M.J. Sammon wrote:   
   >    
   > "We are a way for the universe to know itself." Carl Sagan, Cosmos.   
   >    
   > http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1175883507954918704# Fast forward to   
   > the last 15s of the video.   
   >    
   > Did JMS ever reference Sagan on this phrase or did it pre-date Sagan?   
      
      As I have mentioned before, the idea that humans are the way for the   
   universe    
   to understand itself, is old, and goes back to Hegel. Here's what I posted to    
   the newsgroup about 2 years ago:   
      
      The first time I heard it expressed in more or less the same form, was in    
   1981-1983 (I don't remember exactly) by a guy named Aya Anthony, a Nigerian,   
   at    
   the time a student in Sofia University. As for earlier expressions of the same    
   idea, albeit in different form, I can think of Hegel. True, in his theory it   
   was    
   God attempting to understand himself through humans, but since in Hegel's   
   system    
   God is part of everything (Universe included) it amounts to the same thing.    
   Funnily, according to Hegel, it was through Hegel's own philosophy that the    
   Universe/God finally understood itself, and that was that.  ;)   
      
   --    
   No, no, you can't e-mail me with the nono.   
   --- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32   
    * Origin: Time Warp of the Future BBS - Home of League 10 (1:14/400)