I don't want people to say, 'Something is true because Tyson says it is true.' That's not critical thinking.
Interpretation
Critical thinking requires evaluating information independently rather than accepting it at face value.
Neil Degrasse Tyson emphasizes the importance of critical thinking in this quote. He asserts that truth should not be established based solely on authority figures or popular opinion, but rather through logical reasoning, evidence-based analysis, and intellectual inquiry. This statement advocates for individuals to think for themselves and to scrutinize claims rather than accept them blindly, which is essential for meaningful understanding and knowledge.
In practice
In a classroom discussion about the importance of critical thinking.
The problem is that many people operate on the assumption that NASA should go to Congress every year with hat in hand and justify it every year. Well, I see it as the greatest economic driver that there ever was. Economic drivers don't need justification.
The press still thinks [global warming] is controversial. So they find the 1% of the scientists and put them up as if they're 50% of the research results. You in the public would have no idea that this is basically a done deal and that we're on to other problems, because the journalists are trying to give it a 50/50 story. It's not a 50/50 story. It's not. Period.
As a scientist, I want to go to Mars and back to asteroids and the Moon because I'm a scientist. But I can tell you, I'm not so naive a scientist to think that the nation might not have geopolitical reasons for going into space.
In just one year, the expenditure of of the U.S.'s military budget is equivalent to the entire 50-year running budget of NASA combined.
One of my great laments is that education today seems to have... be less about passion and more about process, more about tactic or technique.
Lots of people think, well, we're humans; we're the most intelligent and accomplished species; we're in charge. Bacteria may have a different outlook: more bacteria live and work in one linear centimeter of your lower colon than all the humans who have ever lived. That's what's going on in your digestive tract right now. Are we in charge, or are we simply hosts for bacteria? It all depends on your outlook.
He who would search for pearls must dive below.
My definition of stupid is wasting your opportunity to be yourself because I think everybody has a uniqueness and everybody's good at something.
Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
It is often said that second thoughts are best. So they are in matters of judgment but not in matters of conscience.
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