Mr Neil Degrasse Tyson is a gift to the world of science AND science communication, but he does have a bit of a reputation for being curmudgeonly about “bad” science in science fiction. Also there’s a shout out to my favourite Einstein quotation (and possible future tattoo).
Dear Neil,
I know.
The Kaiju in Pacific Rim
The tech in Independence Day
The asteroid in Armageddon
None of them behaved the way
You would have liked. Unscientific.
But these flights of fancy pay!
Box office takings were terrific.
Still, that isn’t my defence
For movies that don’t show the truth: bro,
Why is it you get so tense
About something there is no proof for?
Just imagination. Neil!
I’d like to ask you to relax
How is it that you really feel
About video phones? Jetpacks?
These things are now being invented
That existed, once, in fiction
Is it not a bit demented
To kick up a stink, cause friction
When a sci-fi writer posits
Something never learned in college,
Cast it out as fake because it’s
Fantasy, instead of knowledge?
Tom Juniper Poetry 