Neil deGrasse Tyson could be a great science educator if only he would stick to science. He’s clever, articulate, highly knowledgeable, and has an undeniable folksy charm. Unfortunately, he also has an unfortunate penchant for engaging in wholly gratuitous and uninformed attacks on religious people. And this is where things get ugly. Tyson may know […]
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Does Neil deGrasse Tyson know the meaning of meaning?
This isn’t the first time I’ve written something critical of Neil deGrasse Tyson, so let me start by saying, I am in the adoring crowds … whenever he talks about science. However, I find my admiration beginning to erode — like a sandcastle in the face of an oncoming wave — whenever he begins to […]
The stellar new “Cosmos”: A Review
On Sunday night, 34 years after the debut of the immortal Carl Sagan miniseries “Cosmos” on PBS, viewers were treated to the first episode of the new miniseries “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” with Neil deGrasse Tyson. The program began with Tyson speaking on the same rocky coastline from which Sagan had initiated the first “Cosmos” […]
Neil deGrasse Tyson’s incredibly confused comments on atheism and agnosticism
Tyson begins by noting that he is often asked if he is an atheist. He then offers a reply: “You know, the only ‘ist’ I am, is a scientist.” He then goes on to say he has nothing to do with movements and he thinks for himself. Hmmm, one might think that makes him an […]
Another pale blue dot
Twenty-three years ago the Voyager space probe gave us the iconic image of earth as a pale blue dot, an image immortalized by Carl Sagan in his majestic book Pale Blue Dot. A few days ago the Cassini probe sent back its own entry to the pale blue dot catalogue, a haunting image of earth as […]
Why don’t religious documents make successful predictions about the natural world?
I hear this comment a lot. Consider the following passage from Neil DeGrasse Tyson: “I have yet to see a successful prediction about the physical world that was inferred or extrapolated from the content of any religious document. Indeed, I can make an even stronger statement. Whenever people have used religious documents to make detailed […]
Neil deGrasse Tyson discusses religion, bacteria, and the meaning of life
Neil deGrasse Tyson, writer, scientist and host of the PBS program Nova, is my favorite science-popularizer. However, that doesn’t mean I agree with him, certainly not when it comes to metaphysics or theology. Here is a great piece of rhetoric from Tyson on whether there is a meaning to life (or the universe on the whole). I […]
