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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 3, The Great Demotions, Chapter 4, A Universe Not Made For Us.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Sagan compares the human need for religion to what?
(a) An injured person's need for aid.
(b) A man's need for water.
(c) An infant's need for a parent.
(d) A blind person's need for a cane.

2. About how long does Sagan suggest that human beings have been "settled down"?
(a) 10,000 years.
(b) 50,000 years.
(c) 100,000 years.
(d) 1,000 years.

3. Sagan describes humans as which of the following, with respect to their arrival in the universe?
(a) Slow movers.
(b) Middling achievers.
(c) Early adopters.
(d) Extreme latecomers.

4. What planet did Sagan spend a great deal of time studying when an important space probe passed near it in 1976?
(a) Mars.
(b) Venus.
(c) Mercury.
(d) Saturn.

5. The "great demotions" are changes in thinking about the status of what?
(a) The place of humanity in the universe.
(b) The age of the Earth.
(c) The dominance of religion.
(d) The body of human scientific work.

Short Answer Questions

1. What scientist is credited with making the first discoveries that caused problems for the geocentric theory?

2. Which of the following is NOT one of the ways that Sagan says life seems to be?

3. What role does Sagan suggest that religion has played in the development of science?

4. What did Galileo demonstrate?

5. What punishment did Galileo suffer as a result of his works?

(see the answer key)

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