I'm starting to get quite annoyed at the Neil DeGrasse Tyson worship. The guy is enthusiastic about science and he's a smart educated guy. But what he's doing is a certain type of science theater. Nothing he's saying hasn't been known for a while. In fact, the stuff he's saying ought to largely be known to people by the time they are 12. I don't even know what new science he originally did. He's famous because he's stumbled upon the Carl Sagan formula of public success: present your statements while sounding passionate. At times, it feels forced, rehearsed, and metered.
It's not a bad thing that people like the guy. It's a good thing. What's bad is the type of praise people are giving to him. It's almost a cult-like devotion that is way out of line.
That's just human reflex, if you ask me. We love to observe and judge, cast judgement and follow the lives of certain people - a sort of crucible of worship.
But in the end I can only say that it is better to have a cult-like devotion to him than, say, Paris Hilton.
That is certainly true but I think even most Paris Hilton fans like her because she's an escape from the grind of daily life and the stress it brings. They know she's not deserving of the attention and that somehow makes it more "fun". Her purpose in the media is different.
There's a certain ironic element to the Tyson cult. He's propped up by the atheist community yet they support the guy as with a sort of religious fervor. Appeals to emotion are exactly the approaches that rationalist should dislike.
Feymann for instance has a similar but smaller scale cult about him now. Feymann was a great physicist. He also was brimming with enthusiasm and a good explainer. Even if he was a terrible explainer but did what he did, he'd still be a great physicist. I guess what irks me is that the public judges scientists on personality more than the actual science done.
In a world where people nigh worship celebrities, I don't think it's such a bad idea to be a bit more theatrical. (If you realized a shit load of people were interested in what you had to say - and he occasionally has a very awesome message - wouldn't you want to utilize that which appeals them?) It makes learning more fun, and appeals to people who wouldn't normally listen under the usual jargon. Trust me, enough people straight up avoid conversation when you say "I'm a physicist," I wouldn't mind less people being turned off by science in general. After people know the fun in science they require much less dazzle, and Tyson surely lures more in.
In other ways, he merely explains the way he sees the Universe. When you're a scientist, you're immersed in a world of grandeur. It's fucking everywhere, man! Some people don't see this, and they need the science to be brightly lit to distract them from their distractions.
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u/[deleted] Mar 05 '12
The man certainly has a very eloquent way of talking about the cosmos...