Author Andy Weir on new novel and why he believes COVID-19 will be the last pandemic

Author Andy Weir's debut space adventure rocketed to the top of the best-seller lists and inspired the Oscar-nominated film, "The Martian." Now the author is back with "Project Hail Mary," about a lone astronaut's last-ditch effort to save humanity from a mortal threat. "CBS This Morning: Saturday" co-host Jeff Glor catches up with Weir.
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[@beberivera7011]

He is very optimistic bc all of his predictions rely on humanity not succumbing to rampant, willful stupidity and surviving long enough to do and be better. I hope he's not wrong about us.

[@marchingforever]

I was thinking the exact same thing. We have so many other threats, here on earth, that are and will block humanity’s collective progress it’s hard to imagine his interpretation of our future.

[@matthewnelson4298]

Precisely

[@amygao9891]

He must be one of the most lovely optimistic people I've ever seen. Do I believe his prediction 100% Nah. But from the bottom of my heart, I appreciated how much happiness he brought to this world. Both his books and his personalities. He is a gift to this society.

[@mytube281]

In over 60 years of reading Sci-Fi this is absolutely the most absorbing, rivetting and exciting book on at least two planets. A personal comment to Andy.... You are without doubt a writing Guru in my estimation! Thank you.... What's next?

[@professor1262]

Since your such an avid sci-fi fan, you’ve probably heard of his other writings, but in case you haven’t already, check out Artemis and The Martian, both my him.

[@patrickmccormack4318]

Have you read Star Maker?

[@doesntmatter5263]

@@patrickmccormack4318 by who?

[@TicTocRobotSnot]

I'm ob-SESSED with the science in Weir's books. Fav author by far. Hard Sci-Fi rocks!

[@ScrubbyBubbles]

I remember reading his first book when I was in high school as a senior. Incredible sense of humor in his writing for such a harrowing event.

[@keeperman4]

As a science teacher, I love the technical portions of his books. They are my favorite parts. His optimism is spot on. Science solves Humanity's problems.

[@Ksix1]

Excellent! I recommend the audiobook version.

[@hlnbee]

I hope his prognostications are accurate! What a wonderful writer.

[@penelec]

I was 100% on-board with Mr. Weir when he used "nauseated" instead of "nauseous." The "fewer" interjection just cemented my belief that his kind of smarts matters. He isn't a pedant, he isn't arrogant, he simply enjoys thinking carefully, deliberately, and rationally. That goes hand-in-hand with his optimistic view of the future, I think; human rationality plays the long game, while self-interested greed concerns itself with short bursts of aggrandizement. I'm with Weir 100%.

[@WinstonGuitar]

Project Hail Mary has catapulted to one of my top 10 favorite novels of all time.

[@ananttomar1865]

Please tell your other 9...need suggestions

[@markyokum1873]

@@ananttomar1865 The Gone-away World by Nick Harkaway White Teeth by Zadie Smith Kraken by China Mievelle The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts The Russian Debutante's Handbook by Gary Shteyngart All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr The Stand by Stephen King Bel Canto by Ann Patchett Stalin's Ghost by Martin Cruz Smith River of Smoke by Amitav Shosh A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell The Yiddish Policeman's Diary by Michael Chabon The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander

[@sciencewolf7775]

I am here for both the story and the science

[@VANssaZOOlema]

This book is so good. Ive read it 3 times and im excited about the movie.

[@marymimouna]

Fantastic, interesting, and optimistic interview. I really enjoyed it.

[@markusfederico8732]

Is book good question jazz hands!

[@helltownyt]

Good good good

[@skunkbucket9408]

"Fewer." I love that Weir is willing to correct bad grammar when he hears it. Our non-judgmental culture is causing us to lose even the ability to speak precisely.

[@alltimegamer1343]

Andy Weir’s The Egg is life changing

[@thelogicmatrix]

I love his books, this book was a great read. As for the optimism I doubt it'll be so good, but I hope it'll be true

[@mikeoh712]

This book is AMAZE 👾

[@cgaskill]

A science AND grammar nerd! I wanted to correct the less/fewer mistake, too. I love the man.

[@simonbionary11010]

Just finished this book. My mind is truly blown! I hunger for a short story about what happened after.

[@davidsky7924]

Awsome read. Couldn't stop until the very end .

[@dauraktv]

That’s incredible, I never knew you were so good with tools!

[@davidcarlson1208]

Great job, Andy!

[@sujalnagarale131]

A big heart from India .

[@billieduffey6351]

The science is soooooo important!

[@reviewyup592]

The two novels are magnificent.

