Letters from an Astrophysicist

by Neil deGrasse Tyson

am the rare few in my generation who became an astrophysicist in spite of your achievements in space rather than because of them.

But there is another kind of hope—it’s the challenge of learning about the real world and using our intelligence to change things for the better. In this way, it’s the individual who is empowered to bring hope to the world. So yes, the universe wants to kill us. But on the other hand, we all want to live.

In my experience, when money is the sole carrot, people can lose sight of life’s deeper sources of happiness.

Note that eyewitness testimony is, by far, the weakest form of evidence that a person can present in support of a claim. In spite of its high value in the court of law, in the “court” of science, eyewitness testimony is essentially useless. Psychologists have known for quite some time how ineffective the human senses are as data taking devices.

When I am asked what was around before the Big Bang, I say, “We do not yet know.” Often the reply is, “It must be something—it was surely God.” To go from “We don’t know” to “It must be God” is another example of an argument from ignorance. This kind of disconnect has no place in rational investigations, yet it perennially permeates the thoughts and statements of people who already know what they want to believe.

Your efforts will be better spent in search of useful evidence than in trying to convince people of what you think is true in the absence of it.

When I wonder what I am capable of as a human being, I don’t look to “relatives,” I look to all human beings. That is the genetic relationship that matters to me. The genius of Isaac Newton, the courage of Joan of Arc and Gandhi, the athletic feats of Michael Jordan, the oratorical skills of Sir Winston Churchill, the compassion of Mother Teresa. I look to the entire human race for inspiration for what I can be—because I am human.

Every metric of America’s performance on the world stage of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM fields) among industrialized nations put us in the bottom 10%. We also have an ever-growing fraction (nearing 50%) of the electorate that denies the discoveries of science when they conflict with their politics and/or religion.

The theory of evolution is not something to “believe in.” Science follows evidence. And when strong evidence supports an idea, the concept of belief, when invoked the way religious people use the word, is unnecessary. In other words, established science is not an ensemble of beliefs, it’s a system of ideas supported by verifiable evidence.

Among mammals in the tree of life is the branch called primates, such as lemurs, monkeys, and the great apes, including humans. It’s commonly thought that humans evolved from monkeys. But this is not true. We all have a common ancestor. The ape that is closest to us is the chimpanzee. In other words, chimps and humans have a relatively recent common ancestor.

we who die are the lucky ones. Most people—most genetic combinations of who could ever exist—will never be born, and so will never have the opportunity to die.

The cosmic perspective flows from fundamental knowledge. But it’s more than just what you know. It’s also about having the wisdom and insight to apply that knowledge to assessing our place in the universe.

But one must always recognize the difference between knowing that something is true, knowing that something is not true, and not knowing one way or another. It’s the not knowing part that leaves singular events susceptible to inventive accounts (especially from conspiracy theorists) of what may have happened.

When you are under the influence of dogma, you say, do, and think what others tell you to. And that’s always easier than thinking for yourself or resisting the powers that established the dogma in the first place.

that while there are multiple belief systems in the world regarding God and gods, there is only one science, and that science is the same no matter your birthplace, on Earth or anywhere else in the cosmos.

the past (and even in the present) differences can drive adherents to commit murder against another sect in the name of their faith.

polemic

The heaviest snowfalls tend to occur between 22 and 32 degrees Fahrenheit. At these “warmer” temperatures, water crystals grow larger, are stickier, and accumulate much faster on the ground. So huge snowfalls are indications of warm snowstorms not cold ones.

you never want to win an argument for being a better writer, or because you have a bigger vocabulary than your opponent. In this way, the strength of the argument rests on the strength of the argument rather than the strength of your literacy.

Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen farther than others it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

cows don’t exist in the wild. They have never existed in the wild. Farmers genetically engineered them ten thousand years ago from now-extinct ox-like Aurochs in the service of civilization.

it’s not good enough to be right. You also must be effective.