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This fear factor, this war driver is a very strong one and it's been with the species ever since the beginning and it motivated the Great Wall of China. War can be aggressive or defensive, right? So it motivated the Great Wall of China. Our space program was reactive to Russia.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

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Neil deGrasse Tyson
Age: 66
Born: 1958
Born: October 5
Actor
Astronomer
Astrophysicist
Cosmologist
Non-Fiction Writer
Philosopher
Physicist
Science Communicator
Science Writer
Teacher
Trekkie
The Bronx
New York City
Neil Tyson
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Aggressive
Space
Factors
War
Russia
Reactive
Fear
China
Defensive
Strong
Species
Driver
Ever
Program
Factor
Right
Beginning
Drivers
Great
Wall
Motivated

More quotes by Neil deGrasse Tyson

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For all we know, the aliens have already done this and unwittingly concluded that there was no intelligent life on Earth. They would now be looking elsewhere. A more humbling possibility would be if aliens had become aware of the technologically proficient species that now inhabits Earth, yet they had drawn the same conclusion.
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I as an astrophysicist, see the universe, feel the universe, smell the universe every day. Every day. And for people to say, I'm cool, I'm right here, it's all I need.
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One of the reasons we're here, that we exist at all, is that Earth, cosmically speaking, is in a relatively peaceful place: orbiting our Sun in a near perfect circle.
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We are not simply in the universe, we are part of it. We are born from it. One might even say we have been empowered by the universe to figure itself out - and we have only just begun.
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I was born the same week NASA was founded, so we're the same age and feel some of the same pains, joys, and frustrations.
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In the New Testament, Thomas Jefferson cut out everything that was mystical, magical, miracle - physically with scissors - and then pasted in all that remained, such as Jesus's Sermon on the Mount.
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When we try to look farther into the universe we come to what appears to be the end of space but actually it's the beginning of time.
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It makes good sense to revere the sun and the stars ... because we are their children
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The theory of evolution, like the theory of gravity, is a scientific fact.
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It's quite literally true that we are star dust, in the highest exalted way one can use that phrase. ...I bask in the majesty of the cosmos. I use words, compose sentences that sound like the sentences I hear out of people that had revelation of Jesus, who go on their pilgrimages to Mecca.
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Once something is answered, then there's another question. Hence the eternal quest.
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With automatic spell checkers running unleashed over what we compose, our era is that of correctly spelled typos.
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Scientists are human. We have our blind spots and prejudices. Science is a mechanism designed to ferret them out. Problem is we aren't always faithful to the core values of science.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
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Rational thoughts never drive people's creativity the way emotions do.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
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I would rather enlighten the electorate so that when it's time for them to put somebody in Congress, it will be self-evident that they will embrace the message and tools and discovery of science in a way that can transform our culture and even our civilization.
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If the people of Comic-Con ruled the world...then tomorrow would be invented every day.
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I don't have an issue with what you do in the church, but I'm going to be up in your face if you're going to knock on my science classroom and tell me they've got to teach what you're teaching in your Sunday school. Because that's when we're going to fight.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
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When students cheat on exams, it's because our school system values grades more than students value learning.
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When I needed to overcome the low expectations of others or the bias that would be expressed in one circumstance or another, I'd keep on keeping on. And I climb over the obstacle, go around it, dig under it, fly over it. That's what kept me going. Otherwise I would have never been an astrophysicist.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
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I agree that we should go back to the moon and on to Mars. We should treat all objects in the solar system, including comets and asteroids, as exploration targets.
Neil deGrasse Tyson