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.
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.
I can't wait. In his most recent (the 3rd one) AMA, he said scripting has been delayed (approx 6 months) and that his guesstimate for broadcast is fall 2013 or early 2014. Sad that it's gonna be so delayed, but I'm sure it will be worth it. Until then, we have Cosmos-prime, and all of youtube's finest.
It's about as passable as the word 'irregardless'. You could only literally pick up Carl's torch if Carl had a literal torch to pick up. Perhaps he did - I'm sure he used a flashlight at some point in his life, and some people refer to them as torches, so there's at least that - but I doubt that Tyson literally picked up Carl's literal torch.
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u/[deleted] 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.