Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization

by Neil deGrasse Tyson

The smartphone may be the single greatest invention in the history of inventions. In 2020 there are three billion of them in a world of eight billion people. Before 2007 there were zero.

If God wanted us to have a space program, he would have given Earth a Moon.

In the United States, organized gambling is ubiquitous. Casino revenue for 2021 hit an all-time high of $45 billion.5 That’s nearly twice NASA’s annual budget to explore the universe.

Some say the stock market is the world’s largest casino. I largely agree, except nobody brings you free drinks.

Believe it or not, Santa’s reindeer exemplify the problem. Unlike other deer species, both male and female reindeer grow antlers. So at a glance they all look the same. But zoologically all male reindeer lose their antlers in the late fall, well before Christmas.9 In spite of their names, only some of which are feminine,10 all Santa’s reindeer sport antlers. So they’re all female. Which means Rudolph has been misgendered.