Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization

by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Leonardo da Vinci would be in full agreement: “The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinion.”

Healthy disagreement is a natural state on the bleeding edge of discovery.

After thinking deeply about how a scientist views the world, about what Earth looks like from space, and about the magnitude of cosmic age and of infinite space, all terrestrial thoughts change. Your brain recalibrates life’s priorities and reassesses the actions one might take in response. No outlook on culture, society, or civilization remains untouched. In that state of mind, the world looks different. You are transported. You experience life through the lens of a cosmic perspective.

Differences in opinion enrich the diversity of a nation, and ought to be cherished and respected in any free society, provided everyone remains free to disagree with one another and, most importantly, everyone remains open to rational arguments that could change your mind. Sadly, the conduct of many in social media has devolved to the opposite of this. Their recipe: find an opinion they disagree with and unleash waves of anger and outrage because your views do not agree with theirs. Social, political, or legislative attempts to require that everybody agree with your personal truths are ultimately dictatorships.