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 RearEchelon
Male, 18-29, Southern US
 139 Posts
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Tuesday, July 17, 2012 7:51:02 PM
XD Neil DeGrasse Tyson is quickly becoming one of my favorite people. If I used Twitter I would definitely follow him. |
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 eduardoleon
Male, 18-29, Eastern US
492 Posts
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Tuesday, July 17, 2012 7:46:01 AM
it was good enough for him so it must be good enough for you |
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 patchgrabber
Male, 30-39, Canada
5263 Posts
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Monday, July 16, 2012 9:27:00 AM
@MacGuffin: You said he doesn't get to work for NASA any more and he never worked for NASA. At least get your facts straight instead of implying you actually knew. Getting funding doesn't mean you work for them.
Also your glaring ignorance of the field of science would make me lol if it weren't so pathetic. But I'm sure your armchair refereeing of who is allowed to be public in science must make you feel smart. I'll take the Harvard grad who actually has publications over the computer nerd who hasn't done anything of note herself. |
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 MacGuffin
Female, 30-39, Europe
2597 Posts
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Monday, July 16, 2012 9:22:48 AM
Wow, I didn't know you had to make a groundbreaking discovery in science to be credible.
Well, there you go, you learn something every day. Next week we learn that restaurant critics' opinions on food isn't nearly so important as the opinions of people that have actual cooking skills. But hey - NDT still has more followers on Twitter than any of those other loser scientists with their actual scientific achievements, right? Bwwwwwwwaaaahahahahhaaa!!! 
You're also wrong in that he never actually worked for NASA
I believe what I actually said was "NASA - NDT was so popular there that he doesn't even get to work for them any more", but thankyou for playing, you've been a great contestant, etc. |
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patchgrabber
Male, 30-39, Canada
5263 Posts
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Monday, July 16, 2012 9:05:51 AM
I can't think of even one striking scientific discovery he's made.
Wow, I didn't know you had to make a groundbreaking discovery in science to be credible. Because it must be soooo easy to make paradigm-altering discoveries in science, let alone astrophysics. He's championing the cause for investment in science and space exploration, when everyone else is seemingly content to let it die. Your expectations are ridiculously high, he's never said that he's the best thing to happen to science, or even that he's the best scientist out there. He may be attention whoring on twitter, but like I said he's using the tools at his disposal to relate to the masses, and if he wants to b*tch about the night's sky in a movie who are you to say "Don't say that"? It's his account he can say what he wants.
You're also wrong in that he never actually worked for NASA, don't know where you're getting that from. He's gotten funding from NASA but that's it. |
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MacGuffin
Female, 30-39, Europe
2597 Posts
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Monday, July 16, 2012 8:39:12 AM
Even Nobel Prizes (of which he hasn't got one anyway) on their own don't really mean anything - look at Obama, who got one after only two weeks in office, merely for not being George W Bush. Richard Feynman, whom you mentioned earlier, knew the difference between wearing fine clothes, medals and awards, and actually achieving something meaningful. Feynman's father was a uniform maker, and he often used to recount how his father taught him the difference between merely having human accolades bestowed upon you and acting a peacock in public, and actually achieving something important or unique.
And as for NASA - NDT was so popular there that he doesn't even get to work for them any more.
Can you think of anything that NDT has actually *done*? I can think of plenty of criticism he's dished out, and plenty of examples of him attention whoring, but I can't think of even one striking scientific discovery he's made. Can you?
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MacGuffin
Female, 30-39, Europe
2597 Posts
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Monday, July 16, 2012 8:39:04 AM
@MacGuffin: You're correct, having dozens of publications and books, 17 honorary doctorates, the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Isaac Asimov award, and his doctorate from Harvard mean little. I'd also say he's wasting his time attempting to educate laymen about science and why it's important, but as long as he does it I don't have to.
Honorary doctorates don't mean anything - they're just the institutional version of fanoism. "Dr" Billy Graham has twenty of them, and has turned down nearly twice that many.
...
