Listen now (16 mins) | Welcome to the sixth episode of 15 Minutes In Hell. Today’s guest is astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson. We talked about his very particular online critiques, whether or not artificial intelligence is a threat to society, and, of course, his conflicted feelings around Elon Musk.
Interesting interview. Neil pops up on my feeds from time to time but this gave me a bit more insight into his thinking. Fascinating to hear how gung ho capitalist he is and his take on 'cancel culture' seems to lack the compartmentalization he is happy to extend to Elon - i.e. there are many abuses of cancel culture, for sure, but at the same time many fuckwads we are assuredly better off cancelling.
Ugh, this interview basically confirmed why I've come to loathe Tyson - he's more of a celebrity grifter than a scientist. Being uncompromising in correcting the science in movies than the realities of techno utopian scams tells you all you need to know about him. He has this shtick of delivering science trivia with gravitas to make it seem like he's super deep.
And the very premise of his argument defending Musk was deliberately incorrect - nothing Musk has done is revolutionary like cell phones and air planes (or curing cancer). The fact that he actually used the Boring Company as an example to bolster his point proves he's either way dumber than we give him credit for or is just a grifter.
How does the idea that we should celebrate people pissing 'carbon up the wall for a nice trip align with the fact that the UK government are attempting to vote themselves the ability to kick my door in to fit a smart meter to control my 'carbon' production?
He should be quite alarmed at the prospect of Starlink creating a cascade of collideing space junk that would keep humans out of space forever after. Look up Kessler Syndrome.
Even if Starlink doesn't manage to block safe access to space with space debris his planned constellations of satellites are already making life hell for astronomers. If anyone should be critical of Musk it's an astrophysist, but Neil is more of a celebrity and entertainer than scientist.
Yeah everyone nailed it in the comments here... which isn't that amazing. This reaffirmed the reasons I stopped listening to Neil. Great pod, keep up the amazing reporting.
Neil is much more of a techno-utopian than i had realized though I do think your questions were too open ended as to make the conversation not go in the directions you clearly wanted it to.
15 Minutes In Hell - Episode 6 - Neil deGrasse Tyson
Comparing the Boring Company to the first airplane?
It's a tunnel! We've had those for awhile now.
I respect his accomplishments, but that was a long 15 minutes...
He’s a brilliant man, but I get the sense that if you told him your name was Ed, he’d contradict you.
Interesting interview. Neil pops up on my feeds from time to time but this gave me a bit more insight into his thinking. Fascinating to hear how gung ho capitalist he is and his take on 'cancel culture' seems to lack the compartmentalization he is happy to extend to Elon - i.e. there are many abuses of cancel culture, for sure, but at the same time many fuckwads we are assuredly better off cancelling.
Ugh, this interview basically confirmed why I've come to loathe Tyson - he's more of a celebrity grifter than a scientist. Being uncompromising in correcting the science in movies than the realities of techno utopian scams tells you all you need to know about him. He has this shtick of delivering science trivia with gravitas to make it seem like he's super deep.
And the very premise of his argument defending Musk was deliberately incorrect - nothing Musk has done is revolutionary like cell phones and air planes (or curing cancer). The fact that he actually used the Boring Company as an example to bolster his point proves he's either way dumber than we give him credit for or is just a grifter.
How does the idea that we should celebrate people pissing 'carbon up the wall for a nice trip align with the fact that the UK government are attempting to vote themselves the ability to kick my door in to fit a smart meter to control my 'carbon' production?
Oooohhhh. DeGrasse Tyson San
He should be quite alarmed at the prospect of Starlink creating a cascade of collideing space junk that would keep humans out of space forever after. Look up Kessler Syndrome.
Even if Starlink doesn't manage to block safe access to space with space debris his planned constellations of satellites are already making life hell for astronomers. If anyone should be critical of Musk it's an astrophysist, but Neil is more of a celebrity and entertainer than scientist.
Yeah everyone nailed it in the comments here... which isn't that amazing. This reaffirmed the reasons I stopped listening to Neil. Great pod, keep up the amazing reporting.
It seems like he is an optimist who discounts information that is contrary to his views.
Neil is much more of a techno-utopian than i had realized though I do think your questions were too open ended as to make the conversation not go in the directions you clearly wanted it to.
Appreciate the pods as always!
He's exceedingly noncommittal for someone so self-assured.