[Anotheroneagain]

I began reading the book (The Demon Haunted World) and it shocked me how casually Sagan states that he hallucinated, and it gave me an epiphany:

The schizophrenic doesn't understand that other people are sane!

Suddenly, it makes perfect sense - a schizophrenic (or perhaps a group of them) somehow came up with science. And for them it was a world changing event, as they could disprove their hallucinations one by one. It turned them from something that was barely surviving on the outskirts of society into somewhat functional beings.

But, for the same reason why he was insane in the first place, sooner or later he corrupts his science as well.

However the schizophrenic doesn't uderstand that others are sane.

So, when he was convincing the sailors that scurvy isn't from the lack of fruit, he fought their insane belief, like when he believed a leprechaun stabbed him. When he is convincing you that there are more genders than men and women, he is fighting your insane delusion, like when he disproved that there were fire spitting dragons flying in the sky! He's merely trying to bring you out of darknes, just like he did himself.