[@ArihaanMusic]

I just finished the book last night but I cannot picture Ryan Gosling as Dr Grace. Who do you think should play him?

[@ryukronaldo]

Andrew Garfield

[@helltownyt]

Andrew tate😂

[@tonyhannibal1580]

I could only picture Ryan Reynolds, it’s not hard to imagine him as a cool teacher, just my slant on it🙂

[@annvandenborre7377]

I absolute adore Weir’s books including all the science. I can get the predictions on how life is getting better for more people due to science progress. However I am still sceptic about how humanity will deal with despots and potential wars inflicted by those. And our economical system…. I would still worry about that.

[@IamtheDill]

I think we can all agree, he deserves a seat on #dearMoon.

[@uptown3636]

Agreed, but Mr. Weir has been open about his fear of commercial air travel, so space flight is almost certainly outside his comfort zone.

[@IamtheDill]

@@uptown3636 how ironic.

[@dauraktv]

@@uptown3636 yes, he VERY much doesn’t like it

[@ashleypagano8254]

I'm not even close to a scientist but i found this book really easy to understand and all the science to be well explained.

[@nicolec8884]

I hope so

[@oldebill1807]

"Fewer!" Yes!

[@mauijaystar]

Fewer! Thank you! We are of the same tribe! Jazz hands!

[@sina8399]

HES MY FAV WRITER

[@lucagattoni-celli1377]

CBS News, why do you have a ticker on a KZbin video?

[@philabusterr]

Andy “Stannis Baratheon” Weir

[@hansolowe19]

He is indeed optimistic. I admit that I was not expecting the resistance to science/vaccines/progress that we saw this year.

[@funveeable]

We aren't resisting science, we are resisting authority, coercion, violence, and vitriolic slander. Trump made the vaccine, and explicitly told everyone they were free to use it if the wished for it. When California and Biden got the vaccine, the forced everyone to use it even if they didnt want it. It's like forcing an anemic to take aspirin because that's what other patients are getting even though aspirin is not good for anemic patients. The best doctors of Russia provided that to the Tsars son and he just got worse from there.

[@hansolowe19]

@@funveeable your reasoning is flawed.

[@JJ-nu8qi]

This comment didn't age well.

[@magoo9279]

How do scientists feel about the science in his books?

[@txy9911]

Elon musk and neil de grasse tyson really appreciate it

[@kalumbabwale3729]

Well it's pretty accurate for one.

[@kalumbabwale3729]

Except for the storm in the Martian... not enough atmosphere for that.

[@guidorussoheck2100]

Rocky best boi ever!

[@patrickmccormack4318]

Less people --> Fewer people...some folks are arrogant. What would William S. Burroughs have to say about the character/author Andy Weir? Hey, Andy Weir, words are a virus from outer space.

[@Slopmaster]

Count me as a skimmer 🤓

[@SuccessionLockon]

Amaze! Fist my bump

[@dahawk8574]

6:00 Oct 30, 2000. That was the last day everyone was 'on Earth' (within the atmosphere). Weir'd that a space nerd of his peak intelligence would not know the year that ISS got its first crew.

[@dahawk8574]

@Tristan: "Leading to the possibility that we have never left the atmosphere." Your position is like saying that no one ever gets out of a pool because there are H20 molecules in the air, and we are all drenched in humidity at all times, even in the desert. The essence of what Weir was trying to say is that we've had human beings up in space, continuously, since the year 2000. Throughout every moment of the current millennium. And the threshold of where Space starts, for those who understand the science, is at 50 miles. That is where the molecules have so much _space_ between them that they enter into a state called 'Free Molecular Flow'. So that is the point I take Andy to be making here. People in Space. Another interesting milestone is the year when humanity last had every single member touching the Earth's surface, with no one FLYING. If I were to guess, it might have been way back in the 20s. Or maybe even earlier. It could have happened even before the Wright Brothers. Imagine if there was some way to get that data. And then we learned that at least one person was aloft in a balloon or blimp ever since the year 1900. And then we achieve this other milestone in 2000. Your point about the furthest reaches of the atmosphere is great science info. But there are very practical matters which I see to be overriding with these huge milestones of human accomplishment. At some point, if you climb high enough, trees can't grow. The Tree Line. Further up, you can't live. Continue further in a balloon, and you reach the atmospheric density limit of buoyancy. Up further still in an aircraft, then you lose all flight control from using surfaces alone. Not much further above that, you've entered space. Yes, there are still molecules of atmosphere even in space. But they behave very differently from when you're within the density regions of the atmosphere in which we live. Quite analogous to how H2O molecules behave very differently when you are swimming in a pool versus getting out of that pool.

