THOMASFRICKE/CORBIS
Hemispheres executive editor
CHRIS
WRIGHT
has concluded, following a
careful study of the theory of multi-
verses, that hewould like tooccupy the
parallel universe inwhichheearns twice
asmuchmoney.
TYSON:
Well, just doboth!
HEMISPHERES:
I knew youwere going
to say that. Butwho has the time?
TYSON:
I get emails frompeople say-
ing, “Could you settle an argument
I’vebeenhavingwith a friend?What
would happen if you fall sideways
into a black hole instead of head to
toe?” They’rehaving fights at thebar
over these topics. I think if youknow
somethingabout theuniverse, itgives
youmore to thinkabout, to talkabout,
to smile about, and there’s no deny-
ing the empowerment you feel upon
knowinghow thingswork—thismakes
youaparticipant in theemergentdis-
coveriesof the21st century. There’sa
value inknowinghowyourmicrowave
ovenworks.
HEMISPHERES:
You’re arguing my
point for me: Ordinary people should
learn the practical stuff and leave the
theoretical stuff to people like you.
TYSON:
Einstein wrote a research
paper inthe1920s.Maybeafewdozen
people in theworldcouldunderstand
it; it was a curiosity, and it kind of
languished. Well, later on people
noticed: Out of its ideas came the
laser. When Einstein wrote that
paper, he wasn’t thinking, “This
will produce barcodes.” He wasn’t
thinking laser surgery. He wasn’t
thinking laser weapons or laser
pointers. None of this was in his
head, but he created the foundations
for it. So I don’t believe you if you’re
trying to tell me that learning how
something works and why it works
won’t enhance your understanding
ofwhat it is you’re experiencing!
HEMISPHERES:
Fair enough. You’ve
talkedabout science as havingan emo-
tional orevenaspiritual effectonpeople.
TYSON:
There are certain ideas about
the universe that affect people in
profoundways—for example, the dis-
coverythattheatomsofyourbodyare
traceable to the actions of stars that
exploded thoseatoms into thegalaxy,
out of which our solar system was
formed. This fact tellsus that not only
dowe live intheuniverse, theuniverse
liveswithin us. You feel connected to
the cosmos,which isprofound.
HEMISPHERES:
Obviously, there’svalue
inwhat youdo, bringing science to the
people. But I wonder if there’s a part
of you that’s frustrated that you can’t
just focus on the science, that you can’t
lock yourself away for three years to
work on a small and arcane problem.
TYSON:
I havehad conversationswith
colleagues lately about getting back
in the game, so I can be a scientist
again, rather than just playing one on
television.Soyes, I’mfrustratedbythat.
If Iwrotemyown life, if Ihadcomplete
controlovermyown life, Iwouldprob-
ably never leave home. I would stay
indoorsanddo researchon something
that no one else cares about except a
few dozen other scientists. But I also
know that I’m good atwhat I do, and I
wouldbe irresponsible if I didn’tdo it.
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
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MARCH2015
83
