Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson's Commencement Address at Western New England University

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson's Commencement Address at the 2012 Western New England University Commencement. Tyson is an astrophysicist and the first occupant of the Frederick P. Rose Directorship of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

[@par25par]

This was my son's gradutation ceremony, and the only other spine tingling event, besides hearing with extreme pride my son's name announced, was hearing what this brilliant man had to say and then all giving him a standing ovation when he was done. You have to love his quote... "When you know how to think, it empowers you far beyond those who know only what to think"

[@MoniLoveLive]

W@W!!!

[@czimm2000]

"You realize when you know how to think, it empowers you far beyond those who know only what to think." ------ That's brilliant.

[@GreatMan_from_East]

There is no greater pain for human mind than prospect of new idea Bcz old ideas bring comfort

[@imcnagpc2]

"Don't give me a choice, let me think up the answer all by myself"

[@onlyin8350]

Why isn’t this video viral yet!? Amazing speech.

[@misinglink15]

his comment about "choices to pick from" is dead on.

[@abbysgran]

Can't get to enough of this guy.

[@sandeeps7043]

I'll pay billions to be in that audience. Definitely.😌

[@daka1272]

You can pay me billions and I can guarantee you that I can buy all those people including Neil deGrasse Tyson to come and re-do it just for you, and I will still be left with hundreds of millions if not billions of profit :D

[@stepheniej4190]

I was in it!!! This was definitely my graduation ceremony :)

[@Edelweiss91]

Tyson for wold leader!

[@Ladyzelda333]

A commencement speech for the social media age. "Textifying" in the middle of the speech.

[@iwasthererecording]

I watched this after seeing his Masterclass session. Three words. Know your audience! 👌

[@sreeramrajagopalan4705]

10:14 is the best line.

[@rachellyman]

Does anyone know about how many people were in the audience of this commencement speech?

[@WesternNewEnglandUniversity]

While we don't have an exact head count, there would have been approximately 5,000 people in attendance.

[@namanpant]

Awesome

[@imcnagpc2]

Brilliant!

[@nickbat7319]

Tyson is awesome

[@mattharry6114]

What a speech!!!

[@vish4544]

2:30

[@SachiMohanty]

This was far far better than many other commencement addresses. No references to fuzzy heaven-dwelling guys and such.

[@rpcrazy]

"in a few years it might be the "multiversity" haha great stuff

[@mataperi3345]

Shef shum fort paske fol i kAhit je kshtu?

[@RocksmithPdl]

what a god

[@rebonex]

A little slip of the tongue at 07:42...KAT being a better spelling than CAT...instead of XQW. But...Imagine every school child having someone like Dr Neil as their science teacher. Just imagine!

[@rogersmithmy3887]

1Rebone it appears to me that he was simply meaning you can "argue" that KAT is a better spelling than CAT.

[@rebonex]

A wonderful man, we all agree? A genius!

[@ViratKohli-jj3wj]

@@rebonex yes

[@stepheniej4190]

How was that a slip of the tongue...? Wish I could post the gif of the dude watching "The Point" fly over his head and out of frame lol. He meant that one could argue that kat is actually a better spelling that cat because k is always pronounced "k" - a hard 'k' sound - whereas a beginning 'c' is sometimes pronounced as an "s" sound, whereas nobody could argue that XRQ or whatever it was could actually be a better pronunciation; then he backed this up by pointing out that dictionaries offer the phonetic spelling of "kat", and if someone didn't have the language and all of its spellings memorized, they would be safer/more likely to definitely be correct, or at least ensure that someone read the word correctly, in guessing kat than cat.

[@stepheniej4190]

Wish I could post that gif of the dude watching "The Point" fly over his head and out of frame lol

[@anthonywhelan5419]

Affirmative action is racist and patronising. The race that has produced Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Stevie Wonder, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr, Chuck Berry, Dianna Ross, Louis Armstrong etc etc, don't need patronising.

[@stepheniej4190]

Well good thing nobody came here to talk about race.....except this one guy....

[@bubaks2]

I came for the speech. I left when that corny music started to play.

[@bubaks2]

Whicker Friesian its not about instant gratification. Its about cheesy music added to video. Spoils the video.

[@bubaks2]

Whicker Friesian yeap. Its a good speech i agree. 😃

[@24killsequalMOAB]

There are some serious fallacies in his speech that need further clarification in order to make this speech better but the gist is understood..................

[@daka1272]

Could you elaborate on those fallacies?

[@stepheniej4190]

Or perhaps more education from the OP..? Wouldn't even cross ones mind to assume that perhaps any misunderstandings might be on the end of the one who hasnt been earning a doctorate per year since..forever? Also, please look up the definition of "fallacy" before posting anything else. 😆

[@stepheniej4190]

Apparnetly the gist is not understood. A fallacy has no clarifications that can make it better, its a fallacy. Expanding upon a mistaken belief doesnt make it any more correct. Nothing he said was fallacy. I was honored to be graduating at the same ceremony as Neil Degrasse Tyson and his speech was brilliant.