I remember 3 years ago Tom was speaking in Austin at a conference who I flew into from Europe. He ended up spending HOURS after his talk outside, speaking with people up to the point where it was getting really late and only me, my friend and 3 other people were sitting around in a circle. He was answering all of our questions. I'll never forget that because it shows that he really really cares. That's been a huge inspiration for me to give back in the future as well when I'm in the position to mentor others. Thanks Tom, - Leon

My 18 month old is gonna love the fact I watched this interview

"Be ashamed to die until you have scored some victory for humanity" what a quote! Thanks @NeilDeGrasse

It’s refreshing to see an interviewer who lets their guest speak. Thank you! Subbed.

Humans are realest when they are children We, adults teach them how to forget the true nature of being.

This man has helped me so much.When he spoke of his family being rational instead of making decisions based upon religious beliefs.I was raised as a JW and I realize my family made irrational decisions based on JW beliefs.This man is so smart.

I felt so guilty stealing curiosity in my son, damn! it makes me cry. Thanks Neil, I love you man you are saving my parenting and my son's fullest potential to this world. Your advice sounds like a father speaking. And thanks Tom for sharing this.

I let my daughter go out.. climb things, play dirt at evening, whatever she found intersting outside for 2-3 hours just before shower...

If teachers are like him every child will be scientist

"You have the power to create meaning in your life..." ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

I discovered Neil while surfing Netflix. I came across the title "the inexplicable universe ", and started to watch episode 1. I was always intrigued by science and loved it since grade school but this man brought back my child-like curiosity and hunger for science in my adulthood. I felt like a student watching his show and learning things about astrophysics that just blew my mind. I love that he is so humble about it too. He taught me how small we really are yet how amazing it is that we are part of the very elements that are scattered across the entire universe. I look at the sky differently and it is sadly so lost on most everyone around me.

Let the child be free, experiment, let them choose and be curious. Let them choose who they want to be and be there to guide them, support them and teach them how to love, how to become a better version of themselves every day ♡

Ah, that story of the mom & her child walking in the rain struck a real nerve with me, because I had a similar thing happen with my now-ex-wife and our son, and hearing Neil's story felt to me like one of the things I did as a parent was the right thing. Hearing Neil's story allowed me to give myself permission to feel validated that something I did as a parent was actually the right thing to do. At least on one occasion. In that particular teachable moment. Oh, but first? Let me say: I was not a perfect father. I was not a perfect husband. (The fact she's now my EX-wife, gives strong testimony & credence to THAT fact.) But there was a time when our son was young, 4 or 5 maybe, when we took him to a park. There were all the usual fun things to play on available. Swings, slides, jungle gym I think, fort to climb on and slide off, etc. But, what captured my son's attention almost instantly? A sand pit with a steel push carousel. The kind that require you manually push them to make them turn? Yeah. One of those. Do those even exist anymore? (Him being an only child, the fact there were other kids on it already, many his own age? I believe was likely the most enticing aspect for him. He wanted to have fun on that carousel with them. But I digress.) Those carousels have/had safety grab bars that you grab to hoist yourself aboard them. Essentially, there are 2 ways to get on one of those. The first way is the easiest: Wait until it stops spinning, then climb on. The second way is to try to follow the spinning carousel and jump on or grab a passing hand hold and pull yourself on, while it's still spinning. Obviously, the second method is much riskier. One need not be an astrophysicist to figure that out. 🙂🙂🙂😉😉😉 (My now-ex-wife was a bit overprotective of our son, it also bears noting. I tended to feel she molly-coddled him. I always felt that the best way to teach him anything, but ESPECIALLY why NOT to do something? Allow him to do it, and then, when he has an adverse experience? He learns why he should not do whatever it was we as parents might have felt was unsafe for him. Within reasonable parameters, certainly. We didn't need to have him fall off a cliff in order for him to understand that it's wise to avoid walking close to the edge of that cliff to learn that fact if you do, you could fall off, and get really hurt, or die, for one extreme example.) So he was walking quickly toward the carousel, with singular focus and determination, while it was spinning. Rapidly spinning. My wife reached out to grab him to stop him and I said: "Let him go. Let's see what he does. Will he wait until it stops to get on? Or try to jump on while it's spinning? If he jumps, he'll get hurt, BUT he'll also learn NOT to try that again, and then he'll wait until it stops or slows down to get on." She didn't want him to get hurt. Mother hen tendency, which I totally get. But she let him go off by himself, while we watched. He tried to jump on, got a slight clunk on his head and landed on the ground next to the carousel. He was mildly hurt, but more startled than anything else. The other kids saw he wanted to get on, so they slowed the carousel down to stop it so he could get on. He got hurt trying his way, true. But, he learned to stop and wait until the carousel stopped spinning before trying to get on. In retrospect? A perfect teachable moment. An opportunity for him to learn FOR HIMSELF, that curiosity is good, but it can sometimes be dangerous and potentially harmful. No better teacher than experience. (If you touch a hot stove while it's hot? You learn not to touch it next time until you KNOW for sure it's not hot.)