[@dahawk8574]

@Tristan, that was for anyone who might be interested in the counterpoint to a good set of facts your presented. By all means please ignore if it was a waste of your time.

[@dauraktv]

@@dahawk8574 the investing i did on your response was well worth my time. Thank you

[@patrickrrmiller]

I said 'fewer' at so exactly the same time as him that I was confused by the interviewer's reaction.

[@MarkJacksonGaming]

-- Affordable to the middle class. When from where I sit in 2022, we're going going to have a middle class.

[@jennifersun2638]

How can an algae eat the sun?

[@funveeable]

It doesn't. It sits on the sun and consumes the energy. The sun doesn't care about the energy when it leaves its surface.

[@Kombivar]

Definitely the best book I've read so far, I just have glimpse of hope that finally some intelligent enough people will be in charge of the movie and it wont blew up as the utter bollox as The Martian movie was - but knowing Hollywood - they will probably ruin it again.

[@hiromi1038]

It’ll be the last pandemic for us because we’ll be dead by the time another pandemic hits… 🙄

[@isidoreaerys8745]

If only the men who wrote Bible had been so rigorous.

[@matveisoykin4182]

It's hard to collect so much detailed information from so many witnesses, especially 2000 years ago. Also, the people then probably didn't understand a lot of what Jesus had to say. But over time, science filled in a lot of the gaps.

[@matveisoykin4182]

Also, some of the information in the Bible has probably become distorted and lost over 2000 years.

[@shadowrottweiler]

I think Weir's theory about no more pandemics might be accurate.

[@j0hannes5]

like the guy, like his optimism, like his new book, but he is wrong in saying mRNA is this new fancy thing that was brought about by the pandemic. As well as in assuming that this technology will eradicate pandemics in the future.

[@dumpsterjedi6148]

@@ardaaksoy9161 oh wow aren't you a special cookie

[@funveeable]

Pandemics can be created and as long as we have life, we will have disease. And if disease doesn't have enough time to evolve to hurt us, we make the virus in the labs and then release it on the world and given the right political climate, the world will think its natural and proceed to turn a blind eye on the next artificial disease.

[@mtbdad2]

@@dumpsterjedi6148 who are you?

[@mtbdad2]

Agreed, very surprised he drank that Kool-aid. No doubt a big pharma shareholder.

[@dumpsterjedi6148]

@@mtbdad2 I'm your father and you dissapoint. Also the antivaxer I was flaming deleted his comment like the coward they are

[@c123bthunderpig]

By reading the comments, sounds like the definition of the word "pandemic" needs to be changed to include more than a disease. With 8 million books sold and a movie I can't critize the old boy, however the main sci-fi author I like to read that was successful at changing the genre of his books was Michael Crichton. However this is a different time and maybe needs new viewpoints

[@darrenelkins5923]

Level of trust in the science ...

[@dumpsterjedi6148]

As opposed to what, every failed religion?

[@darrenelkins5923]

@@dumpsterjedi6148 you seriously think the paths are binary?

[@dumpsterjedi6148]

@@darrenelkins5923 what? Please elaborate you're making so sense.

[@funveeable]

@@dumpsterjedi6148 religions are only failed if they die out. Christianity has endured for thousands of years. Science is a brand new thing, only a few centuries old. Its dying out today because doctors and scientists are being censored or stripped of their liscense if they don't say exactly what the politicians want.

[@dumpsterjedi6148]

@@funveeable the fastest growing demographic are the non-religious. Christianity is dying.

[@Starfish2145]

Last time I checked he wasn’t an epidemiologist

[@larasita11]

Lolll!! Like every other public figure...

[@matveisoykin4182]

So what nobody can have an opinion in something they haven't spent years studying?

[@luiznogueira1579]

In 1918 there was a global pandemic where people had to wear masks(many were against it), had to be isolated, etc. Did that prepare us for Covid 19? No. It was all pretty much forgotten. So I don't think this was "the last pandemic" at all. Anyway, who said SF writers make good prophets...? Project Hail Mary is a great book, better than The Martian(which I liked a lot). Weir outdid himself, imo.

[@patricioveliz4509]

No more pandemic?? What an inocent man...

[@ThatsJustMyBabyDaddy]

So he predicts pandemics now? 😂

[@gemsandlasers269]

I thought Project Hail Mary was an awful, awful book. Just embarassing descriptions of science.

[@dauraktv]

That’s because cats can’t read ;)

[@gemsandlasers269]

@@dauraktv Haha ;)

[@matveisoykin4182]

Yeah, some of the science was truly awful, but by far not all of it. Besides, the science is only secondary to the story