All Evidence to the Contrary

Neil DeGrasse Tyson steers the Spaceship of the Mind in Cosmos.

«««½ Cosmos. Created by Ann Druyan & Steven Soter. Produced by Seth MacFarlane, et al. Directed by Brannon Braga. Sundays at 8pm on Fox and National Geographic Channel.

Appearing on The Colbert Report, astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked what would surprise Carl Sagan—the creator/presenter of the 1980 TV series Cosmos—the most about developments since that landmark show. Tyson replied: "I think that what would surprise him the most is that we still have to argue that science is something important in society."

          By "something important in society", Tyson surely means more than that kids should learn physics and biology in schools—a proposition virtually everyone accepts. Rather, he means that science should be taken as an essential tool for making public policy, even when its findings are fiscally inconvenient or make us uncomfortable. In this, Tyson is talking to the 46% of Americans who are "young Earth creationists", and the 51% of Americans don't take global climate change as a serious threat (figures from Gallup). Indeed, he's presumably challenging a good part of the typical audience for Fox, the network broadcasting Tyson's rebooted Cosmos, Sunday nights at 8pm.

          Sagan may well have been, as Tyson claims, the greatest communicator about science of the 20^th century (pace Bill Nye…). But since his death in 1996 Sagan's legacy in America is in deep trouble. Contrary to his narrative of human progress through the application of reason, the story in his native country is increasingly one of spurning scientific evidence. Sagan the astronomer was instrumental in diagnosing the runaway greenhouse effect on our closest planetary neighbor, Venus—but persistent, under-informed skepticism has paralyzed action on climate change here on Earth. Vaccination has all but ended diseases like polio around the world, but the pseudo-science behind the anti-vaxxer movement has led to fresh outbreaks of measles and whooping cough. And despite couple of centuries of progress in the sciences of geology and evolutionary biology, you can talk like  Georgia Congressman Paul Broun ("All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell…") and still sit the House Committee on Science and Technology.  

          There are no shortage of places to point the finger of blame. Starting before the original Cosmos aired, elements of the GOP were aggressively escorting religious conservatives---along with their energy, votes, and money—into the political mainstream in a way unprecedented in Sagan's lifetime. The internet compounded the problem by giving formerly isolated troglodytes on the lunatic fringe an easy way to network and mobilize. Meanwhile, in academia, resistance to science denialism has been undercut by developments in the philosophy of knowledge that place modern science on the same level of ontological reality as, say, a Hopi origin story, a Greek myth, or the Book of Genesis. Notwithstanding cosmic red-shifts and uranium-isotope dating, science is presented as just another story among others, no more worthy of special authority. It's an error with consequences far beyond the seminar room, as fundamentalists claim equal time for "their" science, Biblical "science", in classrooms.

          These are troubled waters indeed. And truth be told, if he'd lived longer, it's not clear Sagan would be as effective a communicator in the current environment. Where some found his manner inspiring, it struck others as arch, and somewhat imperious. In the post-Internet age, where everyone with a keyboard and a wi-fi connection believes his opinion is just as valid as anyone else's, ivory-tower experts like Sagan have not fared well.

          As a presenter, the avuncular Tyson is more in tune with the times. And through the first two episodes of his new, thirteen-part Cosmos, he is indeed pleasant company as he escorts viewers through 13.8 billion years of universal history (cutest moment so far: he dons his Wayfarers to view the Big Bang). Unlike Sagan or outspoken atheists like Richard Dawkins, Tyson's likability buys him the goodwill to sharpen his rhetoric, such as when he excoriates the Catholic Church for the execution of 16^th century prophetic monk Giordano Bruno. "Science is true whether you believe it or not," he declares, much to the irritation of both religious fundamentalists in the pulpits and epistemological relativists in academe.

          Still, it will be interesting to see how aggressively Tyson and director-writer Ann Druyan take this unique opportunity to speak up in prime time for evidence-based rationality. In America, it may be a matter of make-or-break in the struggle against aggressive ignorance.

          In countries like China and India, by contrast, few see the relationship between science and faith as a zero-sum game. Sooner or later, humans will reach another planet in a real spaceship, not just in Sagan's "Spaceship of the Mind". The only question is what language their first words will be in when they step out on the surface.

© 2014 Nicholas Nicastro