I can tell you a fact. This is going to rocket into the Top 15! Freakin' brilliant

*quality
*science

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by Boise_Lib.

Adding video to channels (Science) - requested by Boise_Lib.

"Made of 100% star-stuff" does not aid a résumé.

>> ^alien_concept:

I can tell you a fact. This is going to rocket into the Top 15! Freakin' brilliant


Lets test your theory.

I love this man.

Everything NDT says sounds like the most astounding fact he's ever heard, and that you should be astounded by it too. His meter - every enunciation, accentuation, and pause - sounds affected and I, for some reason, can't stand to listen to him. I've tried. He talks about things I'm interested in and I enjoy reading what he has written (I have "Pluto Files" and "Space Chronicles" on my Kindle), but when he starts talking, it just sounds like he's talking to five year-olds to me.

F*ck it, upvote.

>> ^quantumushroom:

"Made of 100% star-stuff" does not aid a résumé.


Depends on how you descibe the fact.

The music just about ruins this clip.

>> ^Fletch:

...but when he starts talking, it just sounds like he's talking to five year-olds to me.
F ck it, upvote.


It's because he knows that his audience is primarily Americans of average education. I'm not saying this to be insulting, but actually quite the opposite. Just because you and I can solve partial differential equations, does not mean that everyone can, or that everyone needs to in order to fully comprehend the mind-blowing awesomeness of science and astronomy. When I was 10, Carl Sagan had that affect on me, while at the same time being criticized by the "real" scientific community for dumbing down the subject.

Meanwhile, he inspired me and a generation to explore things which may seem frighteningly complex when presented any other way.

I think that the root of it is that you're right. He's not talking to you. He is talking to the five-year olds. And he's damn good at it too. Try listening like a five-year old. It might blow your mind.

evolution is god

a potentially infinite expansion of complexity and intelligence

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Neil DeGrasse Tyson, most astounding, fact, time' to 'Neil DeGrasse Tyson, most astounding, fact, time, cinematic orchestra' - edited by hpqp

"The universe is in us" or, to rephrase a great dramatist's line: "We are such stuff as stars are made of".

Personally, I love the way in which Neil deGrasse Tyson speaks of science with awe and fascination; it makes it that much more engaging, becomes poetic, and speaks to the layperson with a contagious enthusiasm.

Also: Neil deGrasse Tyson brings on "the magic":

*lies because God did it!

Invocations (lies) cannot be called by conan because conan is not privileged - sorry.

>> ^siftbot:

Invocations (lies) cannot be called by conan because conan is not privileged - sorry.


Blasphemy! Thy lord shall judge thee!

>> ^conan:

>> ^siftbot:
Invocations (lies) cannot be called by conan because conan is not privileged - sorry.

Blasphemy! Thy lord shall judge thee!


Matthew 16:19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour siftbot as thyself.

Good luck getting in the pearly gates :*(

>> ^quantumushroom:

"Made of 100% star-stuff" does not aid a résumé.


Neither does, "I'm the first in my family to breath through my nose."

>> ^Fletch:

Everything NDT says sounds like the most astounding fact he's ever heard, and that you should be astounded by it too. His meter - every enunciation, accentuation, and pause - sounds affected and I, for some reason, can't stand to listen to him. I've tried. He talks about things I'm interested in and I enjoy reading what he has written (I have "Pluto Files" and "Space Chronicles" on my Kindle), but when he starts talking, it just sounds like he's talking to five year-olds to me.
F ck it, upvote.


Maybe it's an act, but I genuinely believe he just really loves what he does. To me, that is fantastic to hear.

So the Earth is round?

>> ^MrFisk:

So the Earth is round?


Sorta.

Nope, it's a sphere.>> ^MrFisk:

So the Earth is round?

The most astonishing fact of the Universe to me is that you can have an intimate, personal relationship with the all-powerful God that created it. Words like beauty and wonder have no real meaning until the Spirit of God opens your eyes to see the glory of the Almighty that the heavens continuously proclaim. Day after day they pour forth speech, and night after night they display knowledge. That one could miss it is almost equally astonishing.

