Rationally Speaking #103 - Neil deGrasse Tyson on Why He Doesn't Call Himself an Atheist

Rationally Speaking Podcast

New York City Skeptics

Society & Culture, Skepticism, Science, Philosophy

4.6 • 787 Ratings

🗓️ 9 March 2014

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson returns for this episode of Rationally Speaking, with a particular question to discuss: Should he call himself an atheist? The impetus is a recent dust-up over Neil's appearance on Big Think, in which he explained that he avoids the label "atheist" because it causes people to make all sorts of unflattering (and often untrue) assumptions. Julia and Massimo reply with some counterarguments, and along the way delve into the philosophy of language.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Join us this spring for the sixth annual nexus, the Northeast's largest conference dedicated to critical thinking and science education.
0:08.7	It's all going down in New York City the weekend of April 11th through 13th, 2014.
0:13.7	We're excited to feature a keynote by physicist Lawrence Krause, who's authored bestsellers like the Physics of Star Trek,
0:19.3	and who just starred with Richard Dawkins in a new film last year called The Unbelievers.
0:24.2	This is in addition to a great lineup of other speakers like Paul Offutt, expert on vaccines and infectious disease, and Katie Coleman, veteran astronaut for NASA.
0:34.1	Of course, Massimo and I will be there taping a live episode of the rationally speaking podcast,
0:38.3	and so will the cast of The Skeptics Guide to the Universe. Get your tickets now at nexus.org. That's
0:44.4	nec-s-s-S-S-D-org. Registration prices go up after March 20th, so don't wait. Get your tickets today.
1:08.8	Rationally speaking is a presentation of New York City skeptics dedicated to promoting critical thinking, skeptical inquiry, and science education.
1:14.0	For more information, please visit us at n.ycceptics.org.
1:26.5	Welcome to rationally speaking, the podcast where we explore the borderlands between reason and nonsense.
1:31.6	I'm your host, Massimo Piliucci, and with me, as always, is my co-host, Julia Galev.
1:36.1	Julia, what are we going to talk about today?
1:38.8	Well, Massimo, I am very pleased today to welcome back to the show, one of our earliest guests from almost four years ago now, and one of our most beloved.
1:49.1	Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and science communicator.
1:54.9	He is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History and the author of popular books like
2:01.3	the Pluto files, Death by Black Hole, and most recently Space Chronicles. Neil is a regular
2:07.1	guest on programs including the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, and The Rationally Speaking
2:11.7	and Rationally speaking. And this spring he'll be hosting Cosmos, a spacetime Odyssey, which is a sequel to Carl Sagan's Cosmos.
2:20.2	Neil, welcome back.
2:21.5	Well, thanks. And I'm always curious when Massimo says, Julia, who do we have today? Of course he knows who we have today.
2:28.6	This is all completely... You don't find his acting believable?
	...

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