

Neil deGrasse Tyson AMA #2 - Mithrandir
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/ngd5e/i_am_neil_degrasse_tyson_ama/

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fragsworth
I found his AMAs to be the two most interesting things I've ever read on
reddit, I think. It's as if the whole community collectively attempts to
behave just so they don't fuck it up. The memes are kept to a minimum, etc.

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kloncks
For an incredibly candid interview done by out-of-character Stephen Colbert,
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXh9RQCvxmg>

It's extremely worth it and mentions a lot of the same points he makes in the
two AMAs.

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theshadow
Reddit is really a horrible medium to do an AMA. Just trying to read through
that thread is incredibly inefficient and annoying. I wish better alternatives
like AnyAsq would catch on.

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fragsworth
Do you have any better ideas? No other popular venue has the same kind of
community upvote/downvote system to automatically filter out the "best"
questions.

I mean it could be HN, but the system and UI have similar usability, right?

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suprgeek
[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/ngd5e/i_am_neil_degras...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/ngd5e/i_am_neil_degrasse_tyson_ama/c38v8xs)

Impact of finding Higgs at LHC NDG: _To discover something you expect to be
there does almost nothing to advance physics._

This is exactly what I have been saying: finding something that we know is
there and likely to fill in the last missing piece does almost nothing to
advance physics. <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3343661>

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amichail
I think it's wrong to encourage students to major in science.

People should think for themselves and pursue whatever career interests them
most.

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snarkyturtle
The word 'encourage' is key here. They're still free to go into retail, office
or plumbing (and those fields are fine) but if they're not exposed to science
and its way of thinking they won't be inclined to take it up.

One of his main points in his two AMAs is that children are born curious but
if they don't get taught how to be scientifically literate they won't pursue
science and waste their potential. Thus we should encourage students to pursue
science from an early age so that we have more and more people who didn't get
put off of all the memorization and boring math.

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amichail
Are students receiving equal encouragement to become game designers?

Game design is a lot more rewarding than scientific research.

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jamesbkel
>Game design is a lot more rewarding than scientific research.

Doesn't this directly contradict you first comment?

>People should think for themselves and pursue whatever career interests them
most.

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amichail
Not really.

Ideally, people should think for themselves without enouragement.

But if you are going to allow encouragement in science, then should also allow
equal encouragement in other fields.

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NegativeK
There are certain skills that are considered to be necessary over others.
Literacy is a good example. Math is another.

There are other skills that might have less of an impact than literacy, but
have a direct impact on society and the quality of life for everyone. History
and science are good examples here. History because being knowledgeable about
the politics of yesterday helps in framing political decisions today. Science
because our lives have been affected by (and improved by) science for the past
few hundred years.

Having a populous that's informed about the benefits of science and technology
and how they affect all of our lives should help everyone make better
decisions regarding the two -- from a mom who mixes ammonia and bleach to
clean her floor to the congressman who brushed off Vint Cerf's testimony
during the SOPA hearing with a comment about nerds.

So, while we should encourage people to follow their passions and explore
interesting topics, I'm comfortable saying that we should encourage certain
things like math, reading, science, and history over game design, running a
business, or basket weaving.

