Neil deGrasse Tyson once again schooled B.o.B when it comes to the rapper’s flat-Earth claims. Over the last couple of days, the rapper has been challenging Tyson with his truther theories about the earth being flat. There were even diss tracks made in the process.
But hopefully, after Tyson’s appearance on The Nightly Show, B.o.B will finally go back to rapping about things other than science.
Tyson joined show host Larry Wilmore to basically settle the score once and for all. And he did it in the most glorious way.
“Listen, B.o.B, once and for all. The Earth looks flat because, one, you’re not far enough away, at your size,” Tyson said, making fun of the rapper’s diminutive height. “Two, your size isn’t large enough relative to Earth to notice any curvature at all. It’s a fundamental fact of calculus and non-Euclidean geometry: Small sections of large curved surfaces will always look flat to little creatures that crawl upon it.
“But this whole thing is just a symptom of a larger problem: There’s a growing anti-intellectual strain in this country, and it may be the beginning of the end of our informed democracy,” Tyson said. “Of course, in a free society, you can and should think whatever you want. If you want to think the world is flat, go right ahead.
Tyson’s pièce de résistance came at the end: “And by the way—this is called gravity,” he said while dropping the mic.