On Monday, Neil deGrasse Tyson, professional scientist and amateur philosopher, signified that he wanted a new force: Truth Force! He tweeted this bit of genius to the world at large:
When asked whether he meant he wanted a government agency telling people about “truth,” deGrasse Tyson responded:
First off, even the idea that the government is the sole arbiter of scientific truth is disquieting; that specific idea was used to promulgate everything from eugenics to bad food science for years. Regulatory and research capture is a serious problem when tax dollars are at stake.
But more broadly, the notion that the government should be tasked with defining and enforcing truth cuts broadly against the notion of a free republic. That’s nothing new from deGrasse Tyson, who yearns to control everyone’s thought process from above:
In Rationalia, presumably deGrasse Tyson is king. And the king shall allow no other gods:
One wonders how in Rationalia, abortion will be dealt with. Or tax policy, for that matter.
Yes, let’s let deGrasse Tyson run the Ministry of Truth. Or, let’s let Donald Trump, since deGrasse Tyson has so much trust in the executive branch. Unless, it turns out, deGrasse Tyson thinks he has a monopoly on truth, and therefore believes only he should be qualified to run his Truth Force.