COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY Starts TOMORROW!
You're very welcome. The videos were slightly better than the original Cosmos (inevitable, after 35 years) but I was a little disappointed in the content. I really didn't learn anything new. (Maybe I just got that much smarter in 35 years, ya think?) I'm hoping science content will improve in coming episodes.
Rick
Rick
And they went on for like 10 minutes about Giordano Bruno, who was NOT a scientist, and came to his views about stars and solar systems through a vision. WHAT!? This is not science, it's anti-science. Truth through revelation. He was persecuted and put to death by the church. So? There are hundreds of people put to death every year TODAY for holding politically incorrect views in nondemocratic nations.
What about the hundreds of people killed by the church for views that, through sheer luck, turned out to be wrong? I think the whole segment was pushed by Ann Druyan, who has no science credentials other than her marriage to Carl Sagan. She's a big pot enthusiast. Probly thinks "Ooooh, hallucinations lead to Scientific Truth!" Right. Along with a lot of nonsense. Ten minutes of pure nonsense in the first episode of Cosmos 2014.
Rick
What about the hundreds of people killed by the church for views that, through sheer luck, turned out to be wrong? I think the whole segment was pushed by Ann Druyan, who has no science credentials other than her marriage to Carl Sagan. She's a big pot enthusiast. Probly thinks "Ooooh, hallucinations lead to Scientific Truth!" Right. Along with a lot of nonsense. Ten minutes of pure nonsense in the first episode of Cosmos 2014.
Rick
here's a great interview Neil Tyson just did with Brian Leher on WNYC. Great stuff.
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<iframe width="474" height="54" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="//www.wnyc.org/widgets/ondemand_player/#file=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wnyc.org%2Faudio%2Fxspf%2F354982%2F;containerClass=wnyc"></iframe>
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Here is the correct link:
The Brian Lehrer Show: Back to the Cosmos with Neil deGrasse Tyson - WNYC
It looks like you tried to link directly to the audio, but they set up a Java script specifically to stop people from doing that. (So pay attention to those ads!)
Here's another great interview with Tyson on the Bill Moyers show:
[video=youtube_share;WRgh_LGugS8]http://youtu.be/WRgh_LGugS8[/video]
Rick
The Brian Lehrer Show: Back to the Cosmos with Neil deGrasse Tyson - WNYC
It looks like you tried to link directly to the audio, but they set up a Java script specifically to stop people from doing that. (So pay attention to those ads!)
Here's another great interview with Tyson on the Bill Moyers show:
[video=youtube_share;WRgh_LGugS8]http://youtu.be/WRgh_LGugS8[/video]
Rick
So? Same thing today. Nothing new under the sun. But that isn't science content! I don't think Sagan would have put it in the show. Original Cosmos was packed with science content, edge to edge. (Well, except for one 20 second statement that was wildly speculative, and not labelled as such.) I think Tyson failed to object, or object strongly enough, out of deference to Druyan.
Fear: Fine.
Ignore: No problem.
Discount: It's a free country.
Banish: Now yer stepping on some toes.
Burn people at the stake: Enough to convert me to atheism.
You lost me. Science, by it's very nature, is supposed to ignore religion.
Science should not fear religion, but I don't see how scientists can realistically avoid it.
Rick
Fear: Fine.
Ignore: No problem.
Discount: It's a free country.
Banish: Now yer stepping on some toes.
Burn people at the stake: Enough to convert me to atheism.
You lost me. Science, by it's very nature, is supposed to ignore religion.
Science should not fear religion, but I don't see how scientists can realistically avoid it.
Rick
Right. TV. Or at least all the TV that's not Cosmos, Nova, News, Sherlock Holmes, or a Nature program. Everything else is idjit stuff. I admit I watch idiot stuff.
Perfect example of great TV that is idiot stuff: The Dick Van Dyke Show. Van Dyke was a comic genius, but there's no way any grownup could act that way and survive in the real world. No way anyone can watch that show and learn anything about navigating real life.
Rick
Perfect example of great TV that is idiot stuff: The Dick Van Dyke Show. Van Dyke was a comic genius, but there's no way any grownup could act that way and survive in the real world. No way anyone can watch that show and learn anything about navigating real life.
Rick