Neil deGrasse Tyson: Politicians, Stop ‘Cherry-Picking Science’ for Political Gain

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson participated in a Q&A panel on Monday night with doctors, mathematicians and other scientists. The panelists took questions on topics including climate change, extraterrestrial life and artificial intelligence. Tyson said it’s “one of the great tragedies of modern society that we have politicians who are cherry-picking science in the interest of social, cultural, political or religious belief systems.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Q&A calls scientific illiteracy a tragedy of our times: http://t.co/IyjAwkuNpx #science pic.twitter.com/MV54zpBLja

— Reg Saddler (@zaibatsu) August 4, 2015

The astrophysicist said he does not have a problem with people believing in what they want. “But if that belief is not based on objective truths, you should not be creating legislation based on it,” Tyson said. He also believes our educational system has failed to promote scientific literacy, arguing if we had strong scientific literacy, there would be no debate as to whether climate change exists.

“If you’re trained to understand how and why science works, then the two opposite factions can have a genuine political discussion about how to react to human-induced climate change,” he said. “That’s where the debate should happen.”

Watch the full clip here:

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Epic Video Narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains the Universe in 8 Minutes

Bill Nye’s ‘Mean Tweets’ Video Goes Viral

The Price Is Right on Clean Energy