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Recently, I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Neil Degrasse Tyson speak at Chattanooga State. He gave the Chattanooga community a cutting-edge update and the state of cosmic exploration, and more importantly, he addressed our nation’s perspective on science. This perspective was best summarized when a guest asked him during the Q/A what he thought the greatest single threat to the human race might be. This question followed upon his discussion of an asteroid’s possibleimpact with Earth, so “single threats” happened to be on our minds. Tyson’s response was singular and gripping. “Ignorance,” he said. Dr. Tyson certainly did not make this statement out of spite or conjecture; he based it upon statistical analysis of the number of peer-reviewed scientific articles coming out of the world’s leading nations over the past 10 years. What has happened during that time is a massive reduction in the volume of information produced by American scientists, while our counterparts in Western Europe, Asia and South America have dramatically increased the volume of scientific information they produce. If this trend continues, we may be left wondering if we have access to the proper information to serve as one of the leading engines of the world economy. On a positive note, Dr. Tyson noted that the vision promoted by this community seemed to embrace the importance of science and math in driving our regional economy, and he stated his hope that cities like ours could help to fight this looming “ignorance.” 

Every single seat (and standing spot) in the gymnasium was full, many of them with children, so let’s hope they all went home with a chip on their shoulder about the potential ignorance looming in their future. Dr. Tyson told us that scientific and mathematical discovery is one of only three things that we document in our history books; we should celebrate and continue our long history of claiming a place in those chapters.