well brother Neil loving it so
accidentally this episode was introduced
as the first episode but that's the
third episode right third episode in
fact right now you were missing the
first episode at home yeah that's it
they're all recording it am i right yep
mm-hmm
sure so for those of you is there
anybody here who's not familiar with the
cosmos series so you take them out so
just briefly Neil would tell everybody
about two things the habitable zone
which by episode is getting right in
which by Episode three you guys throw
around the phrase habitable zone like
it's day at the office
so think of Goldilocks all right
the porridge was too cold or too hot and
then one of them was just right and the
bed was too soft and was there a wolf
not in that one yeah bears bears yeah
yeah and they spoke very well get your
mammals straight yeah and I'm pretty
sure the bears came home and ate
Goldilocks
in the original version but
understandable really great if you want
your porridge right so there is this
zone around any star where if you are
too close then liquid water would
evaporate if you too far away then your
liquid water would freeze and water
being so crucial to our understanding of
life as we know it if you're gonna look
for a planet in search of life like us
you would look for planets in the
habitable zone and I think of it as the
Goldilocks zone and if a star gets
hotter it it'll still have a Goldilocks
zone it will just be different
it'll be like farther away so it's
generally accepted that to have living
things you gotta have a solvent right
yeah I mean and water is it with three
three atoms it's a three atom molecule
and so it's one of the most common three
atom molecules in the universe so it's
not a stretch
to want to have water on your planet
it's not a stretch no no some people say
chlorine see now then the second
question I have
well there's vastly more hydrogen and
oxygen than chlorine oh man tell me
about that I'm the same no there is and
the other amazing thing water is
symmetrical this way but not this way
it's it's it's polar has polar like
magnets this way but not this way and so
it has these spectacular properties
frozen water floats frozen LED does not
for example
the solid lead sinks and liquid lead for
example but a second question for you
and then we'll get started tell us about
the the ship of the imagination it's
badass what can I tell you that's all
that's all you got to say about it he's
badass
so it's this sleek yeah so so the ship
of the imagination is a first of all it
goes back to Carl Sagan right yeah so
this is the third incarnation of cosmos
the first of which was 1980 hosted by
Carl Sagan and they came up with the
idea of a ship of the imagination they
didn't want it to be two-wheel because
then you start judging it for how real
it is but you still wanted it to be
useful and on that ship he had like a
control panel and things and we just got
rid of it all that and plus his ship
looked like a a dandelion spore or orb
seed the sphere of dandelion seeds no
just once well yeah around wrapped
around it that's correct exactly so it
was an attempt to sort of show that as
something adrift in with great potential
with great potential as any seed would
be unless you eat it well but this is a
thing that many vegetarians have this
special attraction to the reproductive
organs of plants
if you've ever think they're through and
seeds one you plants that about see
Mary's nuts the plant is just trying to
reproduce itself and you eating them
okay
well but Dave sir if you dance
vegetarianism that would be one of them
but let's keep in mind well keep in mind
that the orange trees got a plan you
take the seed you take the orange with
the seeds and you go somewhere with the
seeds and yeah I get that I get that
unless you chew the seeds or throw know
the coffee that goes through the civet
mm-hmm I'm digressing a little but for
the hardcore coffee people they want the
coffee bean that has made its way
through this mammal can I say made its
way can we say yeah yeah yeah all right
so so here's an interesting point about
this ship of the imagination in 2014
cosmos has spacetime Odyssey I had a
conversation with Andrian who's the sort
of this secret sauce that's constant
through all three of these incarnations
she's though not a scientist herself she
is hyper scientifically literate and she
is also emotionally literate and if you
combine those two it's particularly
potent for a storytelling where you can
bring science into the person's sort of
soul of curiosity and caring and concern
so there we are and we're looking at
what wardrobe I would have on the ship
of the imagination and I thought okay we
settled on just a black a black well
we're in New York it's black yeah that's
right what color do you want black yes
that's what it is
and what I got off black go ahead I
digress though the comparison is
off-white and on black you see that yeah
there you go
okay so I suggested maybe I'd have a
little you know applets or something or
Chevron's or maybe a Starfleet Command
logo maybe a Planetary Society you know
something and Anne said no and it took
her ten seconds to convince me no
because anything I'm wearing on that
suit implies that I've been through like
Starfleet Academy and you haven't so
therefore I am in a place where you
cannot be you're not even allowed
