The Fine Art of Bamboozle Detection by Carl Sagan

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.

We're no longer interested in finding out the truth.

The bamboozle has captured us.

It is simply too painful to acknowledge

-- even to ourselves --

that we've been so credulous.[gullible]

(So the old bamboozles tend to persist

as the new bamboozles rise.)

-- Carl Sagan, "The Fine Art of Baloney Detection," Parade, February 1, 1987

Finding the occasional straw of truth awash 

in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle

requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and courage.

But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought,

we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us

-- and we risk becoming a nation of suckers,

up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along.

-- Carl Sagan, "The Fine Art of Baloney Detection," Parade, February 1, 1987

At the heart of science is an essential tension

between two seemingly contradictory attitudes

-- an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counter intuitive they may be,

and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new.

This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense.

Of course, scientists make mistakes

in trying to understand the world,

but there is a built-in error-correcting mechanism:

The collective enterprise of creative thinking

and skeptical thinking together keeps the field on track.

-- Carl Sagan, "The Fine Art of Baloney Detection," Parade, February 1, 1987