Neil deGrasse
Neil deGrasse
five four kids run wield
Adults, who outnumber kids four or five to one, are in charge. We wield the resources, run the world, and completely thwart kids' creativity.
driver economic war
The only driver stronger than an economic argument to do something is the war argument, the I-don't-want-to-die argument.
people society
I think the greatest of people that have ever been in society, they were never versions of someone else. They were themselves.
carved expressing expression luxury niches people society talents
I think the greatest of people in society carved niches that represented the unique expression of their combinations of talents, and if everyone had the luxury of expressing the unique combinations of talents in this world, our society would be transformed overnight.
aspiring defined mug people science skin treat treated
I was an aspiring astrophysicist, and that's how I defined myself, not by my skin color. People didn't treat me as someone with science ambitions. They treated me as someone they thought was going to mug them, or who was a shoplifter.
based brought designed discovered human machine mind physicist principles switch tour
Keep in mind that if you take a tour through a hospital and look at every machine with on and off switch that is brought into the service of diagnosing the human condition, that machine is based on principles of physics discovered by a physicist in a machine designed by an engineer.
controlled diseases magical suffering
Just think for how long humanity was controlled by mystical, magical thinking - the diseases and suffering that led to. We managed to survive, but just barely. It wasn't pretty.
best
The Pacific is the best toilet for satellites.
society
I get enormous satisfaction from knowing I'm doing something for society.
example gave knows prediction scripture
There is no example of someone reading their scripture and saying, 'I have a prediction about the world that no one knows yet, because this gave me insight. Let's go test that prediction,' and have the prediction be correct.
chuckle good illiterate people somehow
Somehow it's O.K. for people to chuckle about not being good at math. Yet if I said, 'I never learned to read,' they'd say I was an illiterate dolt.
Being at the top of your game intellectually, philosophically, politically, is not a forever thing.
believe empowering people reference
I always try to get people a different outlook. When you do that, people take ownership of the information. They don't ever have to reference me because, I'd like to believe as an educator, I'm empowering them to have those thoughts themselves.
advice asked bit born interested kids science
I'm often asked by parents what advice can I give them to help get kids interested in science? And I have only one bit of advice. Get out of their way. Kids are born curious. Period.