and that puts a gap between me the host
and you the viewer with nothing on me
then I'm just your guide I'm not in some
high lofty position that you're not and
one of the tag lines that repeats in
almost every episode is come with me so
that we are together on this journey and
you're not watching me take this journey
we are together so not only that the
ship has a much bigger exposure to the
outside with that sphere in the middle
and the area that wasn't made clear in
this episode but in Episode one we make
it clear there's an area below my feet
when that opens up we are looking into
the past
and when the ceiling opens up we're
looking into the future so the hole so
the ship is in its own present but it
can move anywhere through time and space
and it can change size so there's mold
in your imagination and so that was all
real enough so so there's just like
50-foot green-screen out the front of
the ship and the the visual effects
supervisor will take his laser so you
look over here a star just blew up now
go okay so it's like okay that's I'm
cool with that because I'm an
astrophysicist and we deal in blowing up
stars I'm good there but when I'm we
were smaller and we're in the world of
insects there's a point where I confront
a worm and he says over here there's a
worm not the word the the director said
that this is the not the weren't the
worm didn't swear worm did not say that
if I was not clear about who uttered
this the the special effects supervisor
the visual effects supervisor said look
here there's a worm and I don't so I got
a look at photographic references of
that worm in order to think about how I
might react so but for the universe
parts I'm good I'm good for all of that
 
 
but you had you had to go by oh you had
to go by a lodge or get by with
biological and chemical and geological I
needed some visual reference system so
speaking of visual references the
effects are amazing oh yeah
so now the visual effect I mean we can I
have another thing that's spectacular
the Stars the stars in front of you are
in the Stars you're in the ancient ocean
you're in Polynesia your distant worlds
you're sailing on light you got it all
go yeah it's a so the visual effects
supervisor cosmos because of its legacy
and the fact that people know which
trying to do the right thing by this
world and they they're they're the
staffing that came to bring their
expertise to this project
they all have pedigree from $100,000,000
Hollywood blockbuster films and so they
they're expert storytelling tellers in
their in their craft so in fact our
visual effects supervisor who he's like
the head of the the the National
Organization of visual effects people
who is that
Jeff oaken yeah is his name and the the
costume designer her name is Ruth Carter
and she designed like what I'm wearing
there what how she has an Academy Award
for costume design from the Black
Panther so so so I so obviously cosmos
was like a weekend task for her relative
to and the most fitting everybody in
Black Panther but if you haven't seen
black man it's on Netflix by the way so
so I'm I'm just saying we got the best
of the best to come together for this
and so so we should while we are
delighted that we have such expertise at
the end of the day I'm not surprised
that came out that good because that
visual effects visual effects and music
we Silvestri for guy yeah alan silvestri
who's who did Forrest Gump and he's also
doing the Avenger series right but he's
taking time to to devote his creative
energies for us and so this is what made
it kind of a special project really and
your heart was in it yes oh yeah I mean
you feel the universe and as Carl said
Carl he calls him Carl
now you met Karl god am i right me and
Karl know so I've actually in all he got
into that legend I've only actually been
in his presence about six times in my
life so it would be false okay
about six as we would say algebraically
infinitely more than zero yes
so half a dozen times it's not like we
would beer drinking buddies I just want
to make it clear that in some outlets
it describes Karl as being my mentor now
any traditional understanding of Mentor
would actually not apply in this case so
each of those the first time was all him
he invited me to Cornell after I had
applied to colleges and my application
was dripping with the universe and the
admissions office
noticed this they admitted me but it's
still well before you had to decide and
they said unknown to me they sent my
application to him he then wrote a
letter hand signed personal letter to me
saying I see you you that we accepted at
Cornell I'll be happy to and you're like
the universe so do i if you want to come
by I'll give you a tour of the lab and
to help you decide because when you were
a kid you went to star camp yeah yeah I
was I was a dirty kid I'm nerdy in the
in the category of what the stuff I was
interested in not that anyone could
really kick my ass because I was so I
was like half of the nerd stereotype not
the other half okay but you know 10min
bill I got to tell you this okay but
back then it was not uncommon for a boy
to want to have superhero powers because
the comic books
oh I've grown out of that
so so what I wanted to be was defender
of nerds because they were all just
beaten up by the football jocks yeah
yeah and and so I knew I could hold up
