If you asked me what kind of event I attended Wednesday night at the Phillips Center, I wouldn’t be sure whether to say a comedy show or to see a brilliant scientist speak.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson, world famous American astrophysicist and science communicator, is one funny (and agile) man.
Interesting that on Opposite Day you cannot declare that it is so.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) April 4, 2013
Tyson leapt across the stage pretending to be an asteroid 20 times brighter than the sun soaring through the sky and gracefully did ballet plies and squats in second position. He told hilarious stories of “hate mail” he received from third graders after Pluto was demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet and he referenced “thong bikinis” on more than one occasion during his talk.
His jokes and silly dancing kept the audience engaged and laughing the entire time. The atmosphere in the auditorium was light-hearted and excited considering how complex and intense the concept of the universe can be.
If you strip away the comedic value of the event, however, the message Tyson delivered to the eager audience was one of immense weight.
We need a country that values things that will bring us into the future.
He cracked a joke that here in America, we’d rather drink our alcohol while Brazil is creating planes to run on alcohol. Funny, yes, but also a startling reality. He emphasized that America is no longer the superpower of scientific research and development and that countries like Japan, China and Brazil are quickly passing us by.
“We need a country that values things that will bring us into the future.”
Tyson calls this mindset dreaming for tomorrow; he stressed that the key to a strong future of America is taking control of things you are otherwise running away from.
“America has forgotten how to think. They are being told what to think.”
While countries like Russia are figuring out how to use retrorockets to change the trajectory of Apophis, a massive asteroid that could slam into the Earth, the United States has its head in the sand; it is filled with politicians whose only concern is getting reelected in two years.
Tyson explained that he would never tell you who to vote for, but urged the audience to be informed and get out there and vote. He insisted that complaints about the current president or people in office are useless because “your gripe is with your fellow Americans.”
As his talk wound down, inspiring words to the crowd of hopeful college students took precedence over the humorous words.
“You are in college. You are in a position to create a tomorrow. Less me now, than you.”
When students were given a chance to ask Tyson questions at the end, his honest answers about what happiness means to him were surprising and refreshing.
He expressed that he derives meaning and happiness from daily interactions helping other people. As a New York native, every day he simply asks people who look lost if there is anything he can do to help.
You mean to tell me one of the most intelligent men in the field of astrophysics with infinite knowledge of the complexities of the universe finds happiness by merely connecting with other people?
If you often long, like so many people in our society, to be smarter, richer, funnier, more attractive, more athletic, etc., perhaps Tyson’s outlook might show you that true meaning in life may not come from any of those things. It may simply come from reaching out to the fellow humans you share this beautiful planet with.
As I walked out the Phillips Center, I looked up into the rainy night sky and one of Tyson’s questions kept ringing in my head: Can you look at things from a cosmic perspective?
The event was comedic, it was intellectual, it was inspiring.
It was out of this world.
