Neil deGrasse Tyson: If I Were President...
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Neil deGrasse Tyson: If I Were President...
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Re: Neil deGrasse Tyson: If I Were President...
#2* As a scientist and educator, my goal, then, is not to become President and lead a dysfunctional electorate, but to enlighten the electorate so they might choose the right leaders in the first place.*
I think it is easy to do this at the local and state level. These populations are small enough that variations in general political leaning are small (e.g. Californians are a more unified electorate than the US as a whole). It is also easier because some polarizing issues are out of states' hands (e.g. defense spending, immigration, abortion). It is harder to get a whole country to agree on one leader
Re: Neil deGrasse Tyson: If I Were President...
#3* As a scientist and educator, my goal, then, is not to become President and lead a dysfunctional electorate, but to enlighten the electorate so they might choose the right leaders in the first place.* I think it is easy to do this at the local and state level. These populations are small enough that variations in general political leaning are small (e.g. Californians are a more unified electorate than the US as a wh…
> It is harder to get a whole country to agree on one leader
The point isn't for the whole country to agree. The point is to raise the lowest common denominator, so to speak.
Re: Neil deGrasse Tyson: If I Were President...
#4> As a scientist and educator, my goal, then, is not to become President and lead a dysfunctional electorate, but to enlighten the electorate so they might choose the right leaders in the first place.
This reeks of extreme arrogance. A type very common in academia. The presumption that the masses are ignorant, while you, anointed and blessed, are simply brilliant.
No.
If you get off your high-horse and actually talk to them, you'll find that they are just as brilliant as you, in their own ways.
Our problems don't stem from the majority wallowing in ignorance. They are not ignorant. Our problems stem from divergent interests. What is in the interest of one, is not in the interest of his neighbor. The path to a healthier nation is in finding creative ways in resolving those conflicts of interest.
Re: Neil deGrasse Tyson: If I Were President...
#5"One objective reality is that our government doesn’t work, not because we have dysfunctional politicians, but because we have dysfunctional voters."
We have a dysfunctional political system that provides voters with leaders who are compromised. Who then pander, rabble-rouse, and pick narrow issues to speak loudly about to raise money. Who then lose our trust and respect, corrupting the institution. Voters are not too "dysfunctional" or ill-informed to make reasonable decisions. Approval of the US Congress was at %10 in August, the lowest in 38 years. The electorate isn't smiling through the failures of government.
The People are not the problem. I think Tyson would have answered different after a few hours with Lessig. Blaming governement's failures on a ill-informed electorate is second-rate at best.
Re: Neil deGrasse Tyson: If I Were President...
#6* As a scientist and educator, my goal, then, is not to become President and lead a dysfunctional electorate, but to enlighten the electorate so they might choose the right leaders in the first place.* I think it is easy to do this at the local and state level. These populations are small enough that variations in general political leaning are small (e.g. Californians are a more unified electorate than the US as a wh…
The Long Now Foundation hosted a talk by Benjamin Barber called “If Mayors Ruled the World”. Barber discusses the major influence that mayors and city governments have to make positive change to global problems, sidestepping political gridlock at the national or international level.
Notes and audio (and non-free video) are available here:
http://longnow.org/seminars/02012/jun/05/if-mayors-ruled-wor...
Re: Neil deGrasse Tyson: If I Were President...
#7* As a scientist and educator, my goal, then, is not to become President and lead a dysfunctional electorate, but to enlighten the electorate so they might choose the right leaders in the first place.* I think it is easy to do this at the local and state level. These populations are small enough that variations in general political leaning are small (e.g. Californians are a more unified electorate than the US as a wh…
This old comment from rayiner felt very relevant: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4658565
Re: Neil deGrasse Tyson: If I Were President...
#8> As a scientist and educator, my goal, then, is not to become President and lead a dysfunctional electorate, but to enlighten the electorate so they might choose the right leaders in the first place. This reeks of extreme arrogance. A type very common in academia. The presumption that the masses are ignorant, while you, anointed and blessed, are simply brilliant. No. If you get off your high-horse and actually talk…
Everybody has a prejudice or two without adequate basis in reality. Most people don't realize that they have prejudices. Of those who do, most don't bother to do test them further than inspecting a few cases of confirmation bias.
It's not the ignorance or the intelligence of the American populace that upsets me. It's the inability to imagine that they might be wrong.
Re: Neil deGrasse Tyson: If I Were President...
#9I'd vote for him, if only to increase basic research stock and funding. I'm not sure his social and foreign policies would be apt, however, given his academic veneer he takes to the written-about issue.
Re: Neil deGrasse Tyson: If I Were President...
#10> As a scientist and educator, my goal, then, is not to become President and lead a dysfunctional electorate, but to enlighten the electorate so they might choose the right leaders in the first place. This reeks of extreme arrogance. A type very common in academia. The presumption that the masses are ignorant, while you, anointed and blessed, are simply brilliant. No. If you get off your high-horse and actually talk…
> The path to a healthier nation is in finding creative ways in resolving those conflicts of interest.
That's the entire purpose of government and has been since the dawn of time. Even authoritarianism is a "creative way [to] resolve those conflicts of interest".