Comment

Not the same with Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

I’m not his biggest fan, but I fully respect his scientific credentials. He has a PhD from Columbia. He published at least a dozen papers. There’s no question that he’s a scientist, a manager of scientists, as well as a science communicator.

The problem is that his success seems to have destroyed his humility. It’s not that he brags about being so incredibly smart. It’s more that he doesn’t ever seem to sit back and say “hey, maybe this isn’t something where my contributions won’t be appreciated”. I think his science communication is doing more good than harm. I think he’s a great role model for little black boys who think all scientists are white, or that they’re all stuffy nerds with no personality. But, I think he’s at his best when he’s in a show where there’s a script and an editor. On social media and on free-form podcasts, he comes off as a know-it-all ass.

source

Sort:hotnew top

P00ptart@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
He is a know-it-all ass. He’s a self-important dickhead. But I appreciate his role in getting young black kids seeing a role model that they can relate to. That’s far more important than his ego.

source
- merc@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Ha! It makes it sound like you’re saying that young black kids are self-important dickheads and that’s why he’s a good role model.
  
  But, yeah, I know what you’re trying to say. Despite his social media presence, the image that kids generally see is a very positive one. He’s a somewhat stylish (in his own way) guy, who clearly has personality, and is a very accomplished scientist. I just cringe any time he comments on something not related to astrophysics.
  
  source
  - P00ptart@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Exactly. He doesn’t need to ruin movies. We know that movies are for entertainment, it doesn’t need to be dissected as fact. And we certainly don’t need someone taking our escapism away from us. Let us have this, dude. We need this right now, including from the time he became prominent. He killed Pluto, which I guess is fine because it was accurate, but he didn’t need to shove himself into movies and try to ruin our very-much-needed escapism. It’s egotistical, and insulting, as if we don’t know that it’s a movie.
    
    source
CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

But, I think he’s at his best when he’s in a show where there’s a script and an editor. On social media and on free-form podcasts, he comes off as a know-it-all ass.

^ This. I still am miffed at his attitude in regards to considering the issues of AI on I forget which talk show, but he took the attitude of “we’d just pull the plug”.

Maybe when in a scripted format or in writing, he might be able to extrapolate a bit, but he just sounded like a layperson when it comes to the topic, and I honestly have no idea if he’s read or considered the kinds of things that, say, Nick Bostrom has put out there. It just sounded like some hot take man-on-the-street kind of response, talking about the problem as if we are talking about someone’s server running somewhere. It was just…facepalm.

source