meal the grass tyson is with us he's a leading astrophysicist also director of
the hayden planetarium at the american museum of natural history the new book
is space chronicles facing the ultimate frontier
and it's a fascinating book and one of the things you going to do is have for
so long to the idea of space exploration was not really politicized nasa was a
group that was for the most part supported by both of of the two sides we
have in american politics but that as of late that's actually started to change
and that now there does seem to be kind of a poll of political side
to whether or not it makes sense to fund nasa how did that come about
delicately correct you
nasa has always been political
the differences as not partisan
that's an important distinction nasa was created in a political clout
in the geopolitics of the cold war so
and i can understand and accept terrible like it but i certainly except
the reality
politics has always worried at nasa
what concern me deeply in the past decade
goes from bush but george w_ bush too
broadwater is that i've seen too partisan
side taking in partisan bickering
dot t_ meetings that dialogue
of what the the president's future nasa needs to be
and when you look at what the future should be any what's what's the ideal
scenario right i mean we have on one side the kind of point of view that
space exploration is
because it's not a necessity it should be something that we leave to private
industry enlightened government fund other things at the same time you have
those who say what we've tried that in other areas of life and it's not gone
anywhere anywhere should it be in your opinion
the there's a lot of misunderstanding about the private sector
and make people think that nasa conceding there
preeminence as the leader of space exploration to private industry
uh... precious false it's biz
paris tunnel respects
private industry cannot leaders from tier
because the private industry is not concedes to do so
the private industry
dogs is
the researchers capital market place
when you can value
the risks and dangers
and quantify the cost of that adventure
when you're there to space for two years experience in
it's dangerous
the risks are unknown when you combine those three you cannot market that to
investors
it just doesn't work that way because
you know it's a brokerage firm investment will be
so the history of major exploratory missions has always been
led by governments
and once you matt once you've drawn the maps and when she was just the dangers
and nowhere good
with a trade winds are aware one return but the costs will be
then you see that private enterprise and then they do it more efficiently than
you
and they can be invented
anion basically sports car industries for having done so
it's interesting that as as the idea of space exploration has become more and
more partisan as you mentioned
we're also seeing the idea of science become much more and more partisan where
there is clearly one political party in this country who seems to kind of resist
the influence of of science and investigation and there's one party that
in theory tends to support it somewhat more tina affront from your point of
view i'd be fascinated to know what do you think when you see uh... candidates
particularly in the republican party talk about well evolution is one of many
theories that is kind of out there and it's really no different than the fear
is super presented ideas presented by religion for example
is that a positive thing for the for the country are negative
i see that it has been center
of the fact that we live in the world today we live in the country today
where science and engineering
or not
they're not
hold it in
to her
sense of self in our sense of honor are buried any as they work
bacteria heyday revolver
journal pol
science was the easy and that generated economies
science and technology
worthy
would be
the forces that would enable that's more of the things that uh...
to be brought into today
so i assert that
thirty four years ago
science and engineering was seen and received
will get a much more welcome way record aspects of society
that it is today
still hold a meeting locations assertion that if you double basses budget
and we go back into space in a big way
adventist experts here
then the innovation culture
would exist in nasa to have to realize that frontier then liberty
permeate
the country
instead innovation culture that makes people well
and when that happens
people don't see the tide of science and engineering and i think all these
debates go away do you really think you think that some of these kind of
incredible debate about
the science of uh... you know uh... of global warming or
the exact time at which some boat you know someone is a person as it comes to
conception of the abortion debate i mean all of these things you think
might be just pushed absolutely out of the mainstream if sciences taken more
seriously
yes because what will happen automatically where
but i'm suggesting
that right now people don't see your field of science is doing to that
they've grown accustomed to their rightful they've grown accustomed two
point five hundred miles an hour at thirty one thousand feet
when you ask the frontier
new things are coming out to all the time
because we do have a advances in you know in telecommunications yes i haven't
by phone today
that ten years ago i'd be broke at the state
to relocate
if i was discovered all the warm
so market society does not have advances
about
the kind of advances that come about from grand exited ventures
that's a whole other scale
and that's the approved aids culture
then
it becomes part of her recent about the war
world is not just
what i wanted to be
the world is as it is revealed to us through the methods and tools of sorts
if you're in a position to understand or grace those facts
they did it feel like wouldn't should be just whatever you think it should be
soviet force operating against that kind of thinking
if we had signed to carry on the ground that headlines everyday
let's talk a little bit about
space exploration specifically i mean in your mind
there are a number of different reasons why some say it's a good idea or a bad
idea to explore space right and when this good range is from um...
