God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller and smaller as time moves on.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that as scientific knowledge expands, the concept of God becomes less relevant to explain the universe.
Neil Degrasse Tyson's quote reflects the idea that as human understanding of science progresses, the gaps in knowledge that might have been attributed to a deity are continually shrinking. This indicates a move towards a more rational and empirical worldview, where supernatural explanations become less necessary as we discover more about the universe through scientific inquiry.
In practice
During a lecture on the importance of scientific discovery, I might say, 'As Neil Degrasse Tyson aptly puts it, God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance.'
The problem is that many people operate on the assumption that NASA should go to Congress every year with hat in hand and justify it every year. Well, I see it as the greatest economic driver that there ever was. Economic drivers don't need justification.
The press still thinks [global warming] is controversial. So they find the 1% of the scientists and put them up as if they're 50% of the research results. You in the public would have no idea that this is basically a done deal and that we're on to other problems, because the journalists are trying to give it a 50/50 story. It's not a 50/50 story. It's not. Period.
As a scientist, I want to go to Mars and back to asteroids and the Moon because I'm a scientist. But I can tell you, I'm not so naive a scientist to think that the nation might not have geopolitical reasons for going into space.
In just one year, the expenditure of of the U.S.'s military budget is equivalent to the entire 50-year running budget of NASA combined.
One of my great laments is that education today seems to have... be less about passion and more about process, more about tactic or technique.
Lots of people think, well, we're humans; we're the most intelligent and accomplished species; we're in charge. Bacteria may have a different outlook: more bacteria live and work in one linear centimeter of your lower colon than all the humans who have ever lived. That's what's going on in your digestive tract right now. Are we in charge, or are we simply hosts for bacteria? It all depends on your outlook.
An alleged scientific discovery has no merit unless it can be explained to a barmaid.
Modern science has been a voyage into the unknown, with a lesson in humility waiting at every stop. Many passengers would rather have stayed home.
It doesn't matter what country or what political system you are from. Space brings you together.
Nothing in the natural world makes sense - except when seen in the light of evolution
It was the darndest thing I've ever seen. It was big, it was very bright, it changed colors and it was about the size of the moon.. We watched it for ten minutes, but none of us could figure out what it was. One thing's for sure, I'll never make fun of people who say they've seen unidentified objects in the sky.
It is a test of true theories not only to account for but to predict phenomena.
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