This fact blew my mind too when I first learned it in Astronomy 101 back during my freshman year at college. Now that I'm much older, I appreciate it on an even deeper and local level as this: we are one with our environment. If we pollute and destroy the world around us we will inevitably pollute and destroy ourselves. I think we're slowly learning as a species how decisions made half a world away can have consequences for everyone on the planet (for example, China's dust storms caused by overfarming drifting across the Pacific all the way to the Continental U.S.).

I agree with @garmachi. I think science needs more people like DeGrasse Tyson who take the time and can explain these things to a layman audience. Otherwise the knowledge (and wonder) becomes the exclusive domain of a privileged few while the masses continue to stampede onward blindly.

NO. NO. NO. The most astounding fact is that the Death Star is orbiting Saturn at this very moment!! (2:22)

If I were gay, I'd marry NGT.

>> ^messenger:

If I were gay, I'd marry NGT.


PFFT Like you could land him! Only Stephen Fry could land NGT.

>> ^HugeJerk:

Nope, it's a sphere.>> ^MrFisk:
So the Earth is round?



gong!

it's an oblate spheroid, a rotationally symmetrical ellipsoid

>> ^deathcow:

>> ^HugeJerk:
Nope, it's a sphere.>> ^MrFisk:
So the Earth is round?


gong!
it's an oblate spheroid, a rotationally symmetrical ellipsoid
I always thought it was more globe-shaped, like a basketball or a bowling ball, or a globe.

>> ^quantumushroom:

"Made of 100% star-stuff" does not aid a résumé.


I put this in mine and they totally hired me at the dispensary.

>> ^Fletch:

Everything NDT says sounds like the most astounding fact he's ever heard, and that you should be astounded by it too. His meter - every enunciation, accentuation, and pause - sounds affected and I, for some reason, can't stand to listen to him. I've tried. He talks about things I'm interested in and I enjoy reading what he has written (I have "Pluto Files" and "Space Chronicles" on my Kindle), but when he starts talking, it just sounds like he's talking to five year-olds to me.
F ck it, upvote.


I know exactly what you're saying. There's a british version of this and he's called Brian Cox. Every single time he speaks, i feel my skin crawling that he knows that he has to try and manipulate the audience into feeling emotion that they just don't feel.

I subscribe to the principle as well. I agree, the connectedness of the universe is absolutely amazing. When you think about the familiar vs. the unfamiliar, the known vs. the unknown.... we know each other, we know the planet we live on and we feel safe here, but there's an infinite chasm in all directions around us. Sometimes when i consider this i can give myself vertigo.

If i were trapped in a cave with the most fundamental islamist ever, and we didn't know what lay on the other side of the collapsed wall, we'd eventually cooperate and work together to get out, to see what's there. Maybe we find something great out there, or maybe we have to build some defences to make ourselves safer in the cave.

Put us on earth, and we put bombs in each other's homes. The knowledge of how amazing the universe is really does lift you up, places you above all the stupid racism and general jingoism. But you can't fake it or inspire it, you either feel it or you don't.

Having said that, at least they're getting the field of physics more attention, and maybe they might influence some kids whilst they're influence-able.

I seriously think Tyson is a fraud. He just spews out pointless theories and people think he is brilliant for it. GG Tyson, GG.

I will never forget his quote

"we are all related..
to each other, biologically..
to the earth, chemically..
to the universe, atomically."

>> ^TangledThorns:

I seriously think Tyson is a fraud. He just spews out pointless theories and people think he is brilliant for it. GG Tyson, GG.


Does this schmuck even know what the word "theory" really means?

Pluto lover.

>> ^TangledThorns:

I seriously think Tyson is a fraud. He just spews out pointless theories and people think he is brilliant for it. GG Tyson, GG.

>> ^deathcow:

>> ^HugeJerk:
Nope, it's a sphere.>> ^MrFisk:
So the Earth is round?


gong!
it's an oblate spheroid, a rotationally symmetrical ellipsoid

The deviation in Earth's curvature is tiny - just 1 part in 300, according to Wikipedia, so it's functionally indistinguishable from a sphere. And if you were to inflate a billiard ball to the size of the Earth, the billiard ball would be less spherical than the planet.

So beautiful. *promote

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Monday, March 5th, 2012 8:16am PST - promote requested by geo321.