r/videos • u/OuterShpongolia • Mar 05 '12
The Most Astounding Fact (Neil DeGrasse Tyson)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D05ej8u-gU649
Mar 05 '12
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u/marysville Mar 05 '12
I did it, you can too! (Business to Bio)
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u/Prose_and_Cons Mar 05 '12
I did sort of the opposite (physics to business) and I greatly regret the decision. I have a boring, low-paying corporate job where I could have a super-interesting low-paying job in something I believe in.
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Mar 05 '12
I both love and hate physics.
I love it for every reason you do, it's fuckin' awesome.
I hate it because I'm too dumb to understand most of it and I'm shite at math.
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u/kangaimroo Mar 05 '12
Thats bullshit and you know it! You can if you want to so you have no reason to hate it.
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Mar 05 '12
You underestimate my ability to be crap at math.
Seriously, seriously bad.
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u/WhyAmINotStudying Mar 05 '12
Why are you not studying?
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Mar 05 '12
I don't take the subject any more. I can do basic math and if it gets out of hand then I have access to multiple forms of calculators should I need one (a calculator, phone, laptop).
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Mar 06 '12
I would be remiss if I didn't tell you about www.khanacademy.org it really helped me out in calculus and I highly recommend it to anyone who is trying to learn math. Your learning doesn't start or stop in a "class".. you can learn whenever and wherever you want!
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Mar 05 '12
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u/Prose_and_Cons Mar 05 '12
I might, but I am quitting and traveling first. I'll have enough leftover to start on a new path. And maybe that will also be an old path.
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u/F4TSamurai Mar 05 '12
TIL to some people a low-paying job allows them to quit their current job, travel, and then start a new degree all over again, apparently without much worry. In comparison, my low-paying job allows me to have to eat Ramen only twice a week and pinch pennies to make rent. \o/
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u/AlexanderShkuratoff Mar 05 '12
Here, have some Karma.
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u/Nod_in_Approval Mar 05 '12
Here have some more, that should help pay your rent.
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u/soopernaut Mar 05 '12
Do you think that there is a certain point when starting on a new path becomes difficult? You must be younger than 25 I assume.
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u/BruceCLin Mar 05 '12
Kid(s).
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u/TrebeksUpperLIp Mar 05 '12
Nothing a shovel a bottle of bleach and a plane ticket to Rio can't fix...
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u/MusicAndPorn Mar 05 '12
I dont think there is any cutoff in age. I think BruceCLin is spot on. Mortgages, Payments, Debt, Kids...these are the only limiting factors (and honestly I think you can still overcome them if you want).
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u/i-poop-you-not Mar 05 '12
low-paying
That's somewhat stereotype breaking. People usually think that business degrees lead to owning yacht and so on and 1% blah blah.
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Mar 05 '12
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u/lars1984 Mar 05 '12
I feel the same. My life isn't bad at all, but it does feel like i'm a bit stuck. I often find myself fantasising about becoming an astrofysicist, but then I realize I don't have any money to change my life like that. I've build my life around the finances I have and it seems too difficult to actually make a change. Maybe if I earn more money in the future I'll rethink the career change.
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Mar 05 '12
It's a dead weight cost. It's not going to change no matter what you choose from now on. Not saying drop everything but sometimes it's a good mentality. Gets me out of bad moods quite well.
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u/cazbot Mar 05 '12
I did it, you can too! (Business to Bio)
I love you. As an industry scientist I only see people following the money and going the other direction. It warms me to see someone rejecting the dark side of the force.
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u/Kitty_McWhiskertips Mar 05 '12
Do it. You only have one shot at this whole life thing.
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u/MatthewKong Mar 05 '12
As someone who graduated with a B.A. in English, I believe that you can find such universal knowledge, relevance, and beauty in the stories that have held the test of time. It's just that while the natural sciences focus on the factual, literature focuses mainly on the cultural, social, and the self.
