Carl Sagan on science as a tool

The following is a quote from "Ways of Knowing" by Bill Broderick, an article in the Autumn 2005 issue of Humanist Perspectives.

Carl Sagan, in his book Cosmos (1980), wrote: “There is no other species on Earth that does science. It is, so far, entirely a human invention, evolved by natural selection in the cerebral cortex for one simple reason: it works. It is not perfect. It can be misused. It is only a tool. But it is by far the best tool we have, self-correcting, on-going, applicable to everything. It has two rules. First: there are no sacred truths; all assumptions must be critically examined; arguments from authority are worthless. Second: whatever is inconsistent with the facts must be discarded or revised. We must understand the Cosmos as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be.”