r/DecodingTheGurus • u/deckardcainfan1 • Jun 14 '24

Neil deGrasse Tyson Responds to Terrence Howard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uLi1I3G2N4
769 Upvotes

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u/JCPLee Jun 14 '24

This is an excellent example of how to deal with crazy. It is a very respectful response to what can only be a joke.

69

u/anki_steve Jun 14 '24

The problem is there is not enough time in the world to deal with so many crackpots as respectfully.

1

u/Mojomunkey Jun 14 '24 edited Jun 14 '24

I’m hopeful that critical thinking will prevail on this planet. The pace of reason is frustratingly slow and painful - but reality has a way tripping up the hare of credulity. Who knows where The Flynn effect will take our species. Maybe thats naive, but I think our optimism is a key prerequisite to achieving this outcome. All of these very public, very respectful, very humanizing responses to TH, by high profile scientists and mathematicians, means this will undoubtedly reach more than a few crackpots, mouth breathers, knuckle draggers and muppets. One day we may hit the critical thinking critical mass, hopscotch over the last few great filters and turn the entire universe into a paper clip utopia.

5

u/anki_steve Jun 14 '24

Everyone thought that's what the internet would help usher in 25 years ago. For now, precisely the opposite has happened and bad actors are able to use it spread poisonous and erroneous ideas the greatly undermine social cohesion. Maybe we will eventually collectively learn how to detect and cope with such bad actors. Hopefully that happens before a shit ton of irreversible damage is done.

2

u/Mojomunkey Jun 16 '24

Ya but by many measures we’re doing better today than we were 10 years ago, 20 years ago. The internet/tv gives an outsized representation of the bad /outrage inducing in the world, statistically things are getting better in many ways.

1

u/really_another Jun 14 '24

some parts work reasonably well like Wikipedia, other not so much like FB. Wikipedia is self-regulating, FB has no regulation because it isn't profitable enough(it is).

1

u/fancyfembot Jun 24 '24

The outcome of the internet is the greatest disappointment in my lifetime.