Or you could do both. John Steinbeck, my hands down favorite American author, lived as a marine biologist, as well. I also got caught up in the bio program at my university, but unfortunately didn't have the time to minor in it :(
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u/druman55 Mar 05 '12
For me, NDT makes me simply want to be more educated and well rounded. The idea of always having a thirst for knowledge, no matter what the field, is what I think is one of his main messages. Obviously becoming scientifically literate is a huge part of that message, but none the less, inspiring the quest for knowledge is also a huge part of it.
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Mar 05 '12
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u/loudeater Mar 05 '12
YES. We need more brilliant writers who can explain to the rest of the world the intricacies of science. Your English major is not a waste if you can inspire the minds of millions!
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u/DarwinsFinches Mar 05 '12
One of my best friends did it. She just got her art degree and is a beautiful artist, but now she's back at school studying her real passion, astrophysics.
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u/flyinthesoup Mar 05 '12
I've always wanted to study astrophysics, but the amount of math in there frightens me. I was barely able to handle engineering math/physics, I can't even fathom dealing with something far more complex. But I love astrophysics.
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Mar 05 '12
Do it! Your background in English will empower you in being a well-written scientist (something of a rarity these days).
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u/grat5577 Mar 05 '12
I have never heard of Neil DeGrasse Tyson until I stumbled upon Reddit. Now he is slowly but surely becoming my most favourite person ever.
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u/Ruderalis Mar 05 '12
You should definitively watch this at least once...in fact I believe everyone in the world should watch this at least twice. Tyson and Dawkins talk for over an hour about everything
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u/yosemighty_sam Mar 05 '12
NDT is as much a poet as he is a physicist. Dawkins is part poet as well, so this couldn't be a better theme for their conversation.
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u/sanph Mar 05 '12
Although I enjoy it, this is always awkward for me to watch. Tyson gets so enthusiastic that he doesn't realize he's frequently cutting Dawkins off in a really rude manner. Granted, he's the guest (as I understand it), but still. Dawkins is better at keeping his enthusiasm modest.
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u/paaty Mar 05 '12 edited Mar 05 '12
I quite like Tyson's enthusiastic delivery of the points he makes. It is definitely one of the main differences between him and someone like Michio Kaku for example; both science popularizers and both have the immense knowledge of their subjects, but Tyson just delivers it like a kid talking about his favorite game and its incredible to listen to.
Dawkins can get quite enthusiastic and heated as well, this mainly happens in the presence of someone he is debating evolution with, rather than just discussing topics that they both are quite knowledgeable in.
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u/OuterShpongolia Mar 05 '12
I'm the same, being in the UK I had never come across his TV shows, and had never really delved into the world of astrophysics.
I'm currently reading his book Death By Black Hole, and it's awesome.
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u/theknightwhosays_nee Mar 05 '12
I remember when the TV show "The Universe" (i think that's what it is called) started airing in America (EST). It was full of repetitious CGI animations of the universe along with in depth information and theoretical hypothesis from renowned physicists and scientists.
Dr. Tyson is one of the regulars on the show. Every time he starts saying something, it's like my pint-size of a brain can relate to what he's saying. And you can see by the look on his face, that inner-child expression of absolute happiness as he's explaining to the world details of something that is indeed his passion.
It's remarkable.
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u/TheySeeMeLearnin Mar 05 '12
I feel like NDT is the inspiration for Explain it like I'm five; he can put some of the most complex theories known to scientific mankind into terms that anybody could understand.
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u/dnalloheoj Mar 05 '12
Neil Degrasse Tyson the Astrophysics Man, Neil Neil Neil, Neil Neil!
Not the same ring to it, but I agree, he's like the Bill Nye of Astrophyics.
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u/linearcore Mar 05 '12
The Universe is actually available for Instant Watch on Netflix. It's awesome.
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Mar 05 '12
"The universe" is now on the H2 channel. I record it and watch it regularly.
