Matthew Holstein

08/10/2026

08/01/2026

"If the general picture, however, of a Big Bang followed by an expanding Universe is correct, what happened before that? Was the Universe devoid of all matter and then the matter suddenly somehow created, how did that happen? In many cultures, the customary answer is that a God or Gods created the Universe out of nothing. But if we wish to pursue this question courageously, we must of course ask the next question: where did God come from? If we decide that this is an unanswerable question, why not save a step and conclude that the origin of the Universe is an unanswerable question? Or, if we say that God always existed, why not save a step, and conclude that the Universe always existed? That there's no need for a creation, it was always here. These are not easy questions. Cosmology brings us face to face with the deepest mysteries, questions that were once treated only in religion and myth."

Carl Sagan ; Cosmos "The Deepest Mysteries" (The Edge of Forever)
❤☮🌎

08/01/2026

"Our intelligence and our technology have given us the power to affect the climate. How will we use this power? Are we willing to tolerate ignorance and complacency in matters that affect the entire human family? Do we value short-term advantages above the welfare of the Earth? Or will we think on longer time scales, with concern for our children and our grandchildren, to understand and protect the complex life-support systems of our planet? The Earth is a tiny and fragile world. It needs to be cherished."

Carl Sagan ; Cosmos "Our Technology & Intelligence"
❤☮🌎🔭

07/23/2026

Cobweb-Covered Skeleton Gripping Senate Desk Expected To Seek 15th Term

07/22/2026

"One of the saddest lessons of history is this: if we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle."

Carl Sagan ; The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
❤☮🌎

07/18/2026

By far the most insidious propaganda that continues to harm society, which goes back 100 years at a minimum, is the idea there’s such a thing as leftist violence.

The death toll has been catastrophic under the premise that inherently conservative fascistic forces are required to stop essentially anti-capitalist perspectives.

if you don’t understand this. Go back to Indonesia and the overall global south in mid 20th century.

“don’t like our business driven colonialism? You are a leftist and we now have the right to kill you…. Because reasons.”

“ don’t like the rigid hierarchy of your domestic society, which continues to keep the lower class oppressed, and the rich ever increasingly rich? You are a leftist and we now have the right to kill you or jail you or torture you or whatever the f**k we want – because reasons”

07/14/2026

"In general, human societies are not innovative. They are hierarchical and ritualistic. Suggestions for change are greeted with suspicion: they imply an unpleasant future variation in ritual and hierarchy: an exchange of one set of rituals for another, or perhaps for a less structured society with fewer rituals. And yet there are times when societies must change.

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate for the stormy present" was Abraham Lincoln's description of this truth. Much of the difficulty in attempting to restructure American and other societies arises from this resistance by groups with vested interests in the status quo. Significant change might require those who are now high in the hierarchy to move downward many steps. This seems to them undesirable and is resisted."

Carl Sagan ; The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence ❤☮🌎

07/11/2026

Hampton Institute