Neil deGrasse Tyson reboots Carl Sagan's "Cosmos"

[mmntech]

Just like to point out this kind of science is literally unknown to many many Americans. Moreover this is about communicating science and knowledge to the masses so it makes sense to keep some aspects simple, especially on the introductory episode.

This. One of America's biggest problems today is scientific illiteracy in the general populous, and it's bad. A recent poll found that 1 in 4 think the Sun revolves around the Earth, and that half don't believe in evolution.
http://time.com/7809/1-in-4-americans-thinks-sun-orbits-earth/

Now that's a small 'n' study but I think it's strongly supported by plenty of recent decisions. Remember that these people vote, and they vote for people who believe the same things they do.

So when you host a mainstream science program like this one, you have to assume that the people watching know nothing about the subject matter and may not even have an interest in it. So you do have to dumb it down and make it flashy to grab their attention.

 

[TraumaRN]

I am a goddamn militant nontheist and the apparent usage of the majority of this first episode as condemnation of the Catholic church is still making me angry. This is not supposed to be the point, you fucking assclowns.

Why does it make you angry? I thought that part was great showing the dangers of fundamentalist religion. Which is STILL a danger.

The description of the Catholic inquisition as thought police is not at all incorrect either.

Moreover, if that part got you riled up just wait...next week is on evolution, natural selection origins etc.

 

[dbk]

Definitely enjoyed that.. Curious to see what Fox News will say

 

[Ichinisan]

I am a goddamn militant nontheist and the apparent usage of the majority of this first episode as condemnation of the Catholic church is still making me angry. This is not supposed to be the point, you fucking assclowns.

It was obvious to me that thet had to address this first to point out the dangers of scientific ignorance. I'm sure that story alone will convince many people to keep watching. People who otherwise would have stopped watching as soon as they heard "millions of years" (or "billions," or "trillions," ...).

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I'm 15 minutes into it and so far I approve

 

[Printer Bandit]

 

[gophertron]

Overall I'd say I was a "meh" on the first episode. I get that it needs to appeal to a wide audience, but it reminded me a lot of the Planet Earth series - big on visuals, minimal on substance. We'll see how it goes through the next few episodes. Also, NDT does not bring the same sense of joy / wonder at exploration that Carl Sagan did. I didn't expect him to, his personality always seems a bit more gruff.

 

[zinfamous]

Spoiler alert!

Spoiler

We are made of star stuff

 

[bguile]

It was decent. Only complaint was it was a bit heavy on Bruno.

 

[gophertron]

Spoiler alert!

Spoiler

We are made of star stuff

It came out as "stuffff fffff" to my ear.

 

[ViRGE]

Well that was really good. It met my expectations and then some.

I am a goddamn militant nontheist and the apparent usage of the majority of this first episode as condemnation of the Catholic church is still making me angry. This is not supposed to be the point, you fucking assclowns.

This is just my $0.02, but that's not a condemnation of the Catholic Church. It's an accurate recounting of what happened over 400 years ago; not a statement on the modern Church.

 

[nurturedhate]

I am a goddamn militant nontheist and the apparent usage of the majority of this first episode as condemnation of the Catholic church is still making me angry. This is not supposed to be the point, you fucking assclowns.

rather accurate account of history = condemnation of the Catholic church

If that is the way you view it your anger may very well be misplaced.

 

[blankslate]

As other people have mentioned the first episode while interesting visually, the facts that it conveyed were basic and anyone with average knowledge (outside of the U.S.) of science is familiar with most of the ideas presented.

However, for one reason or another Americans are generally behind the citizens other first world westernized in general science knowledge.

As for the host... well, after having watched the first series on old VHS tapes I have to admit that Carl Sagan is probably almost irreplaceable as a scientific spokesman for the average American and the series was produced at a time when Americans had a better regard for science in general.

Carl Sagan died too early imho. Perhaps if he lived a decade or so longer there wouldn't be as much an anti-science attitude as there seems to be in some segments of the population as there is today.

As for the story about that poor Italian scholar burned at the stake, unfortunately it's there to try and convey the idea that believing in science doesn't necessarily have to mean denying the existence of God or a higher power. It's unfortunate that they felt such an effort had to be made in the episode.



TLDR: Unfortunately the poor (by comparison to other first world westernized countries) state of general science knowledge of the average American meant that the first episode of Cosmos conveyed very basic knowledge.

It's also too bad they felt the need to try and convey with the story of the Italian burned at the stake that a person can believe in God and accept science.

Carl Sagan was perhaps the best science spokesman to the general populace about scientific ideas and anyone else narrating a Cosmos remake would probably suffer by comparison. He died too early.

I am hopeful that subsequent episodes will go into more detail that the first episode.



.........

 

[BoomerD]

I wasn't that impressed. It seemed to be more "Look what we can do with CGI!" than about the science they were trying to teach.
MAYBE that's to be expected with a cartoonist as the executive producer...