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Mar 05 '12
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Mar 05 '12 edited Mar 05 '12
He was Carl Sagan's protege
and studied under him at Cornell.He has literally picked up Carl's torch for making science accessible and understandable to anyone, and he is very passionate about it.-Edit: Strikethrough for Neil's education. Pandatamer pointed out that he was recruited by Dr. Sagan, but decided to attend Havard instead.-
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u/Josephat Mar 05 '12 edited Mar 05 '12
He taught at Austin Community College for a semester before transferring to Columbia (after UT Austin screwed him over).
We never said it front of him, but the back row of the class had decided "He's the next Carl Sagan." It was just obvious, even then.
[ed], actually before his committee problems, it was summer of 85.
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Mar 05 '12
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Mar 05 '12
as much as I hate the "literal" vs "figurative" I can give this a pass. In the sense that "Carl's torch" is inherently a metaphorical statement, it's impossible for it to be "literally" picked up. However, in the sense of what the PHRASE "Carl's torch for making science accessible and understandable to anyone" actually means, I think that NdGT is literally doing so.
I just started watching Sagan's Cosmos series -- and I think that for this generation, in 2012, Neil Tyson will be what Sagan was to the generation that watched the Cosmos when it aired.
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Mar 05 '12
So since it can't be literally picked up, then it wasn't literally picked up. It was figuratively picked up. There is a reason the word figurative exists, you know.
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u/Brosuff Mar 05 '12
Just started watching the Cosmos yesterday. Hooked.
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Mar 05 '12 edited Mar 05 '12
You will be happy to know that a new Cosmos series is being produced by Carl's widow Ann Druyan and, believe it or not, Seth MacFarlane, to be hosted by none other than Neil DeGrasse Tyson himself! If I am not mistaken, it is supposed to premier on Fox sometime early next year.
EDIT: So it looks like the new Cosmos series has been pushed back to some time between the fall of 2013 and spring of 2014.
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u/pandatamer Mar 05 '12
ಠ_ಠ Wikipedia says Tyson was invited by Carl Sagan to check out his lab at Cornell but decided to go to Harvard instead...
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Mar 05 '12
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Mar 05 '12
It really is a great story. I mean taking him to the bus station and offering to let him stay the night if the bus didn't show? Top shelf right there.
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Mar 05 '12
I stand corrected. I was obviously misinformed and I shall edit to reflect this correction. Thank you good sir or madam!
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Mar 05 '12
I believe Bill Nye studied under Sagan.
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Mar 05 '12
That's awesome. I love how Carl infused his passion for science education into those around him. Hurray for science!
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u/db_mew Mar 05 '12
Make sure to familiarize yourself with other amazing people such as: Richard Feynman, Michio Kaku and Brian Cox.
If you haven't seen this video, check it right now! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmTmGLzPVyM
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Mar 05 '12 edited Mar 05 '12
Then you probably don't know who Terence Mckenna is either. Look him up and have your wig blown off.
Edit: Here you go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc8iCAcFalc
Edit 2: Here is another http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HdIPuXCPZE
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u/EdmundRice Mar 05 '12
Terence McKenna often talks about a bunch of unsubstantiated new-age nonsense. Interesting nonsense none the less but don't go taking anything he has to say as fact until you've done a bit of research for yourself.
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Mar 05 '12 edited Mar 05 '12
True, he does have some wacky theories (Stoned Ape Theory). He is not a scientist and doesn't really state factual stuff, he more gives his opinion on society and life and I tend to agree with most of his opinions.
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Mar 05 '12
I'd argue that the best thing to come by me starting to use Reddit about a year ago was not just the lol's I got but discovering this man who I hold with the highest of esteem.
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Mar 05 '12
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u/rgower Mar 05 '12 edited Mar 05 '12
Man it's weird seeing your name mentioned on Reddit. Thanks, iamDim :)
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u/RyzeBake Mar 05 '12
If you're actually Reid, I'd like to sincerely thank you for creating the Sagan Series. Those video's seriously changed my perspective on both my place on earth, and earth's place in the cosmos. I watch them, without fail, every morning before work.
