Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about charlatans sounds strikingly familiar... (2:25, transcript in the comments)

Posted Sep 25, 2017, 11:11 AM UTC

273
majorgnuisanceOP•

Transcript, adapted from the YouTube subtitles:

Suppose we physicists didn't tell anyone how and why the laws of physics work.
We just performed them and we said it's because we have powers.

If we did that, we would be running the world.
People would be genuflecting as they walk by us.
People would be bringing us chickens from their farms.
People would be begging that we don't incinerate them with our antimatter device.

The fact is the people who are doing the research into magnetism, electromagnetism, more broadly... they tended to be educators, academicians, not charlatans.
And so only if you're a charlatan will you not tell someone how something works, pretend you have the power and then you have the power over that person.

That is diabolical so it is incumbent upon the educated educators class, if you can call it that, to say exactly what it is we're doing and why and then it's not mysterious.

You could do it too.
You could be a physicist.
You could probe the operations of nature as we do.

I have powers and you don't, but I explain them and therefore you don't come running to me thinking I'm your your demigod for having these powers.
You say "what book did you learn this out of I want to be able to do that too."

So yeah that we could have been magicians or charlatans.
That's an education issue right there and rather than beat adults over the head because it's not their fault they weren't educated or wasn't exposed or whatever, I think we just have to rethink K through 12 and what is taught - what science is how, and why it works.

For me, science is vaccine against charlatans.
It enables you to know when someone is full of shit and when they're not.

And that's power.
It's power of protection for yourself so you will not be exploited by those who do not have your best interests in mind.

13
LordSandwhich•

That is funny. For the last few years I had been using an analogy that essentially goes - Isacc Newton invents a magic box that calculates gravity but you aren't allowed to see how it works. You just have to trust it. Thus the theory of gravity is set aside as no one with scruples is willing to use it based on faith alone.

3
maxmurder•

Alternatively, Issac Nowton publishes his gravity box under a foss license. You can see exactly how it works and can modify it to suit your needs. Thus, the theory of gravity is set aside as no one with an MBA is willing to use it based on faith alone; All while grumbling nonsense about lack of overpriced commercial support, inane marketing cold-calls or some new form of sexually-transmitted zombie license virus.

3