In all, tonight's episode was pretty boring to me. (and I fucking LOVE this kind of show)

 

[pyonir]

It was okay, I'll continue watching it. I wasn't a fan of the whole "spaceship" thing and the cartoon used for Bruno. While I didn't really expect the content to be in depth, I thought those two things made it more "for children" than anything. *shrug*

It isn't a big deal though...not big enough to make me avoid the next few episodes at least.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I still haven't gotten to see it yet, anyone know about streaming availability yet?

I wasn't that impressed. It seemed to be more "Look what we can do with CGI!" than about the science they were trying to teach.
MAYBE that's to be expected with a cartoonist as the executive producer...

In all, tonight's episode was pretty boring to me. (and I fucking LOVE this kind of show)

This show is intended to appeal to a wide audience including (I'd guess especially) the hyper visual younger generations.

Honestly, for a lot of people that have been keeping up with science much for the past couple of decades, I doubt you'll find much of anything on this show that will actually impress you too much, its more about enjoying the spectacle of what science can offer (which yes means some slick visualizations) and that there might be some spark of enlightenment for people that otherwise have not been exposed to this content.

Sorry, I don't want to come off as a dick. I think you just need to recalibrate your expectations of what this show will offer.

 

[norseamd]

This. One of America's biggest problems today is scientific illiteracy in the general populous, and it's bad. A recent poll found that 1 in 4 think the Sun revolves around the Earth, and that half don't believe in evolution.

doubt that. they are likely indoctrinating themselves.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Spoke to soon, its up on Hulu now: http://www.hulu.com/search?q=Cosmos:+A+Spacetime+Odyssey

Or a direct link to this episode: http://www.hulu.com/watch/604551

It was okay, I'll continue watching it. I wasn't a fan of the whole "spaceship" thing and the cartoon used for Bruno. While I didn't really expect the content to be in depth, I thought those two things made it more "for children" than anything. *shrug*

It isn't a big deal though...not big enough to make me avoid the next few episodes at least.

The spaceship is an homage to the original (sorry to be presumptuous, I'm just assuming you might not remember that from the original?). I thought that was kinda silly in the original as well, but it actually is a functional tool for teaching this and yes is aimed at certain viewers. Likewise I assume the animation was as well.

 

[norseamd]

Overall I'd say I was a "meh" on the first episode. I get that it needs to appeal to a wide audience, but it reminded me a lot of the Planet Earth series - big on visuals, minimal on substance. We'll see how it goes through the next few episodes. Also, NDT does not bring the same sense of joy / wonder at exploration that Carl Sagan did. I didn't expect him to, his personality always seems a bit more gruff.

recommend some good nature documentaries

more points if narrated by david attenborough

 

[Printer Bandit]

Mainstream science is dumbed down. I wish someone would have the balls to talk about black project stuff which is hundreds of years more advanced.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Mainstream science is dumbed down. I wish someone would have the balls to talk about black project stuff which is hundreds of years more advanced.

Like what? I honestly don't think anything is "hundreds of years more advanced" that isn't straight science fiction so talking about it scientifically speaking would be more Ancient Aliens than anything resembling fact.

 

[xanis]

I thought it was decent; it was refreshing to see something mentally stimulating instead of another shitty reality show or police drama. I'll be trying to watch the future episodes.

 

[cyclohexane]

Mainstream science is dumbed down. I wish someone would have the balls to talk about black project stuff which is hundreds of years more advanced.

I wish they'd talk about blue project stuff that is millions of years more advanced.

 

[Retro Rob]

This. One of America's biggest problems today is scientific illiteracy in the general populous, and it's bad. A recent poll found that 1 in 4 think the Sun revolves around the Earth, and that half don't believe in evolution.
http://time.com/7809/1-in-4-americans-thinks-sun-orbits-earth/

Now that's a small 'n' study but I think it's strongly supported by plenty of recent decisions. Remember that these people vote, and they vote for people who believe the same things they do.

Well, thanks for proving my next point. I think people are lying when they answer the question of whether or not they believe in evolution because its akin to asking what political party one belongs to. A person living in a deeply conservative community will probably deny acceptance of evolution (even if he fully accept it) because of the social baggage that could affect his livelihood, and one accepting creation is opening himself to extreme ridicule in a more secular, democratic community.

How are you help proving my point? By casting doubt and suspicion onto voters simply because they hold different views than you do, and I personally think its a shame that although having a diverse population in the US full of all sorts of people, we still have exclusivist's attitudes.

Remove the social stigmas and we'd have a lot more honest in these polls.

 

[Fritzo]

Caught the first episode. WAY too fast paced. They should have picked one subject and stuck with it. I watched it with my daughter and she was completely lost by the time the calendar thing came around.

Most people don't understand that light travelling from objects will show that object as it was when the light first left it. You never see anything in real time...you're always looking into the past. They could have did a whole show on that first to get people up to speed on what coming later.