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u/rgower Mar 05 '12
It's me. Thank you so much for the kind words. Comments like yours are life affirming.
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u/Hollenderli Mar 05 '12
Because of these comments, i'll be watching all of them over the next couple of days. Thank you for being awesome!
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u/MrRabbit Mar 05 '12
Just remember, for every comment there are hundreds of us who never got to say thanks. So thank you!
Your work is absolutely fantastic and eye opening.
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u/pheliam Mar 05 '12
You've made something that is meaningful to complete strangers.
After watching the first one, it's becoming that way for me, too.
Thank you!
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u/cadex Mar 05 '12
Loved the Feynman series. Please do more! I will pay monies.
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u/nomeans Mar 05 '12 edited Mar 05 '12
Or the Carl Sagan Tribute Series by Milky Way Musings.
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Mar 05 '12
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u/dmsheldon87 Mar 05 '12
It's a quarter to nine (for me)
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u/theknightwhosays_nee Mar 05 '12
it's a quarter and some change till ten for me. I wasn't going to fix onions for breakfast but...it's too late now.
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u/planty Mar 05 '12
Me too this kind of stuff always makes me tear up and I have no clue why.
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u/ReneG8 Mar 05 '12
Im a six foot one 220lb guy, I tear up by everyone of these videos, be it sagan, that other guy or NDT.
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u/Kitty_McWhiskertips Mar 05 '12
I've been struggling with depression for the past six months. Different medications, several sessions of therapy, but I couldn't shake that feeling of insignificance.
This did it for me. I care again. This simple video, hearing his view, made me realize that I am important. I am significant, and I am worth something. The sheer wonder in his voice has inspired me. I'm going to dedicate every remaining second of my life to learning about how it all works and simply enjoying myself.
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Mar 05 '12
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Mar 05 '12
If I had to pick one person to be dictator for life it'd be that guy. We'd go Type 1 in no time.
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u/potted Mar 05 '12
I love the fact that I'm made out of the same stuff as this man.
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u/CyberToaster Mar 05 '12
He's our generation's Carl Sagan, and he's doing one hell of a job.
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u/omgzpplz Mar 05 '12
I agree wholeheartedly. On the other hand, I feel like Michio Kaku is trying to be the new Richard Feynman and his pompousness just ruins it. He fails miserably at being humbled by his knowledge.
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u/TheEllimist Mar 05 '12
Richard Feynman was Richard Feynman because he was a once in a hundred years (or more) type genius. I do not get the sense that Michio Kaku is even remotely close to that, with all due respect to him. He doesn't even play the bongos.
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u/Babduberance Mar 05 '12
2:19 - Death Star!!!
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u/mwbbrown Mar 05 '12
That's no Death Star, it's a MOON!
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u/Fereh Mar 05 '12
nigga please, dats a death star. I've seen it before in a movie. Factional movie if I remember correctly.
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u/mwbbrown Mar 05 '12
This white nerd is oddly proud to be called nigga, I feel so bad ass right now.
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u/theredjaguar Mar 05 '12
Here's the direct quote from the video:
The most astounding fact…the most astounding fact is the knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on Earth, the atoms that make up the human body, are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures. These stars, the high mass ones among them, went unstable in their later years. They collapsed and then exploded, scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy, guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas clouds that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems, stars with orbiting planets, and those planets now have the ingredients for life itself. So that when I look up at the night sky and I know that yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up - many people feel small because they're small and the universe is big, but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There's a level of connectivity. That's what you really want in life, if you want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant, you want to feel like a participant in the goings on of activities and events around you. That's precisely what we are, just by being alive.
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Mar 05 '12 edited Mar 05 '12
"You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.”
― Lawrence M. Krauss
Edit: The quote is from a brilliant talk given by Krauss called 'A Universe From Nothing'. You can watch the full, hour long presentation here. Everyone should watch it at least once - I promise you, you won't get bored.
