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Neil deGrasse Tyson - We Stopped Dreaming (Episode 1)

Evan Schurr
Commentary
YouTube
3 HN users recommended this commentary3 months2012–2025 score 3.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Recommended to anyone asking whether space exploration is worth the cost.

A short, music-driven video built from Neil deGrasse Tyson's remarks on why advancing the space frontier matters, contrasting NASA's small budget with war spending and stressing inspiration.

“I always recommend anyone wondering about whether or not space exploration is worth it to view the following amazing video compilations.” (HN, 2014)

1 strong recommendations · 2 recommendations · 4 citations · Commentary

7 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@ButchDriveshaft Nov 2014 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Philae has landed
I had to create an account just to thank you for this response. I always recommend anyone wondering about whether or not space exploration is worth it to view the following amazing video compilations. "We Stopped Dreaming - Episode 1": [this video] "We Stopped Dreaming - Episode 2": [link]
Compilation on whether space exploration is worth it.
@dudurocha May 2012 Recommends
on HN thread NASDAQ:FB
Read more
I got to disagree. Not in the part that Facebook was important to Arab Spring and reconnect people long seen. I desagree in the part that rockets doesn't give benefits. Rockets and all 'complicated' science, push the human race forward. Your cellphone is only able to connect to the internet because of the rockets that were send to the atmosphere, long time ago. Better than me, I have to people to talk about this. Read Science and Culture, by Thomas Huxley : How often have we not been told that the study of physical science is incompetent to confer culture; that it touches none of the higher problems of life; and, what is worse, that the continual devotion to scientific studies tends to generate a narrow and bigoted belief in the applicability of scientific methods to the search after truth of all kinds. How frequently one has reason to observe that no reply to a troublesome argument tells so well as calling its author a "mere scientific specialist." And, as I am afraid it is not permissible to speak of this form of opposition to scientific education in the past tense; may we not expect to be told that this, not only omission, but prohibition, of "mere literary instruction and education" is a patent example of scientific narrow-mindedness? source: [link] And the great Neil deGrasse Tyson , in the pretty "We stopped Dreaming": [this video]
Tyson on the value of space exploration.
@shagie Aug 2022 Recommends
on HN thread Launch Attempt Scrubbed
There's a Neil deGrasse Tyson video titled We Stopped Dreaming that gets into the NASA budget (and the related society changes) [this video] The part about the NASA budget is at 2:00 though it's all a good watch.
Tyson discusses NASA budget and related societal changes.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@Alupis Jul 2015 Cites it
on HN thread NASA’s New Horizons Discovers Frozen Plains in the Heart of Pluto’s ‘Heart’
> I'm tired of saying this, but I have to say it again. The NASA budget is four tenths of one penny on a tax dollar. If I held up the tax dollar, and I cut horizontally into it, four tenths of one percent of it's width, it doesn't even get you into the ink. So I will not accept a statement that says, we can't afford it! > Do you realize that the 850 billion dollar bank bailout; that sum of money is greater than the entire fifty year running budget of NASA. > How much would you pay for the universe? [1] "We Stopped Dreaming" - Neil deGrasse Tyson - [this video]
Tyson argues NASA's budget is tiny relative to federal spending.
@visakanv Jul 2015 Cites it
on HN thread NASA estimates 1B ‘Earths’ in our galaxy alone
Human spaceflight isn't just about scientific breakthrough, or even planetary life insurance. It's also about inspiring people and radically changing people's worldviews. After all, once we're on two planets, it becomes "best in the worlds". The implications this has on people's imaginations is non-trivial: [this video]
Tyson on how spaceflight inspires people and shifts worldviews.
@shagie Mar 2025 Cites it
on HN thread NASA Turns Off 2 Voyager Science Instruments to Extend Mission
Neil deGrasse Tyson - We Stopped Dreaming - [this video] Not so much "sources" but rather it was a "this was not the goal". (Side bit - after watching "We Stopped Dreaming" I find it necessary to watch Wanderers to dream again. [link] )
Tyson talk that motivated the commenter to dream about space again.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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