“During our brief stay on planet Earth, we owe ourselves and our descendants the opportunity to explore—in part because it's fun to do. But there's a far nobler reason. The day our knowledge of the cosmos ceases to expand, we risk regressing to the childish view that the universe figuratively and literally revolves around us. In that bleak world, arms-bearing, resource-hungry people and nations would be prone to act on their "low contracted prejudices." And that would be the last gasp of human enlightenment—until the rise of a visionary new culture that could once again embrace the cosmic perspective.”

2000s

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "During our brief stay on planet Earth, we owe ourselves and our descendants the opportunity to explore—in part because …" by Neil deGrasse Tyson?
Neil deGrasse Tyson photo
Neil deGrasse Tyson 89
American astrophysicist and science communicator 1958

Related quotes

Carl Sagan photo

“Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. We speak for Earth. Our obligation to survive and flourish is owed not just to ourselves, but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator

54 min 25 sec
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1990 Update), Who Speaks for Earth? [Episode 13]

J. Howard Moore photo
Ethan Allen photo
Bill Mollison photo
Gene Kranz photo

“I believe we need a long-term national commitment to explore the universe. And I believe this is an essential investment in the future of our nation — and our beautiful, but environmentally challenged planet.”

Gene Kranz (1933) NASA Flight Director and manager

Source: "Space Lifeguard : An Interview with Gene Kranz" at Space.com (11 April 2000)
Context: In many ways we have the young people, we have the talent, we have the imagination, we have the technology. But I don't believe we have the leadership and the willingness to accept risk, to achieve great goals. I believe we need a long-term national commitment to explore the universe. And I believe this is an essential investment in the future of our nation — and our beautiful, but environmentally challenged planet.

“We tend to think of America's days of frontier exploration as being behind us, but that's because we tend not to think of the other 71% of our blue planet.”

David Helvarg (1951) American journalist

Public comment to the US Oceans Commission, 2004 http://www.oceancommission.gov/publicomment/novcomments/helvarg_comment.pdf.

Jello Biafra photo

“Our biggest national security threat is the environmental destruction of our planet and the arms race with ourselves.”

Jello Biafra (1958) singer and activist

Address to the US Green Party

Derek Parfit photo
Margaret Mead photo

“We are living beyond our means. As a people we have developed a life-style that is draining the earth of its priceless and irreplaceable resources without regard for the future of our children and people all around the world.”

Margaret Mead (1901–1978) American anthropologist

"The Energy Crisis — Why Our World Will Never Again Be the Same", in Redbook (1974); later in Progress As If Survival Mattered : A Handbook For A Conserver Society (1977) by Hugh Nash, p. 166
1970s

Related topics