Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Carl Sagan

The novel, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors ,by Carl Sagan is an extraordinary novel that explains the law of life, the instincts of all living things here on Earth, and finally how humans are all roaming the Earth thanks to their ancestors. First, the law of life is to multiply, be born, and eventually die. As Sagan states in his novel, "Nothing lives forever, in Heaven as it is on Earth." He talks about how even the Sun was born at a certain point, but even the Sun itself, will shine for several billion years, and then stop shining, or in other words, die. Furthermore, he explains that there is a reason why all living things multiply. This is because sex rejuvenates the DNA, as Sagan says in the novel, and revivifies the generations that follow. Moving on, much was talked about why the male race are a bit more into the sex game than females. This all has to do with how they are physiologically different. For example, a woman gets pregnant, has to wait nine months to deliver her offspring, and after she delivers that offspring, can finally get pregnant again. While on the other hand, a male can have up to 10 different kids from 10 different women in those nine months. This is because since the female race are the ones bearing the child, they are much more careful with who they choose as their mate. Males, though, can’t be 100% sure that an offspring is his, and when this is the case they don’t want to take care of a child that may not carry its genes. This is why they continue on fertilizing more females, without carefully choosing who they have sex with. Also, since they have millions of sperm cells, their sex drive is pretty high and their instinct is to reproduce as much offspring as they can, even if it means going from woman to woman, which society does not necessarily consider as "classy". Moving on, Sagan also states why all living things basically live in a "gangland". He explains how they all fight each other for their own benefits. For example, lions and tigers preying on zebras. The lion has to kill a zebra in order for the lion to keep on living, and keep on multiplying. In this war, the lion wan. This has to do with the lions instinct, or any living thing’s instinct, they all live a war in order to survive. Their goal is to survive, and they are willing to do anything in order to achieve it. Finally, humans are all here thanks to their ancestors. Yet, it is interesting how humans barely know about their ancestors and can only remember them from two, barely three, generations back. This is because, as Sagan states, humans are like orphans. When they are born, there is no note on them explaining who they are, where they came from or who their ancestors were. This is because humans are ignorant to their own origins. Humans are more likely to look into the future and worry about their offspring than look back into the past and learn about their ancestors. Humans have to learn more about their ancestors, because of them, they are on Earth today. They can’t let their ancestry be like a shadow, something that they have no idea about, and can’t by any means, forget about them. In conclusion of the synopsis, these were the main points of the book, what life really is about, the law of life, instincts of all human things, and last but not least, our ancestors, and how their genes will forever be passed on from generation to generation.

This book relates to science concepts because it talks about the process of reproduction, how the Earth came to be, and about genes and DNA. For example, in the process of reproduction, he talks about how this is the only way to keep a species alive. He says, " Sex is the way out. Sex rejuvenates the DNA, revivifies the next generation." Sex is a science concept because it’s the multiplication of species and the only way that genes are passed on. Sagan states, " The central sexual event, from bacteria to humans, is the exchange of DNA sequences...But the advantages that sex confers on future generations seem to be so great." This is because of all the mutations that overtime, help the future generations survive in any environment that they might be put in. Also, it talks about how the Earth came to be. The history if Earth relates a big deal to science because it is the beginning to all the things and why we are here today. For example, Sagan talks about the creation of the Sun and how it came to be in the following, " An immense mass of gas and dust is swiftly collapsing under its own weight, spinning even faster, transforming itself from a turbulent, chaotic cloud into what seems to be a distinct, orderly, think disk...it bursts into radiance, a sustained thermonuclear fire. The Sun is born." After the wonderful Sun was born, the Earth came to be. Sagan mentions, " You discover a million small worlds milling about the great central fire. A few thousand sizable ones here and there, most circling near the Sun but some at great distances away, are destined to find each other, merge, and become Earth." Scientifically, Earth is the center of everything because everything occurs within it. Lastly, genes and DNA is what makes all living things what they are. This also relates to science because it has to do with how it replicates, how that species is maintained alive, and how DNA affects all living things. For instance, " The more active the enzymes devoted to DNA proofreading and repair in big multicellular organisms, the longer the life span tends to be." The study of DNA and how they are synthesized all falls under the category of science.

