollution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/air-pollution/) [Animal Rights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animal-rights-2/) [Global warming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/global-warming/) [Ozone depletion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ozone-depletion/) [Population growth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/population-growth/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) ## Related quotes > [“the consequences of scientific illiteracy are far more dangerous in our time than in any that has come before. It’s perilous and foolhardy for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-consequences-of-scientific-illiteracy-are-far-more-dangerous-in/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [It's perilous and foolhardy for the average citizen to remain ignorant about global warming, say, or ozone depletion, air pollution, toxic and radioactive wastes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/it-s-perilous-and-foolhardy-for-the-average-citizen-to-remain/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“the aging and grumpy Plato, in Book VII of the Laws, gave his definition of scientific illiteracy: Who is unable to count one, two,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-aging-and-grumpy-plato-in-book-vii-of-the-laws-gave-his/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [In this complex world, the scientific method, and the consequences of the scientific method are central to everything the human race is doing and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/in-this-complex-world-the-scientific-method-and-the-consequences-of/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [“The best way to avoid abuses is for the populace in general to be scientifically literate, to understand the implications of such investigations. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-best-way-to-avoid-abuses-is-for-the-populace-in-general-to-be/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Scientific illiteracy in our populations is leaving too many of us unprepared to discuss or understand much of the damage we are wreaking on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kingsolver/scientific-illiteracy-in-our-populations-is-leaving-too-many-of-us/) [Barbara Kingsolver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kingsolver/) > [The need for general scientific understanding by the public has never been larger, and the penalty for scientific illiteracy never harsher. Lack of scientific…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-agre/the-need-for-general-scientific-understanding-by-the-public-has-never/) [Peter Agre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-agre/) > [“Global warming is a warning…. Mother earth is faltering due to global warming Today man –made chemicals causing ozone depletion Thousands of species becoming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ravi-sathasivam-sri-lanka/global-warming-is-a-warning-mother-earth-is-faltering-due-to-global/) [Ravi Sathasivam / Sri Lanka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ravi-sathasivam-sri-lanka/) > [When I was a kid, we never heard of smog, ozone depletion, acid rain, green house gasses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-weaver/when-i-was-a-kid-we-never-heard-of-smog-ozone-depletion-acid-rain/) [Dennis Weaver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-weaver/) > [We woke up some years ago about the consequences of ozone depletion, the hole in the atmosphere. You can't see it. You can't taste…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-earle/we-woke-up-some-years-ago-about-the-consequences-of-ozone-depletion/) [Sylvia Earle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-earle/) > [In a world of pollution, profanity, adolescence, zits, broccoli, racism, ozone depletion, sexism, stupid guys and weirdos, why the hell do people still tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ana-chable/in-a-world-of-pollution-profanity-adolescence-zits-broccoli-racism/) [Ana Chable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ana-chable/) > [“And so it’s hard for a certain kind of naïve mind at a restless, awakening time of year not to wonder, for example, what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-r-spaar/and-so-it-s-hard-for-a-certain-kind-of-na-ve-mind-at-a-restless/) [Lisa R. Spaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-r-spaar/) > [We can drift along as though there were still a cold war, wasting hundreds of billions of dollars on weapons that will never be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-carter/we-can-drift-along-as-though-there-were-still-a-cold-war-wasting/) [Jimmy Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-carter/) > [The Montreal Protocol is a model of cooperation. It is a product of the recognition and international consensus that ozone depletion is a global…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/the-montreal-protocol-is-a-model-of-cooperation-it-is-a-product-of/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [Gaia's main problems are not industrialization, ozone depletion, overpopulation, or resource depletion. Gaia's main problem is the lack of mutual understanding and mutual agreement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-wilber/gaia-s-main-problems-are-not-industrialization-ozone-depletion/) [Ken Wilber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-wilber/) ## More by Carl Sagan > [It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/it-is-sometimes-said-that-scientists-are-unromantic-that-their/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [The prediction of nuclear winter is drawn not, of course, from any direct experience with the