We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands

Hear the solemn warning of Carl Sagan, astronomer of the cosmos and prophet of reason: “We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.” These are not casual words, but an oracle spoken in an age where human knowledge soars to the stars even as understanding dwindles among the people. They are the cry of a man who loved humanity enough to fear for it.

The meaning is clear and dire. Humanity has woven a world of vast technology—machines that span continents, weapons that can erase cities, networks that bind billions of minds. Yet few truly comprehend their inner workings. This separation between those who wield science and the countless who depend upon it has left a chasm in our collective wisdom. Into that void creeps ignorance, and ignorance married to power is, as Sagan declares, a flame upon dry straw. It may smolder quietly for a season, but in time, it must erupt in disaster.

The origin of this warning lies in Sagan’s devotion to making science accessible. He saw that the very survival of civilization depends upon public understanding of the forces that shape it. In his lifetime, the Cold War loomed with the constant threat of nuclear annihilation—machines built through knowledge, yet entrusted to leaders and citizens who often barely grasped their destructive power. His words were not only about bombs, but about the internet, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence—all seeds of future marvels and potential ruin. Without understanding, humanity steers blindfolded into the storm.

History itself testifies. Think of Chernobyl, where failures in knowledge, arrogance, and secrecy led to catastrophe. The technology of nuclear power was powerful, but the ignorance of those who dismissed safety warnings turned that power into poison. Or recall the early days of the Industrial Revolution, when machines spread faster than the understanding of their impact, filling cities with smoke and bodies with disease. Power outpaced wisdom, and generations suffered. These are but echoes of Sagan’s warning: where there is ignorance joined to power, destruction follows.

Yet his words are not only a warning but a call to arms of the spirit. For Sagan believed in the capacity of ordinary people to learn, to question, to wonder. He feared not technology itself, but the passivity of a populace content to live in ignorance while others guided the engines of progress. To be human, he insisted, is to be curious. To abandon that curiosity is to resign one’s fate to chance. To awaken it is to seize back the dignity of a species capable of charting its own course among the stars.

The danger today is greater still. We live in an age where misinformation spreads faster than truth, where science is mistrusted, and where immense technologies—climate systems, genetic code, artificial intelligence—are debated by societies that barely grasp their nature. This is precisely the “combustible mixture” of which Sagan spoke. The bomb is already built, the fuse already lit. Only knowledge, humility, and shared understanding can hope to quench it before it consumes us.

The lesson for us is urgent: do not retreat into ignorance. Each of us must strive to understand, even if only in part, the science and technology that shape our lives. To vote, to act, to build a future without such knowledge is to gamble blindly with the fate of all. We must demand education that enlightens, leaders who respect truth, and citizens who hunger to learn. For knowledge is not the luxury of the few—it is the armor of civilization itself.

Practical action flows from this truth. Read, question, and seek clarity in the workings of the world. Teach children not only facts, but the discipline of asking “why?” Support institutions that spread knowledge, and resist those who trade in easy lies. Honor those who labor to make science understandable, for they are guardians of our collective survival. And above all, cultivate within yourself the humility to admit what you do not know, and the courage to learn.

Take this as a guiding flame: “Ignorance and power will one day explode in disaster if we do not bridge them with understanding.” Let these words echo across generations. For to be human is to learn, and to learn is to live. If we forget this, our creations will consume us. If we remember, they may yet carry us to the stars.