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Neil deGrasse Tyson Takes This Child's Impossible Question VERY Seriously

By Vivian Kane | Videos | January 16, 2015 |

By Vivian Kane | Videos | January 16, 2015 |



During a Q&A session in Boston last night, Neil deGrasse Tyson was ambushed with the most unanswerable question there is. A”six and three-quarters” year-old boy asked him “What’s the meaning of life?” But while the audience gave the appropriate “kids say the darnedest things” laugh, Neil got real. (And very comfortable in the process.) Because yes, that is straight-up adorable, but it’s also serious stuff. Here’s what Neil had to say:

So — what is the meaning of life? I think people ask that question on the assumption that ‘meaning’ is something you can look for and go, ‘Here it is, I found it. Here’s the meaning. I’ve been looking for.’ That scenario, however, doesn’t consider the possibility that ‘meaning’ is something you create. You manufacture it for yourself and for others.

So when I think of ‘meaning’ in life, I ask, ‘Did I learn something today that I didn’t know yesterday, bringing me a little closer to knowing all that can be known in the universe?’ If I live a day and I don’t know a little more than I did the day before, I think I wasted that day. So the people who, at the end of the school year, say ‘The summer! I don’t have to think anymore!’ — I just don’t know. To think brings you closer to nature. To learn how things work gives you power to influence events. Gives you power to help people who may need it — to help yourself and your trajectory.

So when I think of the meaning of life, that’s not an eternal and unanswerable question — to me, that’s in arm’s reach of me everyday. So to you, at age six-and-three-quarters, may I suggest that you explore nature as much as you possibly can.


He then gave the boy permission to f*ck some shit up. He told him to get his clothes dirty. Jump in some puddles. Bang on some pots and pans. And if his parents complain, too bad. Neil deGrasse Tyson told him to.

Via Uproxx.