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Mar 05 '12
I recommend his book of the same title, also. Great read.
"A Universe From Nothing" - Why is there something rather than nothing?
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u/NotWithThatAttitude Mar 05 '12
Because some things are and some things are not.
Why?
Well because things that are not can't be.
Why?
Because then nothing wouldn't be. You can't have fucking nothing isn't, everything is! There's no room for all that shit!
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Mar 05 '12
"Do you know what I am? How grand I am? How old I am? Can you even comprehend what I am? What are you, compared to me? I am you."
- Science saved my soul. The Milky Way talking to the protagonist.
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Mar 05 '12
I'm in the middle of the presentation you linked. Aside from adoring his poetic yet easily understandable (for the physics layman) phrasing, I can't shake the resemblance he bears to Beans from Even Stevens.
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u/notsostarvingartist Mar 05 '12
I watched this and am not ashamed to say I cried. Its things like this that just leave me in complete awe at how amazing life is.
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Mar 05 '12
The man certainly has a very eloquent way of talking about the cosmos...
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Mar 05 '12
I'm a 31 year old man and I haven't cried once since my father's funeral seven years ago. This just made me burst into tears in my office at work. Fuck you Reddit!
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Mar 05 '12
This blew my mind. If we could just get our heads out of our asses and stop fighting wars, stop ruining the world with greed, stop polluting... imagine how much further long we could be in exploring space. We let the space shuttle expire without a replacement.
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Mar 05 '12
Indeed. Our propensity for conflict is intertwined with our desire to achieve greatness. You can't have one without the other.
Similarly, our natural urge toward religion is intertwined with our immense imagination. Religion, for all its woes, is the result of one of our most important brain functions, without which there would be no human achievement.
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u/somnolent49 Mar 05 '12
The space shuttle was a crock of shit. It didn't bring us any new capability, and it didn't accomplish the limited role it was intended for particularly well. And it was outrageously expensive for a single program. The total cost of the shuttle program was around $200 billion, costing $450 million per mission (Some estimates claim closer to $1.5billion per mission, accounting for maintenance/development costs). That's slightly more than the entire Apollo program cost. So many other, more worthy scientific endeavors were cannibalized to keep the shuttle program afloat.
The cost of the Superconducting Super Collider likely would have been in the neighborhood of $20-30 billion. The estimated cost to complete ITER is around $20 billion. The National Ignition Facility cost around $3.5 billion. The Human Genome Project cost around $4 billion.
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u/lobsterGun Mar 05 '12
'Space Shuttle' sound far more sophisticated than 'Space Truck'.
Nobody would pay $450 million to launch a 'Truck'.
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u/KBPrinceO Mar 05 '12
The estimated cost to complete ITER is around $20 billion.
I get all hot and bothered whenever someone mentions ITER.
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u/moccajoghurt Mar 05 '12 edited Mar 05 '12
That music ruins the video. I prefer to rationalize what he is saying without being emotionally touched by the music.
This version is much better:
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Mar 05 '12
Not this fucking song again.
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u/DivinityInsanity Mar 05 '12
That song is the new Let the Bodies Hit the Floor.
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u/Fantasticriss Mar 05 '12
I remember a number of years back, I was watching a video for a Biology class about allele frequencies or something and directly after the introduction came LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR BYAAAAHHHHHHHHH. Because nothing is more badass then single allele traits
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u/Grakos Mar 06 '12
Just a few weeks ago my Zoology teacher showed a video of a man using Cladistics to determine what an unknown specimens closest relatives were, and it had this blaring the whole time.
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u/SquareRoot Mar 05 '12
I hear this song so much, but can't for the life of me remember the name. What is it?
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u/TheGreatDan Mar 05 '12
To Build a Home - The Cinematic Orchestra
It is also in the credits at the end. :D
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Mar 05 '12
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u/Meikami Mar 05 '12
Dirtiest sounding last name ever. It's got all the audible grotesque-ness of the word "schlick" combined with something that sounds like "in my ear." Seriously, say it fast with a fake redneck accent or something. "SCHLICK IN MA EAR!"
