Carl Sagan passed away #OTD in 1996. In his final interview he left us with two messages that are still relevant today: one emphasizing the importance of a science literate public, the other a warning about how hard it is to extract ourselves when we’ve been conned.

They both seem pretty timely right now.

Here’s the video of his last interview, with Charlie Rose.

Carl Sagan had a pretty clear idea of what was coming, like this passage from “The Demon-Haunted World” which was published the year before that final interview.

Sorry, here are the quote images shared above with proper alt-text.