against you know the resource of the
greasers yeah yeah against bullies and
so so I imagined we'd invent some sort
of nerd bat-signal right it would go up
in the clouds you'd be like digits of pi
or something
and there'd be them at there's a nerd in
trouble somewhere and I gotta go help
them out do it you would kick some ass
say that gret that could kick some
that's right that's right up plus I'm
old enough to have been formally trained
on a slide rule as are you yes and I can
whip a slide rule pretty good yeah
and so in my high school which is an
entire school of nerds
it was the era where and if we had a
bigger slide rule she could make you can
make more accurate calculation yes so if
you walk down the hall you know sign in
the holster I don't leather holster yes
you know
it was but anyhow my point is about Carl
Sagan the point is I go up to Ithaca I
go up to Ithaca and he greets me outside
it's a Saturday
it's it's cold it's always cold in it's
okay
and he gives me the tour and I'll never
forget this I hope not
no no no that this next thing I'm
sitting in front him across from his
dancing he reaches back doesn't even
look reaches back grabs a book and it's
one of his books he didn't even look he
just grabbed the book it's a book he
wrote and then he signed it to me I
still have it good okay and as weird as
the day winds down it begins to snow as
it does so often did you take the bus to
get there yeah took a bus up there the
guy and he said it's beginning to snow
if the bus doesn't come through here's
my home number
and if the bus on earth who come stay
the night with my family you can leave
in the morning and I told this to some
people and they said you should just
told him the bus didn't come that's it
I wasn't that you know diabolical and so
to this day I treat students the way he
treated me because he didn't know I'm 17
year old kid from the Bronx you don't
know me from anything he just knew that
I was interested in the universe and
that mattered to him so I joke about
this I if I'm in my office and a student
shows up I'll say Barack I can't talk I
got student catch you later bye come on
but not now I'm at a point where a
student comes in but it's the same as a
proud as a proud big red bear I meant
why didn't you go to point out why
didn't you go to Cornell oh yeah I
didn't actually yeah I didn't finish the
story I didn't
the guy was schmoozing you as hard as he
could like doggone this guy is so into
the space he's got his own telescope
he's built ISM he's got a Saturn yeah I
didn't lobbying on it yeah I was all in
I was all in but no I in seventh grade
shop again this is how old I am
that's when they they they segregated
boys and girls so the boys had shop and
the girls had home AK okay Home
Economics
that's this country by the way we did
that and so they're all these for
woodshop we also had metal shop in the
second half for wood shop
they had these pre-made designs for a
lamp you know where you'd you know you'd
wire it but you've made Atlanta and I
said only use any of those designs I
want to make my own damn lamp so I
designed a lamp after Saturn the planet
Saturn and so I lathe a cube into a
sphere and rings and a base and up
through the middle is a bulb and the
lampshade and you press down the ring
and the light turns on I've seen it it
really works it is it's been my desk
lamp since seventh grade
it's pretty cool get in my office Suze
okay so Sagan sees all this and you he
offered you a place to stay and you
didn't take him up on it no I wasn't
gonna lie that the bus didn't get
through I wasn't gonna do that L mean
you go to Cornell yet so I did we'd left
that out so I didn't so that's the first
time you met Carl Oh first time
oh you don't hear why I didn't go to
Cornell well you cuz you went to school
in Boston or something well yeah it's
not as relevant as the story of meeting
Carl Sagan but I didn't show you how
geeky I was how geeky were you because
okay
I had subscribed to Scientific American
in middle school and my favorite part
was that really cool and my favorite
part then and now is the section called
about the authors and I just love
learning about the life of these people
who are scientists writing for the
public and about the authors for every
author it would give what college they
went to where they got their masters
where they got the PhD and where they
were on the faculty
so four data points so what I did was I
collected three or four years of
astronomy and physics articles and then
made a grid of where those authors went
to school where they were masters where
the treat and where they were professors
and then I made a grid of that with what
schools I had the option to attend this
is how nerdy you were yeah yeah I said
this would be an objective way to arrive
at this answer uncontaminated
by human emotion so so I still have this
sheet of paper and I put a check in it
in all the boxes and by the time I was
done Harvard the list for Harvick was
like three or four times larger than the
next institution that I had been
accepted to and I thought to myself okay
if I go to Cornell I'm attracted by one
guy and suppose he's cherry picked by
some other institution and leaves this
happens faculty can move from one
institution to another so I would have
been I would have attended a school
pivoting on the existence of one person
