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  • Is astronomy really enough? One of Sagan's degrees was in biology. That combination, biology plus astronomy, was one of the qualities that made him valuable to NASA, who put him on the command team of the Viking Mars landers. You might think Astronomy is an academic pursuit, then all of a sudden you're responsible for the success or failure of a billion-dollar mission...not the happiest time in Sagan's life. He picked conservative but safe areas and thought the Vikings landed safely, the life sciences tests didn't go well as a result. And without the bio degree it's unlikely Sagan would know enough to make "Intelligent Life in the Universe" a best-seller.
    I would have liked to go into astronomy myself, but it was a very difficult career for a white male American to pursue - since the late 1980s "equal opportunity" laws and federal research contracts have strongly favored women and minorities over white males in "hard" sciences, biology being the chief exception.
    If you really want to move up in the astronomy world, you might want to try volunteering at a professional astronomy convention. Especially the check-in desk, you meet everybody.

    As for Pakistanis believing in conspiracies: these people have been misgoverned for generations. They are convinced that the people they know best in government are crooks and/or plotting against them, so why should they think better of foreigners? Of course, many of the "educated" know better but I note, sadly, that usually these people do not make an effort correct the discourse of their misguided fellows but let it slide, or manipulate paranoia for their own ends.
    Don't like what happened to Taseer. I have the feeling I'll be seeing grown Pakistani men crying soon, just like in 1971.
    And still everyone blames Israel, or the U.S., via an ideology foisted upon their country by rich autocratic Arabs...

    You like Carl Sagan? I was supposed to meet him once at a conference, but he was called away. Remarkable fellow. Did you read his first book, Intelligent Life in the Universe, co-authored with Soviet author Shklovski? Very interesting, read it thirty years ago along with Cosmos.
    baah, if i only had the time! i am forced to study physics! and i suck at anything that even minutely involves mathematics, except money. feels bad man.

    Astronomy is cool and all, but no time for that stuff.
    Not really. I have been on this forum for a while. But I usually try to stay away from needless trolling and debates. My post count reflects that!
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