Happy Holidays... (Happy HA-LI-DAYS)!The boys are off enjoying ham by the fire so in lieu of a new episode this week Henry & Eddie sit down with new friend of the show - author of For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World - podcaster and producer - Sasha Sagan joins the show to discuss the "Strange Customs" of human-beings, growing up under the paternal guidance of science icons Ann Druyan & Carl Sagan, Santa Clause vs. The Tooth-Fairy, Astrology, and MORE!Last Podcast on the Left returns to our regular scheduling next week with Black Dahlia Murder Part III! For Live Shows, Merch, and More Visit: www.LastPodcastOnTheLeft.comKevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of Last Podcast on the Left ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.
Chapter 1: What makes this episode special?
Do you want to listen to Last Podcast on the Left without ads? Do you want extra content? Do you want to see what it's like behind the scenes? Patreon.com slash Last Podcast on the Left. Very special day today. Oh, absolutely. Very special. Will we rise to the occasion? I hope so. You better. I have to. I'm looking at you, Eddie.
Well, this is finally, I get a skeptic.
Yeah, it's nice. It's not another crazy person I roll in here.
I have to just talk to someone and pretend to believe what they're saying.
Yeah, it's not normal. Like, you know, you don't have to roll in. We don't have to go like, yes, of course, vampires. They are an unignored constituency. And they really do. Where is Kamala on this? Thank you, our wonderful, intrepid Patreon listeners. I am Henry Zabrowski. I'm sitting here with Ed Larson. Hello. And we have a very special guest today. Someone, again, we talked right before.
Very bright. Very smart. I don't know what we're going to do with this person.
You're just scared that she's going to tell you aliens aren't real.
I am. My little soul can't handle it. But this is somebody I really like. We're so excited to have the author of For Small Creatures Such As We. and the host of the podcast, Strange Customs. I'm really excited because it's really cool. This is one of those things, it's a part of the world I'm super fascinated about. Like, why do we do what we do?
We have author, creative mind, podcast host, Sasha Sagan.
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Chapter 2: How did Sasha Sagan grow up under famous parents?
We're trying. We are trying. Obviously, also, I don't want to always be like famous daughter, but you know, like you're the famous daughter of someone is the saddest, you know what I mean? But it's not not when it's like this.
Well, thank you. I do. I mean, a lot of my work and definitely my worldview is based on my parents' work. So I feel like it's part of my identity.
Oh, yeah. Because what can you do? Because like Carl Sagan is your father. If I followed my father's work, I'd be in prison. Yeah, exactly. If I followed my father's work, I'd be drunk at Hogs and Heifers right now.
Well, you're both doing great. We're doing our best.
So it's like, can I actually, we'll just start with that. Like as the daughter of Carl Sagan, like, does it start like. Do people immediately assume, obviously, I know you're a genius because I was reading your essays. You know, you're very smart. That's way too kind. But you're very smart. But it's the idea of, like, people, when they roll up, are they, like, nervous?
Or are they, like, or is it all, like, what's daddy like? What was daddy like? Or is it all, like, because you want to find the heart of the man. You sound like, you know, this wonderful, benevolent, sweet man. So what's it like? having to walk around with it. Is it a burden or a wonderful treasure?
Oh, it's a wonderful treasure. I mean, I feel so lucky. I mean, both my parents, my mom, Andreanne, and my dad collaborated on books and essays on the original Cosmos series in the 80s, which my mom has written and produced and directed the new version of with Neil deGrasse Tyson.
I didn't even know that. I had no idea like how fully involved she was in the fact that like hunting for it for years, trying to get the Cosmos remake. Wow.
Yes, absolutely. No, she's amazing. And both my parents, I mean, you know, in terms of like, is it a burden? It's really not. I feel so lucky. I lost, you know, my dad was amazing and he was a really fun, great dad. And I lost him when I was 14.
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Chapter 3: What are the strange customs we engage in?
with the worldview of, you know, that science is the pathway to not just understanding and like, not just to like reality, but to awe and wonder and joy and that spine tingling feeling that we are a part of something larger than ourselves.
So how does the government weather machine work then?
Honestly, let's get down to brass tacks. I'm so glad you asked. Yeah.
You're a science person.
Why did Biden send hurricanes to Florida?
Why would he do such a thing? No, I feel like I mean, I feel like the it's interesting because I think there is this correlation between, you know, the conspiracy theories and so much of the history of religion, because we are so uncomfortable not knowing it is torture for us. The future is so unrelenting with its, you know, our inability to predict it. It's miserable.
