Neil deGrasse Tyson: America is declining RAPIDLY

this was the future in 1988 right this is drawn in the 1950s in60s thinking about the uh 1960s thinking about the 1980s let's take a close look at what's going on in America I think we have fear of numbers for example okay here goes one maybe it's not fear maybe it's ignorance of numbers [Music] science illiteracy is rampant in our culture I I'm not telling I've changed my views 360 if you don't remember what 360° is it is that [Music] okay even our Congress the supposed Pinnacle of leadership and intellect often leaves much to be desired so when we see something as basic as a fear of numbers persisting it's hard not to feel a tad disappointed to say the least now I wonder maybe the Congress person did do that exactly maybe they're just trying to fool you maybe they're trying to make you think they changed their mind but they did not okay I'd have more respect for them lying with correct math okay [Applause] but I'm pretty sure he was telling the truth with math [Music] ignorance half the schools in the district are below average you know this that's kind of what an average sort of is right it really makes you think about how the worst case scenario for students suddenly became our average performance about half below that's kind of what not exactly maybe but pretty much so technically that would be what would that be the median technically but still what the journalist probably meant to say was half the schools are below standards or below grade level they said below average which meant they were mathematically illiterate if that were actually true something would be wrong with the state of mathematics but is mathematics actually wrong and outdated or that we failed to create a curriculum that would make kids smarter think about it in the time of our great philosophers they barely have any materials or past resources to learn about these things they've derived these laws and computation through everyday living now math as well as other subjects has become so detached from reality and everyday living that kids and even adults didn't feel like it's necessary to know about it here's one a little more subtle 80% of airplane crash survivors had studied the locations of the exit doors on takeoff so you say well I'm going to study where the exit doors are cuz I want to be in that 80% that's a good percentage to be in isn't it that's good it makes you wonder is it just a mere problem in the word play is it the lack of space in a broad sheet is it the inability of the writer to misunderstand the statistics presented is it a in the data collection because these are not isolated cases math mishaps happen quite often and often in places events and times where it shouldn't be in so but think about this wait what's what's so so think about so here here's here let me just pait a question to you suppose 100% of the people study the locations of the exit doors on takeoff you would never know because they're all right so so this statistic is basically meaningless to act upon that's all I'm saying I'm just saying this one you get this a lot the state lottery is a tax on the poor we've heard this cuz poor people spend a disproportionate fraction of their income on state lotteries does uh Washington have a state lottery everybody every state has so so so but really I don't think of it this way I think of it as the state lottery attacks and all those people who never did well in their math class that's how I think about it how about buildings you go into buildings 80% of all buildings are missing a 13th floor 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 I feel like going into all these elevators with a sharpie Crossing out the floor putting it and say that's the 13th floor you're not fooling anybody this is 21st century America we have people afraid of the number 13 what happens when you get to lobby and then you go to floors below the lobby what do they call them B for basement SB sub SBB can I buy a vowel please like what are you doing there we have perfectly good nomenclature for going below the lobby level we have they're called negative numbers okay we know how to do this it is well understood but of course this is America there is a place in the world that has negative numbers oh it's in Germany oh my gosh oh oh by the way is this a science museum no it's a history museum Germany that's a closer look in case you missed it okay Neil degrass Tyson doesn't stop at numeracy he asserts that Americans also suffer from widespread scientific misconceptions he uses examples of misunderstood physics principles like gravity and thermodynamics to illustrate this point there's also bad physics all right now this illustration requires an explanation this is an ad for holiday in now admittedly this is holiday in England rather than holiday in America but holiday in is an American company now this is an ad for what a new marketing plan where you can have what they're calling bed warmers pre-warm your bed for you before you go to sleep at night okay so now so the people on either side are the bed warmers now of course he's looking at her and not him just just interesting fact there [Music] but this is a thermodynamically pointless exercise because the only way you're going to get the body heat from those two people is if they are in your bed but for reasons of Sanitation they are not only fully clothed they are fully insulated if you're insulated your heat is not coming out it stays within all of your clothing so they are not heating the bed at all Whoever thought this up never took physics 101 if they did then these two people would be I got another one is there any Bayer uh the Bayer Corporation do they have plants out here no good okay this is an ad from Bayer where they are boasting that they send their scientists into the schools to help out so Bay employees volunteer in a Hands-On inquiry based program Making Science make sense to help kids develop a lasting passion for science you're on try to get them interested now first of all they've got a black kid and a woman like apparently these are the problem cases that you got to get interest in like how about the white kid with the tattoo just got off the motorcycle where's he okay but okay so these are the problem kids okay the woman and the black kid all right let's see what we're trying to get them interested in try to get them interested in why lighter Things Fall faster than heavier [Music] things that's a tough one huh it's tough because that doesn't happen in this [Music] universe yes they would finally fix the ad you're on try to get them interested in why lighter Things Fall as fast as heavier things that's the Galilean experiment but what's clear is that that previous ad was written by somebody nobody caught the error it was types set it was it was laid out it was printed it was no one caught the error nobody in the entire chain of command from the first person who composed it to the copy editor of the magazine ad so what's clear is that that whole chain of