Speaking as just simply an American who cares about the economic health of our country, I see one of the surest ways to bring wealth and prosperity to the country is to innovate in science and technology.
Neil deGrasse TysonJust to settle it once and for all: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The egg, laid by a bird that was not a chicken.
Neil deGrasse TysonWhen you advance a frontier and you do tomorrow what's never been done today, you have to innovate to make that happen. You become an innovation culture. When I grew up, every time I turned around it was, "Oh, here's the longest bridge or the deepest tunnel or the fastest airplane." And I originally thought that was just kind of like a pissing contest with men with too much testosterone. And then I realized that to make the tallest building you have to innovate. To make the fastest train you have to design the train in a way that it's never been designed before.
Neil deGrasse TysonIt seems that we're better at finding someone to blame for our problems than we are at finding creative solutions to fix them.
Neil deGrasse TysonThere is a theorem that colloquially translates, You cannot comb the hair on a bowling ball. ... Clearly, none of these mathematicians had Afros, because to comb an Afro is to pick it straight away from the scalp. If bowling balls had Afros, then yes, they could be combed without violation of mathematical theorems.
Neil deGrasse Tyson