• duderium [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    On the most recent episode of Guerilla History, they bring up Neil a few times. Evidently he once said that space aliens would have no interest in humans because we would be like insects to them. Thankfully, one of the hosts of the podcast is a biologist, and he said that even if that were the case, scientists are actually the most interested in "simpler" forms of life like nematodes or fruitflies, that at any given moment there are hundreds, maybe thousands of scientists out there dedicating their careers to studying these creatures. So in a way, Tyson's statement says much more about him than it does about the viewpoint of hypothetical extraterrestrials: he views human beings as worthless and uninteresting.

    In one of the Symphony of Science songs, Tyson "sings" about wanting to grab people on the street and tell them how amazing astrophysics is. I know that Americans tend to not be the deepest thinkers, but many of them (particularly people in NYC) are probably aware that "we are made of star stuff," etc. It seems odd to assume that they wouldn't know, or that it would make a difference in their lives. Like, right now most people are focused on surviving, but as a minor celebrity mere survival does not seem to be a huge factor in Tyson's life.

    Someone I know actually works alongside Tyson and generally describes him as annoying.

    • Pezevenk [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      So in a way, Tyson’s statement says much more about him than it does about the viewpoint of hypothetical extraterrestrials: he views human beings as worthless and uninteresting.

      No, I don't think it says anything beyond the fact that he likes to run his mouth and say shit he thought about for 0.2 seconds at best about things mostly unrelated to his expertise and then act smart about it.

    • Hoyt [he/him]
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      3 years ago

      Side point, i listened to that entire episode, and at one point one of them asks "why is no one talking about this UFO stuff, it was like discussed for a week and then entirely went away" without realizing that they just kinda waffled on the subject without saying anything meaningful or interesting (that hasn't been said for the last sixty years) for an entire hour and a half. No one's talking about it anymore because the information revealed doesn't, well, REVEAL anything.