Neil deGrasse Tyson: Science and Politics | Big Think

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Science and Politics

New videos DAILY

Join Big Think Edge for exclusive video lessons from top thinkers and doers

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The astrophysicist says the President Obama understands the issues related to global warming or the energy crisis, but it wasn’t as bad as we think it was under Bush.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON:

Neil deGrasse Tyson was born and raised in New York City where he was educated in the public schools clear through his graduation from the Bronx High School of Science. Tyson went on to earn his BA in Physics from Harvard and his PhD in Astrophysics from Columbia.  He is the first occupant of the Frederick P. Rose Directorship of the Hayden Planetarium. His professional research interests are broad, but include star formation, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies, and the structure of our Milky Way. Tyson obtains his data from the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as from telescopes in California, New Mexico, Arizona, and in the Andes Mountains of Chile.Tyson is the recipient of nine honorary doctorates and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. His contributions to the public appreciation of the cosmos have been recognized by the International Astronomical Union in their official naming of asteroid "13123 Tyson".

Tyson's new book is Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (2017).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIPT:

Question: Will President Obama reinvigorate science in the United States during his tenure?

DeGrasse Tyson: I have high hopes for where science will go under Obama. He’s talk the talk, you know. So I… He’s certainly scientifically literate. Literate in the sense that I think he understands issues related to global warming or the energy crisis or investments in the National Science Foundation and NASA. I think he has some sense of that. And he’s been appointing reliable advisers in those circles. We look at who he appointed for Secretary of Energy and the Science Adviser, these are talented, smart, accomplished scientists. So, I have high expectations for where it can go. But we know the country’s in a serious economic straight right now, so the challenge will be to see what is the balance between the band-aid you will put on the problem that you can sort of stop the hemorrhaging at this moment and the investments that you, then, insert that will return on that investment later. You need the combination of both, without the longer term investment than you’re just putting band-aids on as you go forward and nothing ever gets permanently solved. It gives the illusion of a solution but it doesn’t actually change… change what the manifestation of these problems as time goes on. I like to believe that science is becoming mainstream. It should have never been something that sort of geeky people do and no one else thinks about. Whether or not, it will always be with geeky people do. It should, as a minimum be, what everybody thinks about because science is all around us. And, you know, you get the people who were driving with their GPS in the car, on their cellphone, [illegally], on their cellphone, say, I don’t need science. Why do I need science for? I got my cellphone and my GPS, I’m fine. You know, I don’t need space, [meanwhile] GPS is coming from satellite. There’s a… Occasionally, you get people who take the [trapping] of science for granted. And I have this secret plan. One day, I’m going to sneak into someone’s house and take away everything that’s been discovered or enable by the space program, for example, spun off from the space program. Just leave them… leave them back there and see what… see how they enjoy life or how much of these innovations they take for granted. You only notice them when you don’t have access to them anymore. And then, you learn fast.

Question: Did Bush damage the sciences?

DeGrasse Tyson: Yes, I do. In fact, I was 3 times appointed by President Bush, twice to serve on commissions. These are sort of high level gatherings of people with hand-picked expertise to bring their knowledge to bear on a problem that needs to be solved that faces the nation. The first of those was on the future of the aerospace industry, which was on hard times back in the early part of this decade, the beginning of the 20th century, 21st century, and also the future of NASA. These are the 2 commissions that I was appointed to. My third appointment was on a committee that selected the scientist who the president would award the Presidential Medal of Science to. It’s the highest award the nation gives a scientist...

To read the full transcript, please visit