Leia o texto a seguir e responda à questão.
Until the end of his life, Carl Sagan (1934-1996) continued doing what he did all along – popularizing science and “enthusiastically conveying the wonders of the universe to millions of people on television and in books.” Whenever Sagan appeared on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson during the 70s and 80s, his goal was to connect with everyday Americans – people who didn’t subscribe to Scientific American – and increase the public’s understanding and appreciation of science.
At the end of his life, Sagan still cared deeply about where science stood in the public imagination. But while losing a battle against cancer, Sagan also sensed that scientific thinking was losing ground in America, and even more dangerously within the chambers of the Congress.
During his final interview, aired on May 27, 1996, Sagan issued a strong warning, telling the journalist Charlie Rose:
We’ve arranged a society on science and technology in which nobody understands anything about science and technology, and this combustible mixture of ignorance and power sooner or later is going to blow up in our faces. I mean, who is running the science and technology in a democracy if the people don’t know anything about it.
20 years later, figures like Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye are out there, trying to popularize science with new forms of media. But the same structural problem, so well articulated by Sagan, remains largely in place. And yet there’s reason to hope. Because even as establishment politicians still play the same games with science, there are early signs that, as with other important issues, public opinion is changing under their feet.
Adaptado de OPEN CULTURE (website) Carl Sagan Issues a Chilling Warning to America in His Last Interview (1996) In Current Affairs | October 4th, 2022 1 Comment. Disponível em: https://www.openculture.com/2022/10/carl-sagan-issues-a-chilling-warning-to-americain-his-last-interview-1996.html. Acesso em: 10 set. 2023.)
Sobre os recursos linguístico-semânticos presentes na citação de Carl Sagan, considere as afirmativas a seguir.
I. Nos trechos “a society on science and technology” e “nobody understands anything about science and technology,” o contraste criado enfatiza a desconexão entre tecnologia e sociedade.
II. A função de “who is running the science and technology in a democracy” é a de envolver o leitor na discussão proposta.
III. O uso do adjetivo “combustible”, associado à expressão “to blow up in our faces”, tem função de persuadir o leitor do perigo da falta de conhecimento científico.
IV. A expressão “sooner or later” é usada para salientar a necessidade de mudança imediata no modo como o conhecimento científico é compartilhado.
Assinale a alternativa correta
