Soon after the Hayden Planetarium reconstruction was complete I took my 5 year old daughter to explore outer space on this amazing multimedia experience (The Search for Life: Are We Alone?) they'd concocted. It was like the Pink Floyd laser light shows of my youth x 1,000,000 with the narration of Harrison Ford growling on about distant galaxies and nebula and whatnot. It was fantastic and about 10 minutes into the ride my girl grabbed my finger in her little hand and whispered, "are we still on earth?" Good question.
Neil deGrasse Tyson played a significant role in making that event happen and for that I commend him and his work at the American Museum of Natural History - It's all the other stuff that sort of bugs me. By other stuff I mean "science evangelism" and log rolling with the smart set that has, I'm sure, been great for his wallet and ego, but maybe not so great for real science. I always find it odd when a scientist leaves the lab for the broadcast booth - it's very, very hard to do both science and broadcasting. In fact, you might say it's impossible and as Neil says if he had "complete control over his own life" things would be different - but he doesn't have complete control over his life, someone or something else does. Who? Perhaps it is God.
Neil deGrasse Tyson played a significant role in making that event happen and for that I commend him and his work at the American Museum of Natural History - It's all the other stuff that sort of bugs me. By other stuff I mean "science evangelism" and log rolling with the smart set that has, I'm sure, been great for his wallet and ego, but maybe not so great for real science. I always find it odd when a scientist leaves the lab for the broadcast booth - it's very, very hard to do both science and broadcasting. In fact, you might say it's impossible and as Neil says if he had "complete control over his own life" things would be different - but he doesn't have complete control over his life, someone or something else does. Who? Perhaps it is God.
Comments