Introduction, Wanderers Summary and Analysis

Carl Sagan opens Pale Blue Dot with the proclamation that human beings have been wanderers since they first evolved on earth. Cavemen wandered to find fruit and meant. When times went well, however, men would settle down as we have for the last 10,000 years. Yet men have not forgotten their desire to wander, as represented in our stories and symbols. As civilization developed, religion did as well and we imputed these same desires to them and saw ourselves as mixed with them. Even further in time, humanity spread across the world and began to explore it, eventually with ships.

Our distant ancestors noticed that five stars moved unlike the others, which were "fixed." They had a complex motion and today we call them planets. Today we know of many worlds beyond this one. In the last few decades, the...