Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” This is his answer.
When you take something great, like the musings of the mind of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, and combine it with something else great, like stunning images of life and wonder on and off of Earth … you get this.
It’s the sort of video that makes you prop your chin up in your hand, with your head tilted just so (yeah, like that), as you stare at your computer screen mumbling things like “Ahhh“ and “Wooahh” and other unintelligible noises that mean “I approve of this, and it makes me feel good.”
And here’s Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye and Tom Kalil sitting around at the White House reading my Tumblr answering science questions from folks on Twitter today.
When you’re scientifically literate, the world looks different to you. It’s a particular way of questioning what you see and hear. When empowered by this state of mind, objective realities matter. These are the truths of the world that exist outside of whatever your belief system tells you.
One objective reality is that our government doesn’t work, not because we have dysfunctional politicians, but because we have dysfunctional voters. As a scientist and educator, my goal, then, is not to become President and lead a dysfunctional electorate, but to enlighten the electorate so they might choose the right leaders in the first place.
This follows the last post nicely. What is wrong with our sense of priorities when our government doesn’t understand that the bank bailout could have funded NASA for its entire history, all at once? When our government is primarily staffed with lawyers, who aren’t interested in truth so much as just arguing, where are we headed? And they want to cut the programs that actually give people hope? That provide real, intelligent jobs?
“It’s not that you don’t have enough money. It’s that the distribution of money that you’re spending is warped, in some way, that you are removing the only thing that gives people something to dream about tomorrow.”
I don’t wanna have to run for office or nothin’ folks, but you aren’t giving me much choice.