adventure like you said to hit we need it we might need a new plan to go to if
and when we destroy this one
uh... what what do you see as the dmv the biggest reason to explore space to
to the max so to speak
all those are great reasons they're just not good enough to
force anyone to write a fact check
you know that the other states in our demand for science
where explore where americans we uh... its fundamental to our debt
he got on the list
but the history of the world tells me
but none of those reasons are sufficient
to dislodge major problems
from a congress from it
or check writing prose
but were released
threat that we might be annihilated by war
distracted if you die you might dark war
well movies
my readers history tells me harpoon drivers
for the expenditure of major sums of money
in any kind of enterprise at all
so
that list you started it i don't think we
well good reasons but the insufficient
joins us from our goal now is to convince congress and others
primarily by the recipient lecter that
spaces investment bank amount invested
and when you talk to those terms it's very easy to say how much you should put
in
based on how much is trackback
what do you think about the issues that inevitably will they were kind enough
funny way brought up when newt gingrich started talking about moving bases of
what happens once we started
pushing that frontier out into space as far as who owns this stuff right i mean
what will happen both the intellectual capital
as well as the physical capital of what from space it seems like a recipe for
disaster given the the kind of global
sigit circumstances around ownership of stuff
yeah i dont there's no reason to be any different from what has happened here on
earth
you know the the resistance spaces for everyone will be it would be peaceful
what week
growth is not for everyone
and
we wage war on earth
but somehow we're going to behave differently when we go into space amout
i don't have that much confidence in humanity
and so
so
are betting that people
will create colonies were the hand over an extensive countries that's my guess
and
if you don't like that and i don't make your polyether guess what you're the
fighting about it
allow humans fighting each other rover
territory
what a concept
in albany so
uh... i do not convinced most recently scientists to the moon
back scientist of the one group that's able to not fight over stuff
scientists
have never
net armies into battle market just not what we do
we recognize that there is a truth of six above whatever truth we might be
arguing
and that would increase taxes one day solicited more until we do i'm going to
kill you for thinking differently
in the last couple of minutes we have left i want to talk to you a little bit
about bob ray kurzweil of all people i recently saw fascinating documentary
about him
and he talks about this idea of the singularity and and i i mentioned him
only as a contact my real question is as as technology
development continues to advance do you imagine that something similar to what
kurzweil describes the singularity may happen where the advancement of
technology itself outpaces humans ability to use that technology give me
your thoughts on that
i don't know
convinced by that
the
so you don't know first of all
i'm pissed off he's using the word singularity that i work for black holes
about polls
so i would that work there
and then some other work right be tom i said that dot
act so
apart from that
i don't know you know the brain is a messy complex place human biology is not
doesn't have the precision of machines it doesn't
it's just a mess
it's a mess in has disorders
so disabled one day the computer role traffic human brain
asher hometown because of course is completely messed up
hours is one of the worst data taking
devices there ever was
in fact is that
it's our expectation that we are somehow going to getting data
that the way the progress of science for millennia
it was not until we had the methods and tools of science
to decode the nature of the
jejeje called the natural world
without reference to our
the capacity of our senses to do so
and so disabled at actual brain aka
i don't
i don't i don't see the the the
what's so special about that
we we have machines that passes physically
that's great but the machine the cost of only popcorn i watched the date you know
i'm not jealous that this with weaken with machines that moves faster than we
do
we call them cars
we have received little faster than cars but i think that if the idea the idea
would be we still know how they utilize those machines even though they
surpassed us i think more is the idea that technology will arpa outpace even
our ability to use that technology
if you look at
re single just topic science fiction story
ever read
it's it's something that was freshly introduced into culture
and then runs it into a distorted future
and
none of those cases
at ever come remotely true
just to go back and look at it so so the idea that we're making a lot a lot to
take over the world
all we gotta do october outside the added because it will destroy the world
squirrel but we didn't ok but usually sleep alone on mixing and people are
afraid of
you might say the chain reaction of all the world there has never ever ever ever
happen
so to think
their computers and if so how
it'll be a singular change in how we interact with each other with machines
i'd just don't see that
compared to what computing are there are any
ice stuck the aloft capital unless advocate it without in this
actions
but you know and at the top of eighty one day will connect
a at the computer to admiral biology in the net fostering the compute with and
we certainly have that
all right
at the point is it
just turn it on
and the entire world
is at my fingertips
here
and and and and
also is the be it
inside it
okay
but these days and i think it's
cheater
if you are his leash and get some i'm sure popped
it's not really
so i don't need to be hazelwood cerebellum to get the information
because
use this the reading
what what what does that do next answered
i'll make maybe someone they say they're from a understood the book is space
chronicles we've been speaking with you know the grass tyson congratulations on
the grade book really enjoyed reading it
alleged thank you