Neil deGrasse Tyson: Do THIS Every Morning To Find Happiness & Meaning In Your Life!

We just spent a half hour talking about this, and I hardly ever talk about it.

Why is that wrong?

I didn't say it was wrong.

Okay. I'm in.

Neil deGrasse Tyson.

World-renowned astrophysicist turned TV host. He's the man with the answers to the toughest questions on the planet.

And of course, bestselling author. In the last 50 years, we've increased life expectancy 20 years. There will be a time where homo sapiens have achieved escape velocity from death. That generation will never die unless you're hit by a bus. That brings to you the question, if you could live forever, would you? How different the world would be.

What are the things that you are most concerned about with the direction of travel of the human race?

A lot of things. (laughs) So there's some delusional force operating on people's understanding of the world in which they live. If you post an opinion on anything, it gets attacked. Did you see what happened with Neil deGrasse Tyson? He tweeted something that many people took great offense to. Part of what it is to be a scientist is figure out all the ways you could bias yourself and remove them as far as possible. Don't let it interfere with objective truths.

But what's the personal toll on you?

I don't know why he tweeted that. Stupid and awful. He's just a weird Twitter lunatic. Is it... How long can I keep talking about...

Before this episode starts, I have a small favor to ask from you. Two months ago, 74% of people that watched this channel didn't subscribe. We're now down to 69%. My goal is 50%. So if you've ever liked any of the videos we've posted, if you like this channel, can you do me a quick favor and hit the subscribe button? It helps this channel more than you know, and the bigger the channel gets, as you've seen, the bigger the guests get. Thank you and enjoy this episode. Neil, I have always believed that to fully understand a person, you have to understand their origin story. Maybe that's a, a similar sort of analogy for the universe. So, the place I wanted to start with you is by understanding the most important context from your earliest years that are responsible for the person that is sat in front of me today.

Wow, this is very Marvel Comics of you, like, what's the origin story of Superman, Batman, Spider-Man? Uh, your, your question is very well placed because everyone has been touched by some series of events. Unfortunately, some, for some people, traumatic events, but for all people, some series of events that shaped who they are. And I'd like to say that there was a series of events that planted the seeds of who I would become, but I, I wouldn't say that they were responsible. I mean, it requires a lot of continual investment of time, energy, and focus to shape a career rather than say, "Oh, it happened then, and I've just been coasting ever since." No, that's not how that works. So I, I grew up in the Bronx, and in New York City, surely as is true in London, you don't have a relationship with the night sky. In a busy city, you, at least in, certainly in New York City, there are tall buildings. If you look up to see the sky, there's a building in the way. There's light pollution. There's... And back then, there was air pollution. So since no one has a relationship with, with the night sky, then one can ask, what is your access to it? Of course it's our local planetarium, the Hayden Planetarium. And I w-... My family, my parents, my brother and sister, there was a tactical, strategic thing my parents did. I, I didn't know it at the time, but every weekend or every other weekend, we went places. We were exposed to all manner of things that talented adults do beyond just the doctor, lawyer, you know, engineer, beyond those standard professions. So first it was entertaining, but it also meant we had exposure to other ways of thinking about what you might do with your life. One of those trips, when I was nine years old, was to the Hayden Planetarium. And I was starstruck.