Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Guest Exceptionalist
Posted

I used the Maxthon browser with the newest flash update and I somehow managed to hear the complete audio. There is still no video and Chrome fails to even load the audio file.

Posted

It happens around the 3:20 mark, but not exactly the same time for everyone, nor is it effecting everyone. Which makes me wonder if the file is actually corrupted or there is some kind of bug with youtube itself.

 

I use the HTML5 version of the video player and so I don't think it's flash that's the problem.

 

A re-upload might fix it in any case. It's a drag too because I really wanted to watch it :(

Posted

I played the audio in the background on my iPhone on the way to work from the YouTube video with no issues until 21:10 (as in I got to work and stopped it). Maybe the video had issues (I wasn't checking), but at least the iPhone seemed to do ok with it.

Posted

sorry will,reup, no,idea what went wrong

 

I'm only a couple minutes in... but, I have to say that I happen to love Neil Degrasse Tyson.  He is one of the only astrophysicists that makes the subject fun to listen to. Because of that, I must defend him, simply by saying that he is not suggesting that NASA never would have come along without government violence forcing it on people.  What he is really saying is "What the hell was stopping you all before the government forced it on you?".  This is a purely emotional defense. I may be wrong, and I'm listening to the rest, but I think it's important to suggest that it's possible he is engaging in a call to arms for scientists, and investors, rather than suggesting government is necessary.  I don't see him as a hardcore statist, I see him as befuddled by our lack of interest in the only new place to get resources.  Pure emotion though, and I'm listening to the rest right now, I may change my mind.

 

Edit: Finished the clip, and I still feel the same way.  I think he's more ambiguous than you give him credit for, if you account for game theory.

Posted

I think Neil Degrasse Tyson is great on science.  But I cringe when I hear him (and most other scientists) talk about government.

 

I've heard him speak a lot, I very much enjoy hearing him talk, but my impression is that he does say that government is required for big science projects. 

 

If that's not his position then I apologise and I'd appreciate if someone pointed me to a YouTube clip or article showing that he doesn't mean that.   I think he's generally a very rational thinker so I'd love to hear someone ask him about Non-aggression and how it applies to government and science funding.

 

Incidentally, I did have problems with the clip also, it wouldn't go beyond 3 mins or so..  I think I fast forwarded to 4 minutes and didn't have any problems after that.

Posted

The insanely cherry picked, super optimistic quotes that allow me to consider Neil deGrasse Tyson ambiguous about statism. I’m fully willing to admit, you have to want to see it.

 

“Science, when done properly, is never owned by one nation or another.”

 

“We’ve already invented America once before, it’s ripe, it’s ready, and it’s willing, I think… to be invented again.”

 

“To an academic politics is a barrier between where you are, and where you want to land”

 

“What one should argue is, that one should not politicize science”

 

“The only ist I am, is a scientist… I don’t associate with movements, I don’t… I’m not an ism. I think for myself.”

 

“At the end of the day, I’d rather not be any category, at all.”

 

“Earthrise over the moon… There was earth, seen not as the map maker would have you identify it. No the countries were not color coded with boundaries. It was seen as nature intended it to be viewed.” … “The organization, Doctors without borders was founded in 1971. Where do you even get that phrase from? No one thought of that phrase before that photo was published, because every globe in your classroom has countries painted on it. “

 

“We need to look at NASA not as a handout, but as an investment.”

 

“Another driver (for the space race)… The search for economic return, nobody wants to die, nobody wants to die poor.” … “If peaceful heads prevail then war is not the driver available to you. Let’s check our list, well kings and gods are not sufficient in modern times to undergo heavy projects such as that. What’s left? The promise of economic return.”

 

“The bank bailout… That sum of money, is greater than the entire 50 year running budget of NASA. So when someone says, we don’t have enough money for this space probe, I‘m asking… No, it’s not that you don’t have enough money… It’s that the distribution of money that you’re spending is WARPED, in some way, that you are removing the only thing that gives people something to dream about tomorrow.”

Posted

Ambiguous is fair.   There's a couple in there where I'd prefer him to elaborate before giving him the benefit of the doubt.    OTOH, there's some interesting quotes in there that tell me he doesn't quite get the system but might be willing to learn.

 

One of the things I like about Neil is the way he sticks to facts and doesn't wander into politics the way many of his contemporaries do.   That's why I'd like to introduce him to the NAP and it's application to government.  How could someone like him argue with it?  Just the facts, Neil, let's just stick to the facts.  He might need help understanding free market concepts to feel comfortable with it though.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.