在美國，科學家中有學術成就而又經年致力於普及科學的，恐怕沒有人比天文學家Carl Sagan更有名。他主力研究火星、金星、和木星，但他廣為人知的則是他寫的普及科學書籍；他負責撰稿的十三集電視節目Cosmos: A Personal Voyage，由80年代播出到現在都一直很受歡迎，激勵起不少年青人投身科學的志向；他的科幻小說Contact也拍成電影，由Jodie Foster主演。
我不是要詳細介紹Sagan，談及他，主要是因為最近看到一篇文章講到他原來經常吸食大麻。在哈佛大學精神病學教授Lester Grinspoon研究大麻藥用價值的經典著作Marijuana Reconsidered裏，收了一篇文章，作者是Mr. X，那當然是化名；Grinspoon後來透露，Mr. X其實就是Carl Sagan。在這篇文章裏，Sagan這樣描述大麻如何給他靈感：：
「記得有一次，我和太太吸大麻high了之後一起淋浴，期間我突然有一個念頭，就是用高斯分佈曲線（Gaussian distribution curves）來說明種族歧視的起源和不當之處。我想到的那一點也算是顯然之理，但是絕少有人談論過。我用肥皂在浴室的牆上畫那些曲線，然後走出去把想到的都寫下來。由一點引到另一點，源源不絕，就這樣苦苦思索了大約一小時，我才發覺自己已寫了十一篇短文，論及的有社會、政治、哲學、和生物學等課題… 這些短文裏的論點，我日後都用在畢業致辭、講課、和寫的書裏。」
我未吸過大麻，也未試過任何其他麻醉藥物，high的經驗，我只從飲酒得到。酒後得靈感，不是沒有，但只限於寫詩；腦袋放鬆了，可能會突然湧出佳句或精妙的意像，而且酒後邏輯思維能力減弱，寫出來的詩句子之間的關係比較虛靈，比較容易有言有盡而意無窮的效果。可是，正因為邏輯思維能力減弱，酒後我不能思考哲學問題（試過，所以知道不行）。Sagan竟能在吸食大麻後寫論說文章，怎麼搞的？
I love contact !
回覆刪除Wong Sir, maybe you'll find your faith again after watching :)
catcat,
回覆刪除I watched the movie and didn't like it at all.
我估佢當時寫論文係運用lateral thinking的區域
回覆刪除同你寫詩差不多，只係將不同的資訊以全新的方式組合
可能大麻刺激了該區域的運作，或者減輕其所受的約束
黑人,
回覆刪除呀，lateral thinking, 可能是了。謝謝。
Wong Sir, that's perfectly fine :)
回覆刪除// That continues to be my wish - Ellie //
"就這樣苦苦思索了大約一小時，我才發覺自己已寫了十一篇短文，論及的有社會、政治、哲學、和生物學等課題… "
回覆刪除Well, Sagan is a genius and quite a special character. So as a mere mortal, I wont' know how his brain works, and so it's perhaps possible that he can write essays while being high. I won't be able to do this, whether I'm high or not, in an hour. I can't manage to write like this even within my own field, and he was writing about every subject on earth and beyond.
I heard a piece on the NPR around Valentine's Day this year: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123534818
I told my husband this romantic story, who was a crazy Sagan fan, and he said "Uh, but he was married at the time..." I guess not so romanic for Sagan's wife at the time. Just thought you might be interested.
This "romantic" story, plus the one you just told about his use of marijuana, really makes me want to read his biography.
Lin
Lin,
回覆刪除Someone told me that this is a good one: Keay Davidson, Carl Sagan: A Life.
Thanks for the tip. I'll check that book out. Lin
回覆刪除Well...
回覆刪除When I was working in Singapore, my colleagues and I always went drinkng after work and very often ideas come up... (however, as you can imagine, not many of them worked. Some did though :P )
RandomCoil,
回覆刪除Ideas, yes, but rarely a complex theory or argument.