Deep Thoughts with Neil deGrasse Tyson | StarTalk

We've known as educators that astrophysics can be a gateway science to other sciences. So I submit to you whether or not you embrace the universe because you're enchanted by it.

I can say that in a free capitalist democracy, innovations in science, technology, engineering, and math—the STEM fields—will be the engines of the growth of tomorrow's economy. And on the assumption that you don't want to die poor, at some point, somebody's going to have to say, "Let's get people interested in science."

I know of no greater seductive force than the science of the universe itself. So, whether your interests are derived from the raw needs of the economic stability of our nation or whether you share my ambitions for turning the universe into our backyard, both sides of that serve not only our need to explore something that may be genetically encoded in our DNA, but it also can do very well for the economy.

These are what drive me daily to decode the mysteries of the universe and share them with all who will listen.