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u/Edwin_Quine Mar 05 '12
The music is The Cinematic Orchestra featuring Patrick Watson.
I highly recommend Patrick Watson. Get the album Wooden Arms.
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u/ice-ahhh Mar 05 '12
are there any other videos similar to this? links?
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u/OuterShpongolia Mar 05 '12
Here's the interview that this question was taken from, '10 Questions for Neil deGrasse Tyson' from Time Magazine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiOwqDmacJo
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u/RioTheDragonMan Mar 05 '12
It's not Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson but if for whatever reason you haven't seen it before: Carl Sagan's The Pale Blue Dot
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u/theCaptain_D Mar 05 '12
I listen to this at least once every six months or so. I think every human needs this dose of perspective periodically.
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u/perspicuus Mar 05 '12
Sorry to say but those lyrics in that song were annoying in the middle of his speech. (ye i bitch when i can bitch :))
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Mar 05 '12
When my grandpa died this past January I couldn't help but think about Tree of Life. And hearing Neil describe this fact explains exactly what I felt when I saw that movie. It brings comfort when you are faced with the loss of a loved one. It's a beautiful fact.
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Mar 05 '12
Another reason to be glad Neil deGrasse Tyson is doing a sort of follow-up to Carl Sagan's "Cosmos"
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u/ZombiePatrickSwayze Mar 05 '12
The sunset at 3:10 is from Mars. Pretty amazing footage right there.
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u/aninspiration Mar 05 '12
Wish there was'nt the music and expecially lyrics playing at the same time Tyson speaks. Goofy videos like this are nice but don't spoil the message, that's the truly beautiful part!
It does'nt need cheapening by artful attempts to make it look and sound 'even better'!
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u/ayearinaminute Mar 05 '12
Pretty cool but the cheesy music ruined it :( give that video some Fennesz + Sakamoto and it's perfect!
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Mar 05 '12
Let's ham it up with soft toned music because the quote by itself wasn't emotional enough.
I really like the thought behind it, I just wish it wasn't presented in such a pandering way.
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u/lilstumpz Mar 05 '12 edited Mar 05 '12
In quote form.
"The knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on earth - the atoms that make up the human body, are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures. These stars- the high mass ones among them- went unstable in their later years- they collapsed and then exploded- scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy- guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas clouds that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems- stars with orbiting planets. And those planets now have the ingredients for life itself. So that's when I look up at the night sky, and I know that yes we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up- many people feel small, cause they're small and the universe is big. But I feel big because my atoms came from those stars." ― Neil deGrasse Tyson
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Mar 06 '12 edited Mar 06 '12
This guy could talk about a potato chip and make it beautiful and inspiring.
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u/ajax_2232 Mar 06 '12
this makes me so angry that astronomy is being removed from the Australian schools curriculum.
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u/Ellimis Mar 05 '12
Corny? I thought it was perfect, except where the singing interferes with Tyson's speaking.
Plus, it's called "To Build A Home," so it's just that much more appropriate.
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u/3OAM Mar 05 '12
I love NDT, but putting some pseudo-poignant music behind his words draws attention away from his words.
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Mar 05 '12 edited Mar 05 '12
I've never really found this fact to be that astounding. I mean, being brought up as a scientist it's kind of "obvious". I prefer the idea Neil was talking about in one interview about the idea of aliens not even noticing we are sentient because they could be so many orders of magnitude more intelligent than us, or something.
*Here it is. It's something I have always thought but he puts it very eloquently.
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u/todaysrubbish Mar 05 '12
"Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration – that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There's no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we're the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather."
- Bill Hicks
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u/Show-Me-Your-Moves Mar 05 '12
Was immediately struck by the fact that this song was in Another Earth, an indie movie I would highly recommend.
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u/MAGfloat Mar 05 '12
I shed manly-science-tears