Friends invited me to attend a talk by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, last night, at the State Theater. Our group represented half of North Royalton High School’s Science Department. The half that attends a lecture by an astrophysicist is the same half that is actively disdained by the high school administration. Two of us retired early, one is retiring in a month, one is engaged in district dispute due to unfair treatment by the principal and one was passed over for department chair so an administration shill could be installed.
Any media review starts with a comment on the extend of Leftist sneering. My liberal friends may consider me too sensitive, but they would be outraged if every TV show and movie included jibes about diversity, equity and inclusion. Neil DeGrasse Tyson (NDT) was good. There was one bit where he talks about “Murrrricans” pride in our space program. He could have left out the “Murrrricans” bit. That little bit of pandering wasn’t crucial to his point that the Russians led us in space flight in the 1950’s and 1960’s. NDT was making a larger point that our space exploration tends to be reactionary and our current push to the moon is a response to China in the same way that our moon landing was a response to the Soviet Union.
NDT did touch on politics, but in an even-handed, and occasionally surprising, way. He mentioned that a Republican administration passed the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, but without saying it was Richard Nixon. He is a big supporter of the Space Force and gave Trump credit for establishing it. Oddly, he mentioned that President Lincoln was a Republican and that the party was established to oppose slavery. His point was that parties change over time and that some advances come in their own time regardless of the administration.
The topic of NDT’s presentation was “Delusions of Space Enthusiasts”. It was geared toward a popular audience, so a little light on substance with more rhetorical banter than I prefer, but was well-received by the audience. A major focus was on views of space flight during the 20th century, including overly optimistic or pessimistic predictions along with the retro-futurism of the popular culture. It was all tied together nicely with good visuals and commentary.
When NDT got to the current and near-future state of space exploration, he talked about NASA’s tiny budget in relation to the size of the space industry. He didn’t quite make the point that NASA wasn’t a big player anymore and didn’t stress the fantastic advances by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
An interesting theme in NDT’s presentation is that Americans, and humans in general, don’t have an intrinsic need to explore. His view was that major exploration and technical advances occur for three reasons: War, religious enthusiasm and commercial opportunities. He didn’t feel that the old Star Trek rationale, “to boldly go where no man has gone before” was a motivating factor. NDT did not spend much time talking about the commercial opportunities of space flight, and was subtly discounting Elon Musk’s desire to colonize Mars for humanity’s survival.
NDT was skeptical of any effort to colonize the moon or Mars. He was dismissive of the Mars One plan to send people to Mars on a one way trip. NDT didn’t seem to accept that there are people who would willing go to Mars with the understanding that their objective was to establish a foothold with no plan or promise of ever returning to Earth. Buzz Aldrin has stated that he was ready to go on those terms, but NDT didn’t address that.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson put on a good show. His presentation is polished with good stagecraft. The audience wasn’t my style. Many people near me seemed to feel they were watching Jeopardy and were compelled to answer NDT’s rhetorical questions. “Remember what happened in 1903?”, “Oh, the Wright Brothers first flight!”. Yeah, I get it, but Neil can’t hear you.
At one point, NDT put up a QR code for people desiring more information. Many people tried the link, and it apparently bogged down. The guy in front of me tried the link, and couldn’t connect. Watching his head turn toward his phone, then back to NDT a couple of times, and his body posture, he was going to show Neil that he got an error message. The guy needed assistance to resolve the problem. It’s the same sequence Sparky goes through when Porky, his rubber toy, rolls under a cabinet. We were a hundred feet away. Neil mentioned that the servers might be bogged down, and the guy was able to relax.
I’m glad I attended the event, but the outing with my colleagues was more gratifying than NDT’s presentation. Several people were casually interested in attending another NDT presentation along his lecture circuit. One was enough for me. It was a good show, but was suitable for brighter high school students. I’d like a little more than that.
I have attended several lectures in the Cleveland Town Hall series, so use that as a comparison. Many of those were on topics I don’t know much about, so learned more. NDT has a pretty good presentation style, but I didn’t learn much. I’d give him a 7/10.