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patchgrabber
Male, 30-39, Canada
5263 Posts
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Monday, July 16, 2012 7:53:17 AM
@MacGuffin: You're correct, having dozens of publications and books, 17 honorary doctorates, the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Isaac Asimov award, and his doctorate from Harvard mean little. I'd also say he's wasting his time attempting to educate laymen about science and why it's important, but as long as he does it I don't have to. |
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MacGuffin
Female, 30-39, Europe
2597 Posts
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Monday, July 16, 2012 7:36:17 AM
@patch: Feynman *was* an attention whore. He was also interesting, and a fantastically-successful Nobel Prize winning physicist to boot, which is what makes his attention-seeking more excusable in his case. My point about NDT, is that he's *nothing but* an attention whore. He's not contributed anything meaningful to science himself. He's just a pointless perpetual critic, that gives his unsolicited opinion on everything from atheism to films. That's why NASA showed him the door, and he finds himself in a dead-end job running a planetarium rather than being involved in actual meaningful research. He's a self-publicist with no real substance, nothing more.
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patchgrabber
Male, 30-39, Canada
5263 Posts
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Monday, July 16, 2012 7:14:00 AM
@MacGuffin: Asimov, Einstein, Feynman, all of these people may have been "attention whores" if the internet had been around at their time. NDT is attempting to get Americans thinking about science and space again, and he's using the popular platforms of his day to do this. Are tweets about movies doing this? No. He's just trying to stay relevant and tweeting everyday only about science matters bores the general public, who he is trying to inspire. But it's not his fault his tweets are broadcast by others to people not in his followers. It seems to me you more dislike the hype around NDT than the man himself. People like you and Gerry are just sick of seeing him, that's all. |
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 ChainsawNbud
Male, 40-49, Southern US
714 Posts
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Monday, July 16, 2012 5:34:53 AM
I had a Ford MacFairlane once.
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MacGuffin
Female, 30-39, Europe
2597 Posts
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Monday, July 16, 2012 5:18:02 AM
I find it astonishing that you manage to work up such a level of angry over issues that does not relate to you in any way or form. The only thing that's happening is: You see something, and you enrage.
Actually I was just answering a question I was asked, but if you're a fanboi that's impressed by NDT I'm guessing you're the type of person that's easily astonished. |
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MacGuffin
Female, 30-39, Europe
2597 Posts
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Monday, July 16, 2012 5:17:16 AM
That was part of a series for bigthink.com. Here's the link to his other videos for them:
Thanks, I think I can live without them. |
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Idlerlee2
Male, 18-29, Europe
135 Posts
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Sunday, July 15, 2012 9:27:14 PM
@MacGuffin
I find it astonishing that you manage to work up such a level of angry over issues that does not relate to you in any way or form. The only thing that's happening is: You see something, and you enrage.
Your taxes aren't affected by twitter nor NDT, your monthly period, assuming you aren't all dried up should come on frequent intervals, and your food doesn't have NDT's pubic hair on them.
So what exactly is the problem ? If not being angry for the sake of being angry.
As for people who get a lot of spotlight. There is usually a reason. In NDT's example he has the rare combination of being an actual accomplished scientist with a knack for public speaking. He hosts(ed?) NOVA Science Now, a public channel seeking to relay science to the general populace, had a role in debunking Pluto as a planet, and has released at lesat 12 books.
Getting the populace interested in science is important, especially the younger audience.
Why |
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RealityBlade
Male, 18-29, Eastern US
9 Posts
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Sunday, July 15, 2012 7:26:16 PM
@MacGuffin
That was part of a series for bigthink.com. Here's the link to his other videos for them: http://tiny.cc/nzoihw
Most, if not all, of these videos are him answering a question that was asked off camera.
A lot of interviews cut out the interviewer/questioner and are edited to look like the subject of the interview is just talking to the camera/person watching the video. It's often done when the person taking the interview isn't well known. This is actually rather common practice. It creates a sense that the subject is talking to the viewer and not to the interviewer.
And he actually has been called out about the whole atheism thing multiple times on his Facebook. So it is rather relevant, to him at least. I honestly don't care what his religious beliefs are, either. Hell, I don't care what anyone's beliefs are. Just don't impose them on me is what I say.
I just don't see where/how he comes off as a pompous *** that some people are |
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 avail9988
Male, 18-29, Australia
621 Posts
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Sunday, July 15, 2012 6:23:46 PM
What is the obsession with this guy? |
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MacGuffin
Female, 30-39, Europe
2597 Posts
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Sunday, July 15, 2012 10:56:33 AM
@RB: There's plenty of examples in the links provided (and the IAB commentary thereon). Here's just one example. The video referenced is just NDT talking in monologue, about a subject that nobody has asked him about (despite his many references to being asked his opinion in a video in which only he appears, mysteriously no source of said enquiries is actually referred to).
