Here's Neil DeGrasse Tyson On Space Aliens To Make Your Monday All Better (Video)
Neil deGrasse Tyson is our favorite science dude -- on the teevee, at least, because Oliver Sacks mostly sticks to books -- and here is a video of 23 minutes of Tyson Being Tyson, explaining the problem with UFOs: once you've got that "Unidentified" part taken care of, that's where you should just stop. It doesn't follow that it's a spaceship from another planet (or dimension or timeline...). The fun, of course, is in the explanation: Forget Roswell, says Tyson, because
If an alien came across the galaxy and couldn’t land the damn spaceship, then I don’t want to meet the damn aliens. They’re stupid aliens. Don’t tell me you came across the galaxy and can’t land on earth. Go home!
Once they land in Times Square (or maybe show us what REALLY happened in Benghazi), then we'll talk.
Another nice line: we shouldn't talk about "optical illusions." We should call them "brain failures," because when it comes right down to it, humans are "poor data-taking devices." In other snippets from various appearances, he takes on faith-based arguments against the Big Bang and evolution -- it shouldn't be surprising, with all the carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen in the universe, that life is made out of the stuff. You want to feel special? "If life on Earth were made of an isotope of bismuth. That stuff is nowhere in the cosmos, and if we were made of it, we're special."
The vid is the first in what looks like it will be a series of Tyson videos (hey, if they're calling it "Part 1," that's LEGALLY BINDING) from the Agnostic Atheist Anti-Theist (Agatan) Foundation, which already hosts a lot of skeptical videos featuring troublemakers like Tyson, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and the late Christopher Hitchens. Watch. Enjoy. But don't go talking about your MENSA membership, or we'll chuck you right out. We clear on that?
[RawStory]
Doktor Zoom's real name is Marty Kelley, and he lives in the wilds of Boise, Idaho. He is not a medical doctor, but does have a real PhD in Rhetoric. You should definitely donate some money to this little mommyblog where he has finally found acceptance and cat pictures. He is on maternity leave until 2033. Here is his Twitter, also. His quest to avoid prolixity is not going so great.