And I mean, right now, as we are, I don't know when this is going to air, but as we are in the lead up to the election. I mean, it's like- What's happening? What's going on right now? Oh God, you're going to want to have a seat because it's really intense.
But I think that like just this discomfort with not knowing the answer to small and deep, profound questions, we humans, you know, we fill stuff in because even if it's something bad, even if it's something disturbing, we somehow are more comfortable with that than just the open space of a question.
It drives me crazy because you believe in the Bible and God's the ultimate weather machine. He flooded the earth, you know, apparently, you know, destroyed everybody and they worship God. So if they believe that Biden flooded Florida, shouldn't they worship him?
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Chapter 4: How do secular people celebrate holidays?
Hard for them at school, too.
Yeah. Totally. And I mean, it's not like I mean, it wouldn't be fair just because, you know, my husband did grow up with Christmas. So it's like if I'm allowed to do my secular Hanukkah thing, we got to do that, too. And then the other thing that we do is the winter solstice. And it's not in like a witchy way, although I have a lot of, you know, no shade about that, but in a way of saying, OK.
Tomorrow, no matter what, the days are going to start getting longer again. And right now it gets dark very early and that is unpleasant. But because of the axial tilt of the earth and the way it goes around the sun, tomorrow, I promise you, little by little, we will have more sunlight and eventually return to summer. And we do like, you know, a dinner and we celebrate that too.
And I just think all the cultural stuff I love, you know, but I think getting to the part that is irrefutable and real and good that like the days are going to start getting longer and that's amazing is worth celebrating.
So you don't do the extended Santa lie.
No, we do not do any Santa, I should say. We do gifts on Christmas, usually, with my husband's family.
But they're straight from Jesus Christ.
Santa drives me crazy. No middleman.
No middleman. Straight from God.
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Chapter 5: What is the significance of the tooth fairy?
No one just spends money. They're either looking for votes or they're looking for something else. They got something on you now.
She's going to frame these children for crimes later, leaving their DNA at the scene. I don't know. Oh my God. It seems suspicious.
The tooth fairy is Jeffrey Epstein. Yeah. Sasha's thinking, kind of has to ask though, is it more of the tooth fairy for some reason? Is it more here in America or is it across the globe?
I don't think it's, I mean, I have to do some research to tell you. We haven't done a full tooth fairy episode yet, but that is something I really want to do. But no, I think it's definitely Western culture. I don't think it's global. I'm going to look into it. This is a good question.
Yeah, I don't know if necessarily everybody's paying off their kids. Fly from your grave.
Now, we've talked about Christmas and religion, and I really want to get your opinion on the afterlife. Your father famously said, I don't want to believe, I want to know. And so there is no, there is nothing, to me, like my dad died twice. He, you know, the first time he died, he had no idea that anything ever happened. He's like, there's nothing.
And the second time, you know, it was very uneventful.
Yeah, it was the last time he died.
It was the last time he died. And a lot of people really, really want to believe in a life after death. Me, personally, it makes no sense to me. But yet, I'm on a very popular podcast. We talk about paranormal activity and ghosts a lot and stuff like that. And also, my family is very spiritual.
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Chapter 6: What are Sasha's views on the afterlife?
things that we currently categorize as paranormal, you know, we have to just like hold an empty space until there's evidence because we humans are so inclined to fall into the traps of our own belief systems.
And I do believe everything can eventually be chased down and charted. But I do think partially it's because the would you say even the bandwidth for what you'd consider evidence also kind of expands with science and technology and understanding.
Sure. And like the thing that my parents always told me that's so magnificent about science is it has this error correcting mechanism, right? You're a better scientist if you prove that the conventional wisdom is wrong, if you can really prove it, like if you really, it can really stand up to scrutiny. And sometimes we believe things for centuries and then they end up being disproven.
But like this system is our best bet because we're not that good at figuring out what's real and what's not historically. Yeah.
Do you think that there's a standardized version of science across the universe itself?
Like, the universe, like, beyond Earth?
Like, let's say we go to another place, right? Like, because I'm certain, does this extend to, like, alien life? Like, the idea that there's probably some form, right? I mean, I don't know. We don't have the evidence, right? So the idea of an alien race living on another planet, like, with a society that can think, that's just kind of conjecture, technically. But where do you stand on it?
You asked me about when people would come up to me and when I was a kid and people would come up to my dad. I mean, he would get in airports and restaurants like, Dr. Sagan, great to meet you. Do you believe in aliens? Aliens, where they at? Yeah, exactly. And people really wanted to know and they were genuinely, I mean, who wouldn't want to know? I mean, it was like genuine curiosity.
You're a smart guy. I'm a moron. You tell me what you think.
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