consequences of global nuclear war, but rather from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-prediction-of-nuclear-winter-is-drawn-not-of-course-from-any/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-suppression-of-uncomfortable-ideas-may-be-common-in-religion-or/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“Telepathy’ literally means to feel at a distance, just as ‘telephone’ is to hear at a distance and ‘television’ is to see at a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/telepathy-literally-means-to-feel-at-a-distance-just-as-telephone-is/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“On the scale of worlds—to say nothing of stars or galaxies—humans are inconsequential, a thin film of life on an obscure and solitary lump…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/on-the-scale-of-worlds-to-say-nothing-of-stars-or-galaxies-humans-are/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/every-one-of-us-is-in-the-cosmic-perspective-precious-if-a-human/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [In our time, we have sifted the sands of Mars, we have established a presence there, we have fulfilled a century of dreams!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/in-our-time-we-have-sifted-the-sands-of-mars-we-have-established-a/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [ “\[ When a religious couple wrote to Sagan about fulfilled prophecies, he wrote back in May 1996 :\] If ‘fulfilled prophecy’ is your criterion,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/when-a-religious-couple-wrote-to-sagan-about-fulfilled-prophecies-he/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Don't judge everyone else by your own limited experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/don-t-judge-everyone-else-by-your-own-limited-experience/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/books-permit-us-to-voyage-through-time-to-tap-the-wisdom-of-our/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a humdrum star that is one of 400 billion other stars that make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/we-live-on-a-hunk-of-rock-and-metal-that-circles-a-humdrum-star-that/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [A tiny blue dot set in a sunbeam. Here it is. That's where we live. That's home. We humans are one species and this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/a-tiny-blue-dot-set-in-a-sunbeam-here-it-is-that-s-where-we-live-that/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Any sufficiently crisp question can be answered by a single binary digit-0 or 1, yes or no.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/any-sufficiently-crisp-question-can-be-answered-by-a-single-binary/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Humans — who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals — have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/humans-who-enslave-castrate-experiment-on-and-fillet-other-animals/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Every star may be a sun to someone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/every-star-may-be-a-sun-to-someone/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) [Explore all 1,043 Carl Sagan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) ## More Acid rain quotes > [Canada is a country whose main exports are hockey players and cold fronts. Our main imports are baseball players and acid rain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-trudeau/canada-is-a-country-whose-main-exports-are-hockey-players-and-cold/) [Pierre Trudeau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-trudeau/) > [“If you believed in capitalism, you had to attack science, because science had revealed the hazards that capitalism had brought in its wake. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-oreskes/if-you-believed-in-capitalism-you-had-to-attack-science-because/) [Naomi Oreskes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-oreskes/) > [Lyrically, 'Planets' is the precursor to 'Acid Rain'; it's about a meteoric, intergalactic war that results in an apocalypse and the human species aligning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/synyster-gates/lyrically-planets-is-the-precursor-to-acid-rain-it-s-about-a-meteoric/) [Synyster Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/synyster-gates/) > [“We line up and make a lot of noise about big environmental problems like incinerators, waste dumps, acid rain, global warming and pollution. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-c-jenkins/we-line-up-and-make-a-lot-of-noise-about-big-environmental-problems/) [Joseph C. Jenkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-c-jenkins/) > [First deal with your own tears; tomorrow do something about acid rain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betty-jane-wylie/first-deal-with-your-own-tears-tomorrow-do-something-about-acid-rain/) [Betty Jane Wylie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betty-jane-wylie/) > [Take back your insurance, baby, nothing is guaranteed. Take back your acid rain, let your TV bleed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-petty/take-back-your-insurance-baby-nothing-is-guaranteed-take-back-your/) [Tom Petty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-petty/) > [Bring down Mike Mann and we can bring down the IPCC, they reckoned. It is a classic technique for the deniers movement, I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-e-mann/bring-down-mike-mann-and-we-can-bring-down-the-ipcc-they-reckoned-it/) [Michael E. Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-e-mann/) > [“Imagine you are a member of a tour visiting Greece. The group goes to the Parthenon. It is a bore. Few people even bother…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/imagine-you-are-a-member-of-a-tour-visiting-greece-the-group-goes-to/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [Increasingly, our leaders must deal with dangers that threaten the entire world, where an understanding of those dangers and the possible solutions depends on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/increasingly-our-leaders-must-deal-with-dangers-that-threaten-the/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [From the cranberry cancer scare of the 1950s to the Alar-in-apples hysteria of the 1980s, from the "new ice age" of the 1960s to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-browne/from-the-cranberry-cancer-scare-of-the-1950s-to-the-alar-in-apples/) [Harry Browne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-browne/) > [It is personal - deep in my bones and my flesh - the knowledge that we squandered our chance to avoid the climate emergency;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-may/it-is-personal-deep-in-my-bones-and-my-flesh-the-knowledge-that-we/) [Elizabeth May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-may/) > [We can drift along as though there were still a cold war, wasting hundreds of billions of dollars on weapons that will never be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-carter/we-can-drift-along-as-though-there-were-still-a-cold-war-wasting/) [Jimmy Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-carter/) > [“Sabrina surely had one dead ex-boyfriend on her record. But did Martina have a deceased ex-boyfriend in her past too? Biggie’s words swirled in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-adam-nyapi/sabrina-surely-had-one-dead-ex-boyfriend-on-her-record-but-did/) [Tomas Adam Nyapi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-adam-nyapi/) > [And your words burned my skin like acid rain, leaving holes and dripping to the ground](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katy-reichl/and-your-words-burned-my-skin-like-acid-rain-leaving-holes-and/) [Katy Reichl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katy-reichl/) > [“I flip ahead in the textbook. There's an interesting chapter about acid rain. Nothing about sex. We aren't scheduled to learn about that until…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-halse-anderson/i-flip-ahead-in-the-textbook-there-s-an-interesting-chapter-about/) [Laurie Halse Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-halse-anderson/) Browse all 43 Acid rain quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I know that the consequences of scientific illiteracy are far more dangerous in our time than in any that has come before. It’s perilous and foolhardy for the average citizen to remain ignorant about global warming, say, or ozone depletion, air pollution, toxic and radioactive wastes, acid rain, topsoil erosion, tropical deforestation, exponential population growth. Jobs and wages depend on science and technology. If our nation can’t manufacture, at high quality and low price, products people want to buy, then industries will continue to drift away and transfer a little more prosperity to other parts of the world. Consider the social ramifications of fission and fusion power, supercomputers, data “highways,” abortion, radon, massive reductions in strategic weapons, addiction, government eavesdropping on the lives of its citizens, high-resolution TV, airline and airport safety, fetal tissue transplants, health costs, food additives, drugs to ameliorate mania or depression or schizophrenia, animal rights, superconductivity, morning-after pills, alleged hereditary antisocial predispositions, space stations, going to Mars, finding cures for AIDS and cancer. How can we affect national policy—or even make intelligent decisions in our own lives—if we don’t grasp the underlying issues? As I write, Congress is dissolving its own Office of Technology Assessment—the only organization specifically tasked to provide advice to the House and Senate on science and technology. Its competence and integrity over the years have been exemplary. Of the 535 members of the U.S. Congress, rarely in the twentieth century have as many as one percent had any significant background in science. The last scientifically literate President may have been Thomas Jefferson.* So how do Americans decide these matters? How do they instruct their representatives? Who in fact makes these decisions, and on what basis? —”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Carl Sagan" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/i-know-that-the-consequences-of-scientific-illiteracy-are-far-more/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Acid rain" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/i-know-that-the-consequences-of-scientific-illiteracy-are-far-more/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75b/carl-sagan-160_acid-rain_i-know-that-the-consequences-of-scientif_2654795.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75b/carl-sagan-160_acid-rain_i-know-that-the-consequences-of-scientif_2654795.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75b/carl-sagan-160_acid-rain_i-know-that-the-consequences-of-scientif_2654795.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I know that the consequences of scientific illiteracy are far more dangerous in our time than in any that…” — Carl Sagan", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Carl Sagan", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“I know that the consequences of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/i-know-that-the-consequences-of-scientific-illiteracy-are-far-more/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/i-know-that-the-consequences-of-scientific-illiteracy-are-far-more/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```