The chief deficiency I see in the skeptical movement is its polarization: Us vs. Them — the sense that we have a monopoly on the truth; that those other people who believe in all these stupid doctrines are morons; that if you're sensible, you'll listen to us; and if not, to hell with you. This is nonconstructive. It does not get our message across. It condemns us to permanent minority status.

Ann Druyan was at the Center as it opened its doors on October 22 2006. His father Samuel Sagan was an immigrant garment worker from Russia in today's Ukraine. Sagan's views on religion have been interpreted as a form of pantheism comparable to Einstein's belief in Spinoza's God.

He advocated scientifically skeptical inquiry and the scientific method pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Sagan wrote the novel Contact the basis for a 1997 film of the same name. The book Cosmos was publiCarl Sagand to accompany the series.