Neil DeGrasse Tyson's "Star Talk" is searching for a pop culture scholar in the NYC area for a taping of the show tomorrow night (7/22). If you are interested and available for participating in the show with a pop culture icon, please contact Jesse Draper at draperje@mail.h-net.msu.edu
The original inquiry is below.
Thanks for starting up this conversation, Joe!
Thanks for this Greg. I suppose the question we have to ask of the comparison is to what extent are we willing to grant Fox/deGrasse Tyson artistic license. The objection I forsee is that when an audience steps into a theater to see a play, they bring along a set of expectations, including the expectation that they'll be seeing something quite different from the literal truth, which nonetheless strives at some deeper, more general truths. The audience tuning into Cosmos probably doesn't have the same expectations since the show adopts an instructional stance.
I've been watching with interest as the history of science community, particularly on Twitter, has reacted with consternation to the historical components of Neil deGrasse Tyson's Cosmos reboot. To a large extent I agree with these criticisms. It is troubling that the forums in which the public gets the most exposure to history of science also tend to be those in which it is the least responsibly represented.