I personally couldn't give less of a poo whether NDT considers himself an atheist or not. And I couldn't care less what he thinks about atheism. And neither I suspect do most people care about these things. Which is why he has to make videos wherein he provides his unsolicited opinion on a topic that nobody has actually asked him about.
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RealityBlade
Male, 18-29, Eastern US
9 Posts
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Sunday, July 15, 2012 10:38:56 AM
"...wrong again fanboyish behavior."
I meant "wrong, fanboyish behavior." Not sure how I managed to mix up a comma and the word again. English is my second language, but still, that was weird. |
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RealityBlade
Male, 18-29, Eastern US
9 Posts
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Sunday, July 15, 2012 10:34:32 AM
@MacGuffin
I visit I-A-B about 3-5 times a day, actually. I've skimmed the links(1st page only) that you sent me, and they're all random Twitter posts, answers to questions(Dear lord! He's answering questions in an interview or Q/A session!), reposts of something he said(the Senate hearing being a rather popular source), or links about Mike Tyson... Who I assume has no relation.
Again, I just skimmed the links. Please show me a case where he went on a tangent totally unrelated to a question asked of him or is just babbling random crap no one cares about(outside of Twitter, of course).
At least we can agree to disagree with Zuriel, though! I'm not gonna lie, I like NDT. But, as I said earlier, to group him with "Einstein, Newton, Plato, Hubble, and Stephen Hawking" is just wrong again fanboyish behavior. Well, overly fanboyish. |
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MacGuffin
Female, 30-39, Europe
2597 Posts
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Sunday, July 15, 2012 9:29:18 AM
small people are small
Ever noticed how dumb people keep repeating the same thing over and over again, in the hope it'll eventually sound intelligent one of the times they say it? Didn't someone define that pattern of repeating the same behaviour and expecting a different outcome as madness once?*
(* That was a rhetorical question, btw, since I don't actually engage in discourse with people that demonstrate such a limited vocabulary in their thinking.)
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MacGuffin
Female, 30-39, Europe
2597 Posts
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Sunday, July 15, 2012 9:20:15 AM
>>>So personal stories is what set you off? Outside of the Titanic story, NDT answering "how did you get into astrophysics(a standard question asked to anyone famous about their field of work), his personal attachment to NASA(though it's still 99% about NASA), and about his schooling, I can't honestly think of any other story about NDT himself.<<<
Oh, really? Then you can't visit IAB much. Here, knock yourself out. I chuckle at the thought of NDT happening upon this thread next time he's vanity Googling, and being unable to respond via sockpuppet to the valid criticism herein because of IAB's unique way of listing threads by creation date rather than last posting date.
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Zuriel
Male, 30-39, Midwest US
412 Posts
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Sunday, July 15, 2012 8:34:44 AM
<--- is laughing at people that argue on the internet.
It's like telling a tree it can't ride a bicycle.
small people are small |
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RealityBlade
Male, 18-29, Eastern US
9 Posts
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Sunday, July 15, 2012 8:18:40 AM
@Gerry1of1
According to NdGT, Pluto isn't even a real dog!
Now that was funny! *applauds* |
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RealityBlade
Male, 18-29, Eastern US
9 Posts
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Sunday, July 15, 2012 8:17:46 AM
@MacGuffin
"That's correct, yes. ... but when used by minor celebrities that feel the constant need for validation in their insignificant lives, Twitter's been nothing but a blight on society."
Totally agree with you here.
"Always talked about science"
So personal stories is what set you off? Outside of the Titanic story, NDT answering "how did you get into astrophysics(a standard question asked to anyone famous about their field of work), his personal attachment to NASA(though it's still 99% about NASA), and about his schooling, I can't honestly think of any other story about NDT himself. And trust me, I've watched many a lecture that he's done. Are there any stories that I'm missing? I believe for the most part, he sticks to the astrophysics.
Krauss is just another professor/lecturer. Bill Nye hosted "Bill Nye the Science Guy", a show about random science. He now does random guest spots on the news and al |
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 Gerry1of1
Male, 50-59, Western US
25610 Posts
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Sunday, July 15, 2012 8:04:02 AM
According to NdGT, Pluto isn't even a real dog!
 |
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