CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson will speak in front of a live audience in a program he calls “Delusions of Space Enthusiasts,” part of a nationwide speaking tour.
“This is an entire talk on the mismatch between where we thought we’d ever be in space and where we are, with some fun references to the tomorrows that never came,” Tyson said in an interview with Cville Right Now.
From Jetsons-style flying cars and monorails to colonies on the moon, the discussion will look to explore visions of a space-age future that never came to pass.
The astrophysicist’s lecture will also look at the evolution of American “delusions” on space exploration and discovery over time. He explained many Americans did not think space travel was even a possibility in the 1940s, yet after Sputnik launched in 1957 fantasies about the potential of space ran wild. “The dream states, the delusions are not always under selling what we might achieve,” he said, “Sometimes they oversell what we will achieve.”
The lecture will also touch on the topic of privatized space exploration as billionaire tech industrialists such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos fund their own space programs while federal funding for NASA is at risk of being cut. Tyson has worked closely with NASA throughout his career receiving the Distinguished Public Service medal from them in 2004. When asked about recent proposed funding cuts to the department he noted, “If we’re cutting the funding to NASA, and especially the science funding, then space is no longer driven by the ambitions of curious scientists.”
Tyson will explore themes from across the spectrum of his work including his StarTalk podcast and his books. Last year he released “To Infinity and Beyond,” that blends scientific observations with a look at how Hollywood has portrayed outer space over time. He will also pull from his latest release “Just Visiting This Planet, Revised and Updated for the Twenty-First Century,” that uses a character of his creation, Merlin, to explore the cosmos’ most pressing questions.
The talk begins at 7:30 with tickets available on the John Paul Jones Arena website. Following the lecture will be a Q&A session with the audience.