whereas the fuller list of people I
thought was a statistically safer option
and I would later realize not at that
time that the reason why they had so
many is because of the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory of the
government is co-located with the
Harvard College Observatory and they're
all in that accounting so nonetheless
it's still a larger collection of people
so that if I don't know what I want to
specialize in yet the options are there
so I don't you get to Astro and physics
many would think that needs special eyes
oh yeah no yes subfields within yeah
yeah so so I attended Harvard instead of
cornea that's more power to you so
I've heard good thing I heard it's a
couple good thing okay good didn't
really have an engineering school back
then but it was I mean they get a few
engineers so with that first time second
time no that's a no didn't doesn't sound
that way but a second time he came to
Harvard and gave a public talk and I he
got to meet you I attended and I came up
to him after but he didn't remember me
no he's like a zillion people and this
is four years later three year and a
half years later so I didn't expect that
but I reminded him of it and he was glad
to see that you know things were going
fine and then like a couple more times
and then he selected me to be on a NASA
committee to help decide what the future
of NASA might be for NASA's intersection
with the public is NASA just doing its
own thing
whereas NASA a reflection of the
ambitions of a nation and so they
gathered all these educators together in
one place and I was very honored and
privileged to have been added to that
list and is the first time I was in the
cub and you might even been there bill
of like really top-notch educators like
and I'm listening to them go around the
table and I count myself among you know
on the on the articulate side of offense
and I'm in that room and I am a bungling
drooling inarticulate person because of
just the the talent the writing talent
the speaking talent the educational
expertise that had been collected there
and I saw that that there was still more
for me to ascend as an educated as an
educator correct as an educator and the
last time I saw him I attended his 60th
birthday party at Cornell and he they're
all these testimonies to him and it was
like it was almost absurd how much
praise he was getting they were reading
letters from like the depths of
freaka where someone in the village was
one TV in the village and he would go
watch and the cosmos from a scientist
but karta and then then they invited him
to the fete to the thing and there he
shows up and in his in his native garb
and letters from around the world and
different language and gifts and I said
to myself Neil I know this guy and he
you know Carl Sagan he's good guy but
nobody could nobody deserves as much
praise then I said it's right this can't
be it's camp but he's not a real person
it's not this is not thank you this is
not real then he gave a public talk that
evening
we're all the invited came plus the
public in your big theater and Cornell
campus yes Bailey Hall been a huge
theater yeah and he gave a talk and it
was like it was the single greatest talk
I've ever seen before or since and I
said he deserves every bit haha what I
just saw so that's why you took this gig
to make season 3 I I
that's a thanks for asking that I'm I
don't like doing things that I know
other people can do because let them do
it
I'll do something that I'll find
something that no one else can do and
I'll do that that's it I think that's a
more efficient infusion of talent into
the world if you give the world what you
can do and no one else can and so I said
there's 20 people who could and would
want to host this I don't need to then I
thought about when I first met him and I
thought about my thoughts about him and
I said you know if I host this I can
bring some of that to this some of that
reflective respect and honor and I was
asked by Andrew Ian would I consider it
and I had to think I thought I had to
think of I didn't want to just - I'd
have to think about it I said I wanted
to know that I could do a good job and I
said I can do this
thank you it will be an honor so for
those who don't know Andrea and the
Sagan's wife
his widow and she's the head writer for
the season 3 oh well yeah and and season
2 co-writer with Carl Sagan and a friend
and colleague of mine Steve Sodor for
season 1 and Steve Soda also co-wrote
the second season as well yeah yeah and
he's your colleague at the at the
American Museum of Natural History
so you brought together some people who
thought deeply about the cosmos and oh
yeah and as we say our place within it
but what is it what is it that led us to
the titles to the title possible world
oh you know when every time I even see
that title like well up a little bit
because it's it's filled with so much
hope and it hasn't been a lot of Hope
lately you know in the world and thank
you all for coming by the way you heard
about it through evolution we are
competing we are competing with member
of the domain Veera and in in old Latin
by the way there was no plural
apparently for the word virus but we are
competing with something that it thinks
nothing about taking any of us out so I
really appreciate you all coming out
tonight you know take precautions it's