This specific book is changing/ effecting science and society because it shows many of a human being’s key traits, such as self awareness, technology, family ties, submission to authority, hatred for those who are different, are all related to the past and have to do with their kinship with other animals. Society then starts to realize that their behavior has much to do with how the primates behaved, and scientists also start to study people’s ancestors to see if they can find any more relations or similarities. Society, in addition, will also start to search for more info on their ancestors and will also get scientifically involved, if they are really interested in knowing more about that type of information. This book talks about the science behind our ancestors and how their genes and DNA are passed on to us. With many societal problems, Sagan still believes that humankind will be able to solve them and overcome them.. This also changes science because scientists start to research different ways in which humankind can pitch in, scientifically speaking, and see what they can do to save the planet and stop some of the environmental issues. Moreover, this effects society because then they are more eager to know what they can do to solve these problems and save our planet. Also, Sagan mentions that territoriality, xenophobia, ethnocentrism, and preference for small isolated groups all has to do with humankind’s strategies for survival. Again, scientists start to study humankind’s behavior towards these type of things, effecting science and in a way making it more advanced, as humans start to learn more about themselves, which also effects society mentally and makes them think more about their actions.

Lastly, the novel is a marvelous one, exploring the history of human beings and why they behave/ act the way they do. Not only will readers get an insight into this topic, but then, if they really are interested, they will look up more information on the topic, therefore effecting them and making them have more knowledge on this topic. As mentioned before, Sagan’s quote on how a newborn baby is like an orphan, with no note explaining who it is or where it came from, is a very good example of how humans themselves have to research who they truly are. They have to ask where they were born, where their parents were born, where their grandparents were born, and etc. They also have to ask what their parents, grandparents, great- grandparents, and etc, occupations are /were and to ask how they ended up with these occupations. These are just few of the questions they could ask to get started. A newborn doesn’t have this note explaining everything about them, but it is their job to find this out– they are born like an orphan but they have to make sure that they don’t die like one. This was one of the most important quotes of the entire novel. Sagan hoped that with his quote he would be able to motivate readers about who they truly are. Again, this is the most important way that this novel effects society. One of the best things about the novel was how it explains science in such an interesting way, that makes it impossible to put the book down. For instance, the chapter of the Rape Of Caenis. Readers at first may ask themselves, "What in the world does this have to do with science", and the answer to this is the following: testosterone and estrogen. This is because after Caenis was raped by Poseidon, he then took pity and asked her to make one wish. She wished for manhood. An extravagant, warrior, invulnerable man. Her wish was then granted. She went from Caenis to Caenus and was an extraordinary warrior. But, since she was a man now, her testosterone level was very high and she became an aggressive human being. He didn’t want the people worshiping any of the other gods and wanted them to worship him instead. The gods eventually became angry and suffocated him to death. As he was being buried, he was transformed back into Caenis. The moral and science behind this story is that men, when their testosterone level is pretty high, they seem to become aggressive if they don’t get what they want. In this case, it was that Caenus wanted everyone worshiping him and only him. Had Caenis asked for something else besides manhood, she wouldn’t had died the terrible way she did. This then relates to sex, and how mentioned before, men are more eager for it and to reproduce. On the other hand, estrogen seems to not be so aggressive, be more patient, and so forth. This is one of the interesting ways that Sagan brought up the topic about testosterone and estrogen. In conclusion, science has never gotten so interesting as in Sagan’s wonderful book.

Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/.../Shadows_of_Forgotten_Ancestors_(book)
www.2think.org/shadows.shtml
Shadows Of Forgotten Ancestors by Carl Sagan