Quotation
Last reviewed:
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
Carl Sagan · Thinkers beyond philosophy · Modern · 1980
What does it mean?
From scratch, pushed honestly, does not start at the flour. The flour, the apples, the cooker, and the cook are late arrangements of a universe you would otherwise have to build. The usual reading is wonder at how much is inherited before a person makes anything. A competing reading hears that cooking is impossible, or that origins cancel the baker's work. He is teasing a phrase. The sentence is the narration of Cosmos, episode 9, The Lives of the Stars. Invent the universe is a comic demand. It is also his way of saying the pie sits inside a history of matter.
Did Carl Sagan really say this?
The library’s label is Well attested. His narration in episode 9 of the 1980 television series Cosmos, The Lives of the Stars. The sentence is spoken as the pie is cut. The 1980 book prints the same line and is often cited from page 218; this card follows the episode.
Where it comes from
Cosmos (1980), episode 9, The Lives of the Stars
Approximate date: 1980.
How to use it
A person in a Kent kitchen who says they made it entirely themselves has stopped the phrase too soon, and so does a person who says the baker therefore did nothing. The sentence holds both the inheritance and the pie. It is a bad stick for hitting either of them.
A mindset reading
Use it when a story of self-making has forgotten its materials. Do not use it to dodge thanks for the work that did happen after the universe was already here.
Understand the philosophy
Cosmos, 1980, episode 9, The Lives of the Stars. The key joke is from scratch. The star-stuff narration, episode 1 of the television series, is the same wonder in a serious register: the ingredients were made in stars. The baloney kit is the other half of him, and this sentence is not a test of evidence. It is a picture of dependence.
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FAQ
What does it mean?
From scratch, pushed honestly, does not start at the flour. The flour, the apples, the cooker, and the cook are late arrangements of a universe you would otherwise have to build. The usual reading is wonder at how much is inherited before a person makes anything. A competing reading hears that cooking is impossible, or that origins cancel the baker's work. He is teasing a phrase. The sentence is the narration of Cosmos, episode 9, The Lives of the Stars. Invent the universe is a comic demand. It is also his way of saying the pie sits inside a history of matter.
Did Carl Sagan really say this?
Well attested. His narration in episode 9 of the 1980 television series Cosmos, The Lives of the Stars. The sentence is spoken as the pie is cut. The 1980 book prints the same line and is often cited from page 218; this card follows the episode.
Which work is it in?
Cosmos (1980), episode 9, The Lives of the Stars Approximate date: 1980.