Neil deGrasse
Neil deGrasse
stars moon origin-of-life
We only recently figured out the origin of our own moon. And we have some idea of how the Sun and Earth formed, but that's only because modern telescopes empower us to see other stars and planets freshly hatched within gas clouds across the galaxy. As for the origin of life itself, the transition from inanimate molecules to what any of us would call life remains one of the great frontiers of biology.
ignorance humans human-history
I know of no time in human history where ignorance was better than knowledge.
asteroids saws dinosaurs
The dinosaurs never saw that asteroid coming. What's our excuse?
clueless school learning
No one is dumb who is curious. The people who don't ask questions remain clueless throughout their lives.
writing sea people
Once upon a time, people identified the god Neptune as the source of storms at sea. Today we call these storms hurricanes.... The only people who still call hurricanes acts of God are the people who write insurance forms.
cosmos might energy
Aliens might be surprised to learn that in a cosmos with limitless starlight, humans kill for energy sources buried in the sand
philosophy ignorance intelligent
Intelligent design is a philosophy of ignorance.
ignorance atheism pockets
God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance.
kids cake awards
You don't want to raise a kid in a culture where the kid who asks the most questions is annoying. You want a culture where the kid who asks the most questions gets awards and gets another piece of cake.
profound cosmos purpose
To assert that the universe has a purpose implies the universe has intent. And intent implies a desired outcome. But who would do the desiring? And what would a desired outcome be? That carbon-based life is inevitable? Or that sentient primates are life's neurological pinnacle? Are answers to these questions even possible without expressing a profound bias of human sentiment? Of course humans were not around to ask these questions for 99.9999% of cosmic history. So if the purpose of the universe was to create humans then the cosmos was embarrassingly inefficient about it.
nature important facts
We are part of this universe; we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us.
spiritual views theory-of-evolution
Some claim evolution is just a theory. As if it were merely an opinion. The theory of evolution, like the theory of gravity, is a scientific fact. Evolution really happened. Accepting our kinship with all life on Earth is not only solid science. In my view, it’s also a soaring spiritual experience.
body earth energy
I would request that my body in death be buried not cremated, so that the energy content contained within it gets returned to the earth, so that flora and fauna can dine upon it, just as I have dined upon flora and fauna during my lifetime
running military years
In just one year, the expenditure of of the U.S.'s military budget is equivalent to the entire 50-year running budget of NASA combined.