not clear it's not in fact can I read a
tweet that I posted just a couple sure
in just a moment okay look give it take
me a second to bring it up yeah I will
you know while you seek your tweet come
on
he's a tweet seeker that it is sobering
to think that the reason we're all here
is because our ancestors our recent
ancestors lived through the Spanish flu
in 1918 which killed it's estimated 50
million people as many as all of the
First World War
well twice yeah double the casualties in
the First World War it equaled the
casualties a second right oh there you
go sure either way it's bad yeah bad
but because of our more advanced or more
prevalent knowledge of evolution in
science and medicine I think it's quite
reasonable that we can all get through
this because we'll wash our hands and
this is a real thing no but it's not
being facetious and so I like to remind
everybody that in the US Constitution
article 1 section 8 Clause 8 of the US
Constitution it refers to the progress
of science and useful arts and there is
for me and something worth funding there
is formation a deep a deep irony in that
the same nation which created NASA and
led to Neil's prominence is a nation
that's going through a period of anti
science and you have spent you Neil have
spent quite a bit of time dealing with
people who actually seem to actually
believe actually that the world might
actually be actually flat and that is an
amazing thing in the world's most
influential culture Neil take it on the
tweet yeah so I have two coronavirus
tweets in case you just to catch you up
on that it's two weeks ago in what
became one of my 10 most liked tweets
because you can put a little heart sign
next to it it became what they tend
highest-ever
it was it was a simple tweet as I I
wonder what anti-vaxxers would say to a
corona virus vaccine
that's all that's all was it was like I
put it out there and people it went
viral okay so but that's where the word
viral comes yes yes yes so yes we don't
just circle back and touch base and
manage our digital convoy right so here
is my second tweet I have a third I
might post tomorrow well let's let's get
to it okay no here it is and I this is
in this was inspired by a conversation I
had with Steve Souter
so I beloved Steve so a co-writer of
1980 and 2014 so here it is and I show
the image of the like high-res image of
the look kind of pretty but its name
I'll take your word for yeah yeah like
an invasion of hostile space aliens
kovat 19 is an enemy of the human
species that won't negotiate it cares
not of your nationality ideology
politics or religion this enemy of us
all requires a global effort to combat
guided by science and not by magical
thinking
so if I were to read that tweet would it
have all that drama Oh hope sir okay
many people sometimes people say I read
that tweet in your voice they say that
all and that's cool yeah yeah yeah oh
that's cool yeah it's good yeah
everybody keep in mind although it may
not the virus may not regard have regard
for your nationality it almost certainly
has regards for your jeans for your
ancestry and so when we go to Korea and
I say we our tax dollars go to create a
vaccine for this thing it won't be the
bad old days of seeing whether or not a
milkmaid got cow pox and therefore did
not acquire smallpox it will be because
of genetic sequencing and this is really
an extraordinary time and so speaking of
your buddy brought vaccine the very word
comes from cow yeah that's there you go
vodka yeah McLean so speaking of your
buddy Brock federal employee Obama Obama
that that Barak yes
anyway he pointed out and and then we're
gonna get back to this next question he
pointed out that if you couldn't pick
when you would be born breath her I just
messed it up if you couldn't pick where
you were gonna be born you couldn't pick
where you were gonna be born on earth
and we're gonna constrain it to earth
but you could pick when this would be
the time as bad as everything sometimes
seems to be this actually for most
people in the world things are less
messed up than ever yeah there are fewer
people in extreme poverty there if you
if you're born even in the poorest part
of Africa for example there's a chance
that your kids will do better than you
did which is everybody's dream right and
so Neil if you would I can I add to that
well here's I want you to do in the
context of Cosmos is part of the reason
you took the job was because of your
optimism yes I'm a realist leaning
optimistic and the optimism I think is
if it's a future thing by knit by by the
nature of the word and this idea about
when would you be born if you can
imagine a time machine and you could go
full time machine was freaking cool all
right might say so badge me you can go
forward or backward in two time because
we get to we get to go forward yeah yeah
yeah but yeah this one if I can't come
back in then okay we do get to go
forward so what is the thing if you
really think about it no matter what the
issues are today that we face if you are
black female trans queer gay or of color
there is no time in the past where you
are better off than in the present think
about that if you are just think about
that what you want to go back 10 years
and you're trans no that's not gonna
work you know go back 20 years and your
and your female know that's not gonna
you're gonna go back 50 years in your
black no but if your white male the
whole thing is ready for you yes it is
the whole time no it's okay this is just
the reality so I'm so I'm doing my best
people yeah no seriously yes so let me
just think just think of the absence of
freedoms and rights and dignity and and
and what people have fought to achieve
and and this highlights for me the
importance of empathy by the way by the
way and and all the things with with
with Elizabeth Warren and and and when
losing Massachusetts like what was up
with that well and but but ask her who
is who rather do all of this 10 years
ago and like no no so we're still
struggling in the present but
hope comes for how much more change we
know we may have the power to implement
and cosmos especially possible world
which is not just about exoplanets of
course this some of that this one we
might go to and not that one after the
Sun dies we got that okay but possible
worlds is also what earth could be like
in the future we're we're in the middle
of the Anthropocene a new geologic era
that geologists are forced to have to
put in their chart because humans it has
been established that since the dawn of
Agriculture humans have changed the
shape of this earth in fundamental ways
and we've left our mark testified
brother we're best of life our mantra
pezzini's we and we have exacted a wave
of extinction across the Tree of Life
that rivals the extinction that occurred
65 million years ago
with the asteroid that took out the
dinosaurs it is that out it is
extinction happening at the hand of
humans so is addressed here in the halls
of extinction there's a whole episode
where we revisit the halls of extinction
hang
and so so you want to talk about hope
hope is not we're all gonna die no no
hope is here's the path here's a future
world on earth that is the consequence
of inaction here's another one it's a
consequence of action but the wrong
action here's one where hey this is a
direction that explicitly recognizes
that we are not separate and distinct
from the biosphere we are participating
member we're a product of evolution and
it is everybody it's important to keep
in mind before we go too far that
farming and you talked about the dawn of
Agriculture 10th out reckoning about ten
thousand years ago farming is not
natural if you start at all if you stop
farming it goes back to prairie forests
what marshland whatever the heck it was
and so this is an extraordinary time and
I hope you will comment on this that we
are in charge humans are in charge of
this whole planet you can get on a plane
I think your bacterial gut might have
something different to say about that
because they decide how often you go to
the bathroom so I think we taking a
meeting we have achieved compromise okay
all right you gotta have relationship
with your very good yeah I don't want to
give you too much information but things
are fine so along that line it is
important I feel for everybody when he
or she watches cosmos to think about
this literally globally that humankind
is now running the show we probably
didn't intend to be but now we're in
charge and thinking about other worlds
and going there is you can't help it
it's just human nature to imagine what
it would be like every episode is
infused with hope especially the last
one where I well up even just
remembering filming it and I haven't
resi knit but that's where was it what
happened oh man oh yeah okay so
Andrian remembered that Carl Sagan
attended the 1939 New York World's Fair
at age five in the fairground the
Flushing Meadow I attended the 1964
World's Fair at age six I was age eight
I was in the fairgrounds when you
attended when I attended and working
work if the towns are nice they named it
twice I was so excited in both worlds
fairs there was a heavy investment in
imagining what the future would be and
both Carl Sagan and I surely millions of
others were deeply influenced by that
hopeful vision of what a wise
application of Science and Technology
could bring to a future world that we
could all be proud to bequeath to our
answer to our descendants rather than
embarrassed by what it is we had done
that they end up inheriting and so she
said let's continue with this theme and
the 13th episode is an imagined 20 39
World's Fair still back in New York tell
me why not
so that's a hundred years from the 1939
World's Fair and so now we have to
imagine the future that is 20 39 and
then imagine the future that they
imagined so we have a double nested
future episode and it is just so filled
with hope that I come out of that and
it's like I got to do something I've got
a I've heard people say yeah I don't
like the world where it's gonna I don't
want to live in that world we'll fix it
it's our collective world okay so you're
not powerless
so speaking of powerlessness people say
to me Neil no they say Bill
my science guy what can I do about
climate change and we have this
perception that a whole book on climb
well sure
sure I did and there's 20 in a carton
they make great gifts the saw the
equinox is coming up in just a week and
a half so you know I think you have
nineteen friends so people say what can
I do and we were brought up people of
our age were brought up with the idea of
please don't litter every litter bit
hurts and so on and so we have a
perception that if we just recycle our
water bottles everything will be cool
it'll be great just recycled don't
litter don't throw your water bottle
away but my friends climate change is a
huge problem and it's gonna take big
ideas and so the thing the first thing
you can do is talk about it with
everybody if we were talking about
climate change the way we're talking
about what are we talking about
coronavirus we're talking about whoever
the acting Blanc of Blanc is this week
who is acting know we're really if we
were talking about it at that level we'd
be getting her done so if you don't do
anything else please vote vote and if
you if you don't want to vote then would
you just shut up and let the rest of us
who want to do things do it so along
this line nil in 2039 at the World's
Fair
what huge ideas what giant problems have
been solved well they're a lot of
speculation there I think you'll really
yeah yeah so one of them is we have
these World ice sculpture contests where
they would make colossal Colossus sculpt
sized sculptures as the original
Colosseum was named from the Colossus
there so how tall is it accosted able to
be a 12 stories 12 stories yeah 12
stories also 20 stories around the
hundred meter be really big and it would
be about a hundred hundred to two
hundred meters soccer field on its side
yeah there's America Jack football field
on its side I don't know I don't know
how long people are gonna be playing
football yeah well if as science reveals
some of the issues don't figure out
something go ahead so there it is
Colossus made of ice right no no it's
not made of ice there we're imagining a
future where we have active co2
atmospheric scrubbers where air blows
through it the co2 is recaptured and
basically we make limestone blocks out
of from scratch yeah basically from
scratch the air and we have complete
control this is a level of
geoengineering that allows us to not
become victims of our own absence of
foresight that we can control that and
so we shouldn't demonize the consumption
of energy you demonize the consequence
of consuming some kinds of energy
relative to others and you want to build
in solutions to that if in fact you
found no other solution and by the way
another point two points is cosmos is
not preachy
all right this there's a lot of strong
ideas coming across the screen that are
not heating you on the head we just
it's an offering and you come and share
it with us and it might hit different
people in different ways science fans we
know we've got you people who didn't
know they like science that's you know
that's a new that they're new to the
tape doesn't like science okay
especially when you want a vaccine
that's right exactly and then I talk
often about this subset of people who
know they don't like science so they're
actively against science and I think
there's enough visual splendor in this
that you could be attracted if for no
other reason than for that because it
looks so beautiful it really does need
should be so proud of their multiple
ways that you can get absorbed into it
and the animations are reserved for the
historical story towing and first is
cheaper than assembling Polynesians and
canoes in the Pacific and filming that
so but we have the the the it's a little
bit cheaper you know how many people
were involved in the animation I do it's
in the whole production oh the whole bit
of thousands yeah thousands all the
countries that we were in how many
countries did you visit seven no no no
no but the most remote we went was China
pre virus China saw the biggest biggest
telescope in the world is now in China
used to be in Puerto Rico that telescope
is now been bested it is in China and if
aliens were going to speak to us in
radio waves and we're gonna pick out the
signal from the din of cosmic noise the
telescope best equipped to do that is in
China so aliens the first humans they
will speak to will be Chinese
astrophysicists somebody to consider for
taxpayers and voters so when you had
thousands of people working on oh yeah
it's how many years did you work on it
ah so all told I would say I mean it's
scattered into the case I would say yeah
between one and two
years but Anne was out there much
earlier I mean she's getting she's
thinking up these stories and the along
with Brannon Braga and Brannon Braga
who's also a director and co-writer he
did the Star Trek movies so he's
involved in the Star Trek movie seems
much bigger role in the Star Trek The
Next Generation he's a storyteller and
thinks about hopeful futures such as a
recurring theme in the Star Trek science
fiction series so all combined we're all
quite proud of this and I know this is
cliche but I think it's really true this
is by far the best of the three just
just for sheer magnitude of science and
met there's a whole episode where we go
inside the quantum and we learn the
value of the quantum as applied to
modern society but who's ever visualized
the quantum before you we're on the
scale of quantum physics and the
particles popping in and out of
existence this was something that the
visual effects person it says well how
do I do this am i improving on something
that happened before no you're pulling
this out on new places because this
falls entirely out of our senses so you
have to look at what the math says and
turn that into visualizations which you
feel you did yeah oh yeah yeah very good
about it
so you would go to China
what would you I went to China we're not
getting all the countries what would be
a day in Neal's life Oh
so excuse me so we fly into did you see
that
so oh so by the way you know it's
apparently it doesn't kill everybody so
we can hope that most of us will just
develop anybody's and carry on that is
to be hoped but that aside meal you were
clearing your throat yes Claire I made a
joke but you were talking about
something serious that many people
wonder about what was a day like of
production so a day like well it depends
with your onset or whether on location
on location there you get your call time
and because the camera sets up and the
lighting sets up and the sound and
everything else and I'm reviewing the
scripts
that morning I also carry the title as
executive science editor so I'm the last
gate before the science of the show
comes out of my mouth and four areas of
the science that are outside of my
expertise we had panels of other
scientists who reviewed scripts for
their accuracy but then there's the
storytelling has to sort of emphasize it
the right way sometimes it doesn't you
make adjustments
anyhow so I'm reckoning the script
because everything has to hit so that
later matches the visualizations of all
the scenes and this telescope by the way
is a mile in circumference that's how
big it is and so what is that what's the
diameter of a third of that yeah divided
by PI yeah so yeah it's a thousand
meters something like that
yeah it's oh no so it not a 500 meter if
I'm going to have fun but kind of killed
me you haven't cooked there half a
kilometer across right so it's called a
fast to telescope the 500 meter aperture
spherical telescope spherical is the
shape of the curve it's a it's a section
of a sphere for optical reasons but
anyhow as opposed to a parabola as
opposed to parabola so is the Arecibo
telescope it's a sphere so then the
focus instead of being a point is a line
and this actually makes it more
versatile just a little thing about this
telescope is it's in a crater so it's
not you can't steer it
until our China yeah in China same with
Arecibo and it's so large you can't
steer it it's how large do you think
well that means you can only look in one
place and not for this telescope no my
friends so if there's an object over
here they take this section of the dish
and they have actuators on it and they
reshape it to become a section of a
telescope that's pointing in that
direction it's cool trick it is
brilliant
brilliance got all these actually but
any of them so we I'm driven to where we
go we practice the lines look at the the
posting of where I'm gonna stand if I'm
walking and I got make sure I don't trip
of where I'm gonna step because I'm
looking up at the camera and all of this
I think actors do this all the time but
for an academic it's all quite novel to
me and fun it's fun novel and but anyhow
so then we do the scene and then there's
a downtime and they set up and they
bring you food and then you another
scene and in this bring the food the
scenes assembled and then we brought in
the drones the drones are cool
drones are cool we sent a drone into the
middle and then it just ascended and
then the dish and you see that so rest
assured I did a lot of drone shooting on
this film and the guy driving the drone
you know is 22 don't worry about it yeah
yeah and he makes his own custom camera
holding parts on his 3d printer at home
don't worry that's who's driving the
show now it was cool so those shots are
beautiful yeah so multiple countries and
some is green screen obviously plunging
into the the realm of the weather
yeah yeah they're obviously remastered
for on location such some of them were
green screened but they're most of them
are not so you're not distracted by
wondering whether anything so I when
you're just gonna ask you if yep did you
get disoriented looking at green screens
because when they're big so you can rip
this is a special color that was
developed many years ago but you can
replace anything
that's that color with another bit of
video and that's how traditionally the
weather map is done I think that color
was chosen because no one would wear
clothing that color and nobody's eyes or
that color so the myth that is promoted
to young television people is that
Walter Cronkite's blue eyes obviated the
chance of using a blue screen so they
had this is the myth they tell you so
the Walter a chartreuse II color
everyone everybody 50 Walter Cronkite is
who oh it's so Walter Cronkite was the
very popular television he was the kind
of the guy that the word anchor was
invented for and if you see footage of
humans landing on the moon and joy 20th
1969 he's the guy that takes his glasses
off and shakes his head oh my goodness
this really happened it's really it's
quite a scene and the reason you want
somebody on television that does that
reacts that way is because you the
person on television is someone who's
taking you on the journey and that's
your job Neal and I think you did a
fabulous job so go get them make
mistakes and carry on make make mistakes
and recover from them
thank you all very much thank you a hand
for Neal a hand for cosmos and thanks to
the 92nd Street Y for including us this
late
take care everybody wash your hands wash
your hands wash your hands
