Those 6 Times Neil deGrasse Tyson Couldn't Contain Himself

[MarkFL]

For those of you that don't know, Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and science communicator. Since 1996, he has been the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City. The center is part of the American Museum of Natural History, where Tyson founded the Department of Astrophysics in 1997 and has been a research associate in the department since 2003.

The video is 12:03 in length, and includes his thoughts on:

1. Using science itself to get people interested in science.
2. How the scientific discoveries of the 1920s (particularly quantum mechanics) led to the present technological revolution. He laments about how people don't connect the scientific discoveries of today and the betterment of our lives tomorrow.
3. Where are the scientists among our policy makers? Politics isn't about the truth, it's about who argues best (Aristotle knew this thousands of years ago).
4. The cosmos moves from the background to the foreground. Cosmic discoveries don't become mainstream until the artist embraces the fruits of those discoveries.
5. The greatest gift astrophysics gave 20th century culture is the profound beauty of the fact that we are in the universe and the universe is in us.
6. The warped distribution of our government spending, which has taken away our dreams of tomorrow.

Dr. Tyson's intelligence is matched by his passion for engaging society in an interest in science and the frontiers of scientific discoveries. :thumbsup:

 

[MoreCoffee]

For those of you that don't know, Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and science communicator. Since 1996, he has been the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City. The center is part of the American Museum of Natural History, where Tyson founded the Department of Astrophysics in 1997 and has been a research associate in the department since 2003.

The video is 12:03 in length, and includes his thoughts on:

1. Using science itself to get people interested in science.
2. How the scientific discoveries of the 1920s (particularly quantum mechanics) led to the present technological revolution. He laments about how people don't connect the scientific discoveries of today and the betterment of our lives tomorrow.
3. Where are the scientists among our policy makers? Politics isn't about the truth, it's about who argues best (Aristotle knew this thousands of years ago).
4. The cosmos moves from the background to the foreground. Cosmic discoveries don't become mainstream until the artist embraces the fruits of those discoveries.
5. The greatest gift astrophysicist gave 20th century culture is the profound beauty of the fact that we are in the universe and the universe is in us.
6. The warped distribution of our government spending, which has taken away our dreams of tomorrow.

Dr. Tyson's intelligence is matched by his passion for engaging society in an interest in science and the frontiers of scientific discoveries. :thumbsup:

For reasons that I can't quite put my finger on he always seems more like a salesman selling questionable potions than he seems like a careful teacher of profound science.

 

[MarkFL]

Sadly, in the U.S., to our society as a whole, science is perceived very much like a questionable potion that has to be sold. Many here will listen to politicians regarding issue like global warming rather than listen to actual climatologists. Science is seen as a vast evil liberal conspiracy and something money is thrown away on. Because we as a culture are remarkably oblivious to the wonder and power of science, one must put on a show to get people's attention.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Sadly, in the U.S., to our society as a whole, science is perceived very much like a questionable potion that has to be sold. Many here will listen to politicians regarding issue like global warming rather than listen to actual climatologists. Science is seen as a vast evil liberal conspiracy and something money is thrown away on. Because we as a culture are remarkably oblivious to the wonder and power of science, one must put on a show to get people's attention.

It is not his character nor the science he discusses - perhaps it is the questionable quality of various of the youtube documentaries in which I've seen him appear. It is like the USA chap who appears in lots of documentaries about exo-planets; he too appears like he is selling something questionable and in his case it is because he appears in so many poor quality sensationalist style documentaries about allegedly habitable exo-planets.

 

[MarkFL]

He was in a fairly decent quality documentary called "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" which was a follow-up to Carl Sagan's "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage." I would ask that people listen to what he says rather than focus on the perceived quality of the video.

 

[MoreCoffee]

He was in a fairly decent quality documentary called "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" which was a follow-up to Carl Sagan's "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage." I would ask that people listen to what he says rather than focus on the perceived quality of the video.

It's not the production values I disliked it is the idiotic narration

 

[MarkFL]

So, you just dislike Dr. Tyson's narration...fair enough.

 

[MoreCoffee]

So, you just dislike Dr. Tyson's narration...fair enough.

He didn't narrate, he contributed to a crappy set of videos

 

[MarkFL]

He didn't narrate, he contributed to a crappy set of videos

Okay...I give up trying to figure out what you didn't like about it.

 

[MoreCoffee]

The other guy who does weird documentaries is Geoff Marcy