Neil deGrasse Tyson: Starry Messages, Science, Culture, and Life
The Origins Podcast with Lawrence Krauss
Lawrence M. Krauss
4.4 • 592 Ratings
🗓️ 6 November 2022
⏱️ 94 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of the most recognizable faces of science in the world, and for good reason. He has thought a lot about how to engage people in the wonder and joy of science, something that is also near and dear to my own heart, and to the spirit of many of my own activities, including The Origins Podcast. I was so happy that Neil agreed to return to have another dialogue on the podcast following the release of his new book, Starry Messenger, because it provided us with the opportunity to have the kind of give and take discussion that I so enjoy having with him, and which I also think is so important for people to get to watch. Neil and I share many of the same sensibilities but we don’t agree about everything, and our perspectives are sometimes different. We try to share those different perspectives with each other by respectful dialogue, and discussion. Sometimes we change each others’ minds, or at least I like to think we do.
That aspect of science, open questioning, joint enthusiasm for trying to find what he calls objective truth, and what I am less willing to label as such, is one of the things he discusses in his book, and I think our dialogue provides a great example of how science can help us move forward together toward a possibly brighter future.
It will be interesting to hear what you think about our discussion. In the end I hope you will find it as entertaining and informative as I did.
As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers . Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project Youtube channel as well.
Get full access to Critical Mass at lawrencekrauss.substack.com/subscribe
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Lawrence Krause and welcome to the Orchance Podcast. |
| 0:12.0 | I'm really excited about this podcast, which is my second podcast with Neil deGrasse Tyson. |
| 0:18.0 | An old friend and colleague and of course one of the most well-known and recognized faces of science around the world. |
| 0:24.6 | Neil has come out with a new book called Starry Messenger about having a cosmic perspective on human issues, and I wanted to talk to him about that. |
| 0:33.6 | And it was a great chance for us to have the kind of give and take that I enjoy having with him so much and I think it's important for the public to see that people often misinterpret the fact that we don't always agree as somehow representing some some problems between our relationship but it's not bad it's just the standard give and take of scientists being willing to have that conversation and not agreeing, but going back and forth with respect and enthusiasm. |
| 0:59.0 | And so, of course, because his book is really about how a scientific perspective is such an important part of human civilization, and that's something I've been pushing for my whole career |
| 1:13.1 | and my whole career as a public scientist as well. |
| 1:16.5 | We obviously agree on those fundamentals. |
| 1:18.6 | But parsing some of the things he says allows us to elaborate on some of that |
| 1:22.5 | and talk about our different perspectives. |
| 1:24.3 | And sometimes, as I say, we disagree about some of the emphasis and some of the |
| 1:29.4 | issues but really it allows us a chance to give examples about the beauty and wonder of science in |
| 1:36.1 | many different ways and so the conversation was incredibly exciting for me and I hope it will be for you |
| 1:41.6 | you can watch it without any advertisements on our |
| 1:47.3 | Critical Mass site if you subscribe to Critical Mass, our Substack site. Of course, you can also |
| 1:52.6 | watch it on YouTube, our YouTube channel, where you can listen to it on any of the standard |
| 1:58.7 | podcast listening sites around the world, no matter how you watch |
| 2:01.7 | it or listen to it. I certainly hope you'll enjoy it, but I hope you'll consider either subscribing |
| 2:07.7 | to us on Critical Mass or on YouTube, but either way, I hope you'll consider supporting |
| 2:13.9 | the foundation, which happens if you subscribe to it on Critical Mass, |
| 2:18.3 | because the nonprofit foundation, the Origins Project Foundation, |
| 2:21.3 | is designed to do what this particular podcast is all about, |
... |
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