Ass Quote by Neil deGrasse Tyson
“With one linear centimeter of your lower colon there lives and works more bacteria (about 100 billion) that all humans who have ever been born. Yet many people continue to assert that it is we who are in charge of the world”
About This Quote
Source Interview: Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, 2014
The human gut hosts vastly more bacteria than there are people ever born, yet humans mistakenly think they control the world.
In simple terms: Bacteria outnumber humans; we overestimate our control.
Key Takeaway
Recognