The U.S. grew from a backwoods country to one of greatest nations the world has ever known thanks to science but that pillar of America is eroding, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tysonwarns.Science deniers rising to power now create a recipe for the complete dismantling of our informed democracy, Tyson says in apowerful new videothat he promises contains what may be the most important words I have ever spoken.People have lost the ability to judge what is true and what is not, what is reliable, what is not reliable, he says in the above video, which he posted to Facebook Wednesday.Thats not the country I remember growing up in. I dont remember any other time where people were standing in denial of what science was.Many scientists have become frustratedwith the Trump administrations anti-science moves, which has led to them holding the Earth Day March for Scienceprotest Saturday.Tyson, the host of the StarTalk podcast and TV showand director of the Hayden Planetariumat the American Museum of Natural History, has been campaigning toMake America Smart Againsince PresidentDonald Trump won the election last year. Just last month, he warned that the U.S. would need more than an intelligence boost if Trumps proposed budget cuts to key areas including science passed.Recognize what science is, and allow to be what it can and should be: In the service of civilization. Now, in his new video thats interspersed with news reports, he warns of the threats that climate change skeptics and those against vaccinations pose.One of the clips is of Vice President Mike Pence when he was a congressman enthusiastically rejectingthe existence of evolution. Let us demand that educators around America teach evolution not as fact, but as theory, Pence says.Tyson praises science as an exercise in finding what is true thats based on peer-reviewed experimentation backed by other experiments and counter-experiments that gives birth to an emergent truth.He points out that science is not something to toy with. You cant say, I chose not to believe in E=mc2, he says, referring to physicist Albert Einsteins corroborated theory of special relativity. You dont have that option. It is true, whether or not you believe in it.The sooner you understand that, the faster we can get on with the political conversations about how to solve the problems that face us, he adds.And Tyson warns that every minute someone is in denial of a scientific truth delays the political solution that should have been established years ago.Recognize what science is, and allow to be what it can and should be:In the service of civilization, he says. Its in our hands.Watch the powerful video in full above.type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related Coverage + articlesList=58dbae95e4b0cb23e65d06f5,58d94964e4b02a2eaab64c3b -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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