Neil deGrasse Tyson - Space as Culture

Recently, with his characteristic passion and erudite informality, Neil deGrasse Tyson delivered the keynote speech at the National Space Symposium, and continued to make the case, as he has recently, that we ought to increase funding for NASA and space exploration.

While most arguments tend to rely on economic and practical, palpable benefits that such exploration and research can produce, this speech makes a bolder claim: that our very national identity and the greatness of our our country (intellectual, cultural, scientific) depends upon the inspiration that NASA produces in the minds of future inventors, discoverers and thinkers. The economic benefits which such greatness almost inevitably produces are simply a nice side benefit that we get for free when we educate and inspire our children, and teach them to shoot for the stars.

When he hasn't had his coffee yet, he's kind of grouchy, isn't he? :)