I love space, and love hearing about what expert scientists have to say about it. It takes me back to earlier times, when Carl Sagan was still around, and you could still hear him reiterating his famous lines, 'Billions and billions of stars".
Things like that made you feel small and insignificant in the world. As well they should.
Or, should they?
Another prominent scientist of this day, Neil deGrasse Tyson, is saying otherwise.
In the article (which you can read by clicking on the following link, he expands on why we should not feel small and insignificant when we look at the universe and our place in it:
"Neil deGrasse Tyson on Why We Shouldn’t Feel Small in the Universe" January 10, 2014:
http://billmoyers.com/2014/01/10/neil-degrasse-tyson-on-why-we-shouldnt-feel-small-in-the-universe/
Interesting clip - I don't recall any scientist ever encouraging people to see it that way. I did however find it ironic that NDT used the word "ego" in reference to people who feel small in the bigger scheme of things. From my vantage point that's always to the contrary been a sign of humility. Personally I've lost most of my interest in space over the years, and indeed my sense of wonder in general. Sagan on the other hand had a knack for kindling that side of me like nobody before him or since. But getting back to the subject at hand, I suppose there's a temporal aspect to people feeling insignificant when pondering something as unfathomable as the Cosmos: it's been around for billions of years. I haven't. But kudos to NDT for challenging us to approach these things differently. That must have been a great interview, actually. Bill Moyers definitely strikes me as being one of the most intelligent and articulate people on television, so this was truly a meeting of the minds.
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