Neil Degrasse Tyson's Testimony before Senate Science Committee - General

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmKlA_UnX8c[/media] Holy fuck, the more I hear this guy speak the more I am awed by his elegance and passion. He is definitely this generation's Carl Sagan. I almost teared up there when he was giving his initial speech.

It definitely would be a better aproach to increasing interest in Science and Engineering fields if the results of those areas were shown. Kill two birds with one stone, get rid of the shortage of Engineers and increase public ambition again. It's also essential to remind everyone that investment in R&D is far more important to a business's success than gimicky advertising or exploitative business techniques. Work on that through public awareness, government sponsored research or even subsidies for research firms, all valid solutions.

[QUOTE=Devodiere;35408799]It definitely would be a better aproach to increasing interest in Science and Engineering fields if the results of those areas were shown. Kill two birds with one stone, get rid of the shortage of Engineers and increase public ambition again. It's also essential to remind everyone that investment in R&D is far more important to a business's success than gimicky advertising or exploitative business techniques. Work on that through public awareness, government sponsored research or even subsidies for research firms, all valid solutions.[/QUOTE] I like how he tied everything into money at some point. I think that helps show how why this sort of funding should be important to the people in congress, especially the more Republican among them who have a very genuine interest in creating wealth and innovation in the private sector. I just hope congress took some of those points to heart and give at least a little more funding to NASA.

[QUOTE=yawmwen;35408932]I like how he tied everything into money at some point. I think that helps show how why this sort of funding should be important to the people in congress, especially the more Republican among them who have a very genuine interest in creating wealth and innovation in the private sector. I just hope congress took some of those points to heart and give at least a little more funding to NASA.[/QUOTE] Like the senator said, he's not singing to the choir, but to the preachers. It looks as though they do agree with him. They're not the anti-science dumbfucks you usually hear about.

[QUOTE=FPtje;35409208]Like the senator said, he's not singing to the choir, but to the preachers. It looks as though they do agree with him. They're not the anti-science dumbfucks you usually hear about.[/QUOTE] Nelson is the chairman and is obviously at least a bit scientifically interested. I'm not sure if every senator that was sitting in that day was necessarily on Tyson's side right off the bat. However, since there was only a handful of senators there I doubt he really changed many minds. I wish he got a chance to testify directly to Congress, versus just a single committee.

Dammit, why did they cut the budget?

Makes me sad that the whole thing revolved around America being the best and not getting caught up. If only the whole of the human race could work together, though that'll never happen.

Tyson continues to express and define our generations idea of what space exploration should be. Can't wait for the new Cosmos Series with Tyson. Truly the 'Sagan' of this time.

[QUOTE=NielsGade;35410683]Here's hows it's going down - Neil Degrasse Tyson goes into politics and becomes president, because everyone realizes they're just empty shells of existence. With his influence on the state he cuts war spendings, religion is removed from state funding, education becomes number one priority. - "Science!" becomes a subject in all schools and kindergartens. Children get a lot of inputs in their toddler days, so visualizing atoms would probably inject the interests into their subconscious. - Aggression is deemed primitive, jail means you don't get to have children, weed is legalized, Total Recall and Prometheus becomes major hits in the movie theatres. Everyone gets their act together, America rebuilds America. - Other countries realizes this as well and Russia, China, Europe follow along and invests more in space exploration. We colonize space with maneuverable vessels. - The risk is worth it, we find another living planet. And thus, we might find the meaning of life.[/QUOTE] That would be fucking awesome if it happened.

[QUOTE=Haunted;35410253]Makes me sad that the whole thing revolved around America being the best and not getting caught up. If only the whole of the human race could work together, though that'll never happen.[/QUOTE] He is talking infront of Senators, so obviously he has to appeal to them and not to the rest of the world. But I agree, imagine what we could do if we put our minds together and work towards common goals.

I could listen to this guy forever. I hope that they really take his speech to heart.

[QUOTE=yawmwen;35408681]Holy fuck, the more I hear this guy speak the more I am awed by his elegance and passion. He is definitely this generation's Carl Sagan. I almost teared up there when he was giving his initial speech.[/QUOTE] Carl Sagan was a huge influence on Neil when he was just getting out of high school. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeqrN3Bfro8[/media]

[QUOTE=OvB;35414697]Carl Sagan was a huge influence on Neil when he was just getting out of high school. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeqrN3Bfro8[/media][/QUOTE] Holy fucking shit. That was inspirational on both Carl Sagan's part as well as Neil. Goddamn.

[QUOTE=OvB;35414697]Carl Sagan was a huge influence on Neil when he was just getting out of high school. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeqrN3Bfro8[/media][/QUOTE] Yep I'm gonna write to Neil now.

[QUOTE=Haunted;35410253]Makes me sad that the whole thing revolved around America being the best and not getting caught up. If only the whole of the human race could work together, though that'll never happen.[/QUOTE] There's something to be said about being the best though. Competition helps accelerate things. The competition between the USA and the USSR ended with us on the fucking moon. I agree that we need to do it because it's important to do, but the competition definitely doesn't hurt. I would love to see America at the cutting edge of space exploration again, instead of China with their moon base plans.

[QUOTE=yawmwen;35415719]There's something to be said about being the best though. Competition helps accelerate things. The competition between the USA and the USSR ended with us on the fucking moon. I agree that we need to do it because it's important to do, but the competition definitely doesn't hurt. I would love to see America at the cutting edge of space exploration again, instead of China with their moon base plans.[/QUOTE] If I could choose a nation to control space it would probably be something in the Netherlands. But considering that very few nations have the infrastructure to build a moon base, I'd rather the US do it than China.

The title of Astrophysicist also comes with the title of badass.

[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;35416172]If I could choose a nation to control space it would probably be something in the Netherlands. But considering that very few nations have the infrastructure to build a moon base, I'd rather the US do it than China.[/QUOTE] I'm pretty sure that the Netherlands would have to strength to back that land claim up. I think the Space around Earth should be dealt with with International committees of the nations who either donate or have their own space programs. Even though the process will be slow it is the safest. But eventually you would get things like Nato and the Warsaw pact all over again...BUT IN SPACE. So really Space is owned by the people who get there first, in a perfect world Humanity would own it but we can't over come the inherent barriers preventing that as of today. That's why I really hope Space exploration is limited to only Commercial and Scientific process within our solar system at least.

This man is my hero

[img]http://i.imgur.com/e0RAh.png[/img] [url]http://www.reddit.com/r/offbeat/comments/rpkkv/there_are_certain_people_with_whom_being_pedantic/c47rzqy?context=3[/url]

Tyson for president?

[QUOTE=nicatronTg;35422714]Tyson for president?[/QUOTE] [quote][b]Part of collection of opinions on the topic: If I Were President... which appeared in the Sunday Review section. What follows is the unedited version of what was published.[/b] The question, “If I were President I’d…” implies that if you swap out one leader, put in another, then all will be well with America—as though our leaders are the cause of all ailments. That must be why we’ve created a tradition of rampant attacks on our politicians. Are they too conservative for you? Too liberal? Too religious? Too atheist? Too gay? Too anti-gay? Too rich? Too dumb? Too smart? Too ethnic? Too philanderous? Curious behavior, given that we elect 88% of Congress every two years. A second tradition-in-progress is the expectation that everyone else in our culturally pluralistic land should hold exactly your own outlook, on all issues. When you’re scientifically literate, the world looks different to you. It’s a particular way of questioning what you see and hear. When empowered by this state of mind, objective realities matter. These are the truths of the world that exist outside of whatever your belief system tells you. One objective reality is that our government doesn’t work, not because we have dysfunctional politicians, but because we have dysfunctional voters. As a scientist and educator, my goal, then, is not to become President and lead a dysfunctional electorate, but to enlighten the electorate so they might choose the right leaders in the first place. Neil deGrasse Tyson New York, Aug. 21, 2011"[/quote]

[QUOTE=Baboo00;35421273][img]http://i.imgur.com/e0RAh.png[/img] [url]http://www.reddit.com/r/offbeat/comments/rpkkv/there_are_certain_people_with_whom_being_pedantic/c47rzqy?context=3[/url][/QUOTE] Ok that's badass. Holy crap.

[QUOTE=nicatronTg;35422714]Tyson for president?[/QUOTE] I started painting him, of course this is a very early WIP but [IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/44722719/DG3.jpg[/IMG]

^ Has a very Nikola Tesla vibe to it, awesome work.

[quote]It was announced on August 5, 2011 that Tyson will be hosting a new sequel to Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage television series.[2][/quote] :O [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_deGrasse_Tyson[/url]