I am in awe. This is such an excellent interview.

27:55 Response to Tom asking about purpose in life. In my opinion is the most important moment of the interview.

Words can't hurt you unless you take them from whomever spoke them and use them to hurt yourself.

Wow. Pretty sure this interview just changed my life. Most insightful comments I've ever heard about meaning and purpose, living as a minority, dealing with racism, parenting consciously, and contributing to the world. Never heard Dr. Tyson talk about topics other than science and space until now and I am truly inspired and enlightened.

I am 49 yrs young & I still jump in mud puddles, its even more fun when my 3yr grand jumps with me!! Her face will light up with ?'s. Where do the ripples go? Why doesn't the mud stay on your boots? What makes the water brown? Endless topics she can learn & build from. She even expresses gratitude to Mother Earth for lifes lil moments. These are the moments that stay with me....& reminds me to be a curious kid myself! Thanks for all you share with us Tom!! ❤❤❤ IT & Women of Impact!!

Taking notes now so I have them ready in 10 years when I'll have kids

When my son was little, his pediatrician had the same philosophy. My son and I had been visiting a neighbor and she had just shampooed her carpet. My son found her plastic bottle of liquid detergent with a pump on top, and he started pumping out the detergent. The pediatrician said he was exploring his world, seeing how things work. I think, rather than punishing the children, it wouldn't be a bad thing to just redirect their efforts.

I've walked the path of Science and spirituality separately only leading to struggle When I learned to combined the two I recieved the keys to the universe. Much love to all of you #manifestgreatness

I so love Neil, we had some good conversation time under the night sky in New Mexico while filming Cosmos...thank you Neil and Tom for bringing him on your show!

This is why my 3 kids adore me and love me as i do them, with every fiber of my body!!! I let them live and explore the world AROUND them. Love this NDT! 👌🏽💞

"I now know how to learn," OMG! this is something I've looked forward to as a young man, hungry for knowledge but not knowing how exactly or what I would do with knowledge once I gain some some it... I'm definitely still learning, and I love being a student, a student of life. Thank you, this interview was awesome. Especially the child development and parenting component. Im part of a group of dads, we meet in our Cafe Dad sessions and I will be sharing this part: 30:29.

Tom thank you so much for spending your life savings to bring us impact theory! i just saw your broke to billion interview very inspiring!

Such a great interview Tom! Neil has a wealth of knowledge and wisdom that only he can share in his unique ways. Loved this!

Great series and great guest! The part taking on "looking for meaning in life" is a great braker which makes watcher realise how detached sometimes human expectations are from the sorrounding reality, waithing for epiphany instead of living the life and taking actions right where they should be taken

When he mentioned curiosity, I thought to myself that I used to do many scientific experiments and studying as a coping mechanism not to be involved with most of the other kids, to cope with social anxiety. I saw it before as running away from the world, but actually right now I can see it saved me, my brain and my soul are thankful for those moments, because right now I ask way more questions than many adults. Incredible interview of an even more incredible man. I'll read his book on science, it really sparked a lot of interest

This episode brought out a side of Neil deGrasse Tyson I never knew about, I totally expected something different but ended loving every min of it. He is truly a special human being and I am glad you brought him on the show! Thanks Tom!

Atlast my ideal arrived Thanks tom for inviting him

"What is a riot if not the very last act of desperation because you are left without any hope at all" 19:15 - Quite a relevant quote by Mr. Tyson in times like ours at this moment in history...

Awesome episode! You asked a few good questions and let NGT talk at length ❤ 23.23-27.00 made me cry

No better way to start my birthday than a fresh new Impact Theory!! Thank you Tom for another year of wisdom🙏😁

Wow i didn´t expect to see Neil deGrasse here, thank you Tom and all the team for makin this posible.

We people who live this moment are lucky we had the opportunity to listen to Niel. I am so happy to feel that great love his father left to the world

Neil is definitely one of my favorite people! I am the mom who holds my son's hand and we jump in that puddle together... Encourage imagination, creativity, thoughts, ideas, chaos, compassion, and love over all (in my opinion, of course) makes for great parent.

Love you so much Tom you brought my hero on the show!!! Thank you SO MUCH

This was a great interview! I definitely have guilt because I know I contributed to quashing my son's curiosity. 😔 He's almost 10 now...how do I give that piece back to him?

Ive been saying for a year now (in my mind) that I need those two together on IT. Thank you for this episode, truly the best! My two favorite men!

Just finished studying chemistry. Thanks IT for dropping this one today, needed it!

To date on Impact Theory, Neil is arguably one of the smartest, most intriguing guests Tom has had. The man is smart beyond measure. Nothing I love more than listening to a person smarter than me speak. "Smart" *is* its own kind of sexy ✌🏽💥💫

Whenever I hear this man talk, time ceases to exists. The positive vibe he radiates is natural and doesn't seem to budge, it's contagious! The very thought of this man is makes life easy. Thanks, Neil deGrasse Sunshine Tyson!

I love this! Very informative and resourceful... thank you for sharing such awesomeness! Blessings from the cosmos.

as a nanny this helped me so much when I watched it years ago. Now here I am watching it again as I study to get my Early Childhood Education Program. so happy I came across this video

Geez, I learned so much just from this video alone! Confirming ideas I've had while raising my children and their education!!🖤

Mouth watering conversation. Tom really made good use of his time with Neil. Every question was PERFECT! Two legends!

I love the way Tom smiles when Neil was talking about his experience when he went to Cornell University for his interview.

21:43 is something I needed to hear. I work with 3 other people in a group. 2 of the 3 are haters. I have let that hold me back for too long. Haters will always be there. I need to move on to find the next job. There may be haters there, but I am tired of them standing in my way.

I love what he says in the end....WOW

Your introductions are FIRE!! 🔥🔥Got my coffee ready for this!☕ Thanks Tom! 💪🏽❤🙏🏾😘

Finished Feeling good and am now reading Googins You can't hurt me. Keep giving me the good stuff Tom!

Amazing episode. Gleaned so much info and wisdom, will watch couple more times!!!!

Thank you sir, the message resonates to me with huge impact 👍🏽

Absolutely an amazing human. I listened twice as I learned something the first time and I wanted to make sure it sunk in. 🌹💕

This was so beautiful. That ending was so beautiful. Tyson is a poet, a philosopher, and a scientist❤️

It's a great interview and Tom's done a great job. I really wish I could say, it's one of the best interviews of Neil. But I just can't, because he's got the same passion, enthusiasm, energy, logical and a little bit of emotional connect to everything and Everytime he talks. This is an inspiring interview 🙏🙌

INCREDIBLE. Tom is an amazing Host. I've saw hundreds of Tyson's other interviews, and this is by far the best hosted interview. Not the most challenged or enlighten but one of the best and the only one that the interviewer gives room to Tyson to explain what is in his mind. Congrats to Tom, as usual.

If i was not so lazy, I would follow every direction and advice you give. Love you Neil

I really appreciate you Mr. Tyson and pray that you will be with us for many decades to come in good health and soundness.

What a great story teller. I could listen to him all day.

A true gentleman, genius and a progressive orator.

1:18 AND THAT'S HOW A GUEST INTRODUCTION MUST BE DONE!!!!

Tom, you are getting some great intellectuals/academics on your show. From Yuval Harari to Dawkins and now Neil Degrasse Tyson. Great Job!

Chevy Dude shared this pearl of wisdom on his UKposts channel recently. It seems appropriate here: "Someone else's opinion of me? Is none of my business."

Love Neil! I take my kids out to jump in puddles and then a good meal and bath after. They sleep like...well...babies.LOL

I would love to read a parental education book written by Neil!

For those wondering about NDT’s parenting tips, it might be worthwhile looking up Randy Pausch. His advice is pretty similar.

The story about the first encounter with Carl Sagan is wonderful!

What a great interview! I felt that finally somebody let him completed his ideas without any unnecessary interruptions :)

Thank you for having Neil on! I love him!

Great interview! Off to check out his Instagram now haha. Cool to hear him in a different light on this show

Your talk on purpose and meaning is spot on. We should always be looking to improve and enchance our knowledge to be better people so that we can help others too.

My son LOVES Dr. DeGrasse. He is 5 now, but has watched him since he was 2.

This video really hit home for me. (This is long but worth the read if you have time) I mean it really touched me. I am now 60 yes old and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin until I was 8 or 9. The reason it was so profound was the story about Neil's father and the racism he delt with. I can relate because, you see when I was a little skinny white kid in my neighborhood I was the only white kid. When I say that, I really mean I was the only white kid. I used to walk to school. I lived a block away. Usually on my way home from school just about every other day, I would end up being surrounded by 3 or 4 black kids and they would commence to beating the crap out of me. For the longest time I could never figure out why. I had never been brought up in a racial sort of way, so I didn't even know that the words they used to call me were bad or slurrs. They were almost as bad as the "N" word but for white people. One started with a "cra" and the other with a "hun" or "hon" depending on the person and how they pronounced it. But I honestly just didn't know they were racial slurrs. In fact truth be told, I didn't even know what a racial slurr was or what that meant. One day my neighbor told me, "You know if you fight back they will stop bothering you". I was really intrigued by that. I mean it just never occurred to me if I fought back they would just stop. He then added the caveat. "You don't have to win, but you do need to put up a good fight otherwise it could get worse. That still intrigued me. I was so nieve that I honestly just didn't know. I was a skinny white kid who saw everyone as the same. To me there was no black and white. To me they were just kids like me, which was why I really didn't understand why they didnt like me.. So anyway my neighbor takes me under his wing, he was pretty big so he had a big wing..Lol. He taught me how to defend myself and then he taught me how to really fight their street fighting way. Fast forward, he see's my baseball glove hanging off one of their bikes at the store. So we grabbed it and took off. They had bikes so they caught us. My neighbor wasn't the fastest because he was large. For this story I will call him John. It was probably for the best he was slow. They surrounded me because I had the glove. Then John stepped in and said "No". Heck I thought he was going to stop the whole thing. Which he could have. Some of them knew him. He was part of the neighborhood for sometime. But then he continued. "No, everyone here will not touch him." Then he asked who owned the bike we got the glove off. The guy stepped up. John then said, if you want his glove that bad you are going to have to fight him for it. Of course me being the skinny little white kid, I'm thinking, " You know, its cool, he can have it". I had been beat up so many times in the past I just didn't feel it was worth another beating. John pulled me aside and told me, "I know this guy, and I know what you can do because I taught you" He then sort of gave me a look that said, "you got this". So we started fighting. I cannot say how long the fight went on, and I honestly felt like I didn't do so well until I seen his nose bleeding. For some reason when I saw that, that skinny nieve white kid came out of me and I, stopped the fight and asked him if he was alright. I had never made anyone bleed before so that made me feel bad. But after that fight, I never had problems in the neighborhood again. All because I learned from John how to fight pretty darn good, but I never forgot in my heart that we were just kids. Not white or black. We were equals and I think apart from fighting fairly well, my act of kindness caught this kid off guard and that probably had more to do with me gaining their respect than beating the guy up. When I grew up to adulthood, I always looked at people the same way. I think my upbringing played a huge role in the way all of that as a kid turned out, as well as everything up until now at 60 yes old. If I didn't have the role models I had every day as a kid getting beat up, and then everyday after when I got pretty good at fighting, I think this skinny little white kid could have grown up to be one of those very racial, hateful type beating people up all the time. I am very thankful that I didn't. If I had, I would have not had the friends I had growing up. A pool of friends from all races, or at least many. But to me we were always the same and I feel we still are. Thank you to Neil for helping me remember we are all equals no matter what, and helping me remember where I got my values at. I just lost my father a few months ago so this was a nice reminder of how well he brought me up.

Both Neil Tyson and Carl Sagan are some of the most beautiful humans and most valuable Americans that have ever come about.

So many good quotes in this video, here's one of my favorites: "So you have ways to say you are different from other people, and I don't know that that's always a healthy place to be. In a pluralistic land you want to celebrate differences rather than go out of your way to establish differences and then claim one group is better than another. It is the very motto of the United States: Out of many, one. "E pluribus unum ".

Such an amazing episode!

Wow that was such a perfectly delivered introduction by Tom, and even more impressive was Neil’s resume

How do we see the footage of spacecraft doing orbital assists?

Absolutely love everything about this man! Thank You Tom for such a great guest!

I can relate master. I took some shroom and understood a lot about my past and stuff

Been waiting for this in a long time. NDT is the man! Thanks Tom for guesting him! :)

Thanks for the interview! One of my favorites and super humble

If you love Neil, you should check out Carl Sagan. Particularly, The Sagan Series. Carl Sagan has been Neil's mentor in many aspects. Both are great science communicators.

As soon as they hug at 3:20 you will look at the publication date!

The moment a child is born, a mother is born too, that lady existed before but the mother is completely new

he is such an amazing host. Great listening ear.

Any program with Dr. Tyson, the first 40% is just listing his credentials. LOL this is one of the voices that made me fall in love with science and want to do it for a career! We need more voices like his in the world :D

Damn! I wish this dude was my dad; he's so intelligent. I'm going to read up on him. I never heard of him. Thanks for having him today!!

I don’t have kids, but this is good advice for any human.

“Power to Create meaning,” very thought provoking!

Always an inspiring and educational sit down. Tom is hands down one of the internet's finest. Dr Tyson ain't so bad, either. ;)

This man is an amazing teacher!!!! I could listen to him all day long.

This guy literally (along with others) had an impact on my life. When they ask that question on "Who is someone famous you would like to have dinner with?" Neil dGT is that guy.

Neil you paint such a beautiful picture for people to interpret. It is particularly interesting to me in the sense what you have done here with this is explained how and why I chose after 20 years as a mechanic I have decided to become a preschool teacher . If I care, we care.

Yea that school talk was real i didn't enjoy school because students that were "smart" got all the attention and the rest were just cast aside as if they meant nothing in middle school or primary school as its called here i was a top student i loved learning i loved knowing how it happened what happened after why it happened and then high school i went through a rough period i lost my father and i derailed big time and instead of them seeing this they cast me to the side because that high school only had top students and if you were not a top student you meant nothing to them i drop out of school i taught myself everything i know with input from people who actually saw that i was able to understand and carry over the things they taught me into my understanding i taught myself computers building of computers the workings of them i went on to playing Esports and learning the physics of said games and if you did this at this time that that would come from it and i taught many the things i taught myself from being inquisitive about these things like being able to be a really good csgo player with very little available how to build themselves a pc with no knowledge of core counts and ram amounts or ram speeds and im now going onto becoming an armed security escorting diamonds and other wealthy minerals but i believe the universe guided me here to be who i am now to show many people there even though you dont just appear spiting out insane math formulas and so forth you are not worthless or lesser you just need to look at life and see what you want to build instead of sitting around thinking people who teach or say they teach will be able to predict what you can become because you can be anything you want to be as long as you have the passion for it. You need to love it to do it if you dont love it you wont ever grow.

Neil had me at the intro!

Outstanding interview!!!!

Love the closing remarks about humanity! Thanks Neil, immediately went to Audible and got your Black Hole book!

I just began to cry at the end.Really there is so much love to share