Optimisim
This is a story from Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk podcast. He talked about being on Brian Cox’s show and discussing the futures of space travel. Neil was saying that chemical rocket engines are not going to cut it and we need to look into things like wormholes and warp drives. Then Brian cuts in and explains that wormholes are fundamentally unstable and they won’t work.
Brian was absolutely correct, but that was not the point. The point was about what the audience said. Cox’s audience said to them, “That’s why the Americans discover everything! They are always so optimistic!” (Cox is a British phycisit and Neil is an American physicist).
I tend to be a Brian Cox type. I am quite grounded and will not hesistate to point out when an idea won’t work. But I can appreciate the opposite kind of thinking. Sometimes, I need someone who is a Neil Degrasse Tyson to help me explore the unknown.