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We Stopped Dreaming 1
Neil De Grasse Tyson Lyrics
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The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
@nexioseptimus5099
"NASA got founded on the fear factor of Sputnik"
People need to remember this history. Too many think that NASA was founded because we had The Right Stuff and were uncontrollably awesome; that we did these things, as JFK said, not because they were easy, but because they were hard.
But the reality is that while we were kicking back congratulating ourselves after WWII, and putting some of the Smart Germans we had acquired as a result of that war to work building The Bomb, Russia had taken the Smart Germans they had acquired and told them to instruct a new generation of Smart Russians. And when those Russians put Sputnik in orbit, we were terrified: were they spying on us? Preparing to drop the bomb on us? (They were doing neither of those things with Sputnik; they were just exploring the newest final frontier.) Eisenhower created NASA on the spot, but we were unprepared in the skills we needed to create the future... we lacked the Smart Americans needed to counter the Smart Russians.
But a few years later the Russians put Yuri Gagarin in space, and (after we changed out of our freshly-soiled shorts) even JFK - a staunch opponent of 'wasteful' space programs - decided we needed to do the only thing the Russians hadn't done yet, and put someone on the moon. There was a lot of flag-waving and a surge of national pride, but the real reason we went to the moon was not simply that we were awesome, but that it would be a propaganda coup in the Cold War.
One thing this new commitment to going to space resulted in was a change in our education system. People who started school in the 60s probably recall - likely with a PTSD-induced tremor - learning 'New Math', a grade-school curriculum of set theory, modular math, matrix math, Boolean logic, and non-base-10 math, modeled after the college-level math the Smart Germans were teaching in their effort to make the kind of Smart Russians who could, e.g. put Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in orbit.
The other result was that people who were slightly older, who had already finished grade-school, and who had an interest in science but were not yet old enough and cynical enough to see JFK's speech for the propaganda it was, heard the call and stepped up to the plate to become the scientists and engineers and, eventually, astronauts that we would need in our glorious new space-faring future. Those people got their university degrees in aeronautics and math and electrical/mechanical/chemical engineering, then showed up to build the space program that would take us to the stars at the exact moment that our politicians turned into bureaucrats and the Cold War died down.
If our space-faring efforts had been based on how intelligent, dedicated, and awesome these people were, we would have colonized Mars by now. But those efforts were actually driven by propaganda and fear, without which we had nothing. Once we were more afraid of stock market crashes than we were of the Russians, nobody cared about space anymore. And the Smart Americans, the people who had heard the call and done the work to become the builders of the future, realized that the dream that had inspired them was just a dream. Most of them have been lurching around in a fugue state ever since... Robert Zubrin, the co-creator of Mars Direct and the creator (and President) of the Mars Society, is basically the poster child for these people, who discovered too late that the focus and idealism that JFK demanded were no longer needed, and had never really been about getting us to the stars. Our goal as a nation was never to go that high; all we really wanted was to get higher than the Russians, so we could resume kicking back and congratulating ourselves on how awesome we were.
@tohrazul
Well said.
I would add that when we had reached the peak of the mountain, and saw that no one else was standing with us, let alone trying to climb to higher peaks, we stopped trying to go higher. We also became content in our position, and lazy, which brought disaster. I was a kid in elementary school when the Challenger blew up, and that seemed to put a fear in us. Space exploration is dangerous, and we had forgotten that fact. Some years later, the Columbia was destroyed upon re-entry, again, reminding us that complacency in our position atop the mountain could lead to disaster. The result is that we stopped our manned space program just a few years later. I think this will be incredibly disastrous, assuming someone else doesn't try to reach a higher peak.
We need heroes. Probably no one can name a single satellite that launched into space last year, but everyone knows Sputnik. Name the 50th person to go to space. We can't do it. But Yuri Gagarin, we all know he was first. Very few people know the name of the 7th person to step on the moon, but all over the world, people know the name Neil Armstrong.
Who will be first to step foot on Mars? Will we find life on Titan or Europa? these are the questions we should be asking. These are the goals we should be striving for, racing for. If we stay content to sit here, on Earth, we are doomed. Our future, if any can exist, exists among the stars.
For we are the music-makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.
@tohrazul
I think it depends on what exactly China shows they are capable of.
IIRC they are planning on moon landers, capable of bringing back samples, a permanent space station in orbit, a Mars rover, and eventually in another 30-40 years (give or take) a possible manned mission to Mars. I believe they became the third nation to put a human into space in just 2003.
Most of this is the sort of thing where we would simply welcome them atop the mountain with us. As for a manned mission to Mars (in another 30-40 years, maybe), that isn't the sort of thing that would make us jump up and start a manned program to Mars in the next couple of years.
I also seem to recall Dr. Tyson saying if we really, really wanted to, we could have a man on Mars within 5 years, maybe less (I don't seem to remember exactly where I heard him say it. Probably one of the many podcasts he has been on.).
So, in a hypothetical scenario where China shows that they are capable of keeping an astronaut alive in space for extended periods of time, and if they show that they have developed sufficient rocket technology that proves reliable enough to get someone to Mars and back, and if they show or say that this is a goal they are going to achieve by some set time in the future (let's say 2030), and IF we have a President who leads the nation in a similar manner that Kennedy did, basically saying something akin to, "We need to flex our muscle and show the world that we are still the leaders of space exploration." then yes, we might be spurred on by a sense of nationalism that would lead us to be the first to Mars.
However, China has a long way to go before they are ready for that type of mission. Without someone else trying to beat us to the finish line, we seem content to hang out and wait.
@StarTalk
Don't stop dreaming - keep looking up!
@ZL1379
StarTalk omg love you guys
@tepoztlitlacatl634
I always will and so will my future children with your help.
@RCHomemadeHobbies
Thank you! I’m 17 and rewatched every Saturn V and Apollo mission Over 1000 Times!
@malcolmcanning9553
@@RCHomemadeHobbies no good trying to tell you 8inches over a mile squared. Buzz and woody.is real too
@robomop9711
Still am after all these years.
@Tallacus
I wish there were more people like Neil deGrasse Tyson
@choogheem
+Tallacus There are, unfortunately they/we are not in charge.
@Tallacus
Christian Hoogheem the sad truth
@IrvHodgenstone
+Christian Hoogheem Then get in charge. Part of our problem is the apathy of those who do know better. The apathy of those who are more fit to stand up and take charge.