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The Michael Shermer Show

298. Neil deGrasse Tyson — Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Science, Natural Sciences

4.31K Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2022

⏱️ 77 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Shermer and Tyson discuss: why he decided to write about social, cultural, and political issues now • conflict and resolution in science and society • moral progress in society and why it happens • meatarians and vegetarians • race and gender • law and order • the principle of interchangeable perspectives • conflicting rights and how to resolve them • Rationalia (Neil's hypothetical country whose laws are based on rationality) • life and death • how long Neil would like to live • the meaning in life.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist and the author of the #1 bestselling Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, among other books. He is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, where he has served since 1996. Dr. Tyson is also the host and cofounder of the Emmy-nominated popular podcast StarTalk and its spinoff StarTalk Sports Edition, which combine science, humor, and pop culture. He is a recipient of 21 honorary doctorates, the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences, and the Distinguished Public Service Medal from NASA. Asteroid 13123 Tyson is named in his honor. He lives in New York City.

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening to theurmer Show.

0:21.0

Hello everyone, it's Michael Schurmer and it's time for another episode of the Michael Schurmer show brought to you by Wundrium.

0:27.0

One Dream is a series of college-level audio and video courses and documentaries produced and distributed by the teaching company.

0:29.8

You know them, I always talk about them.

0:31.2

I have two courses myself on Skepticism 101 and conspiracies.

0:36.5

Wondering brings you engaging educational content through short-form videos, long-form

0:41.1

courses, tutorials, how-to lessons, travel logs, documentaries, and more covering every

0:46.6

topic you've ever wondered about and many you've never thought you'd wondered about, how about

0:51.3

this one?

0:52.3

The Middle Ages, here's one I'm taking right now.

0:55.6

It's called the medieval legacy.

0:58.5

It's a fascinating an eye-opening journey

1:00.6

into the Middle Ages while you uncover the remarkable ways in which the

1:04.4

medieval world still influences our thinking, our collective consciousness and our ways of

1:09.9

life.

1:10.9

Indeed, really the Dark Ages? No one at the time thought they were living in the

1:15.6

dark ages, right? I mean, it would be like somebody 500 years from now saying, oh, those people

1:19.9

in the 21st century, they were living in the Dark Ages. Of course, we don't have any idea what they're going to think about us, but as you could tell we don't think we're living in the dark ages. Okay, so here's a few of the lectures on this one. This is by the way 36, minute lectures of course the black death is

1:34.9

featured prominently in there the medieval invention of race question mark

1:39.8

interesting since race is such a huge issue for us.

1:43.0

Medievalism and modern racism, ah, that's probably what's actually going on here.

1:48.0

Same thing with rediscovering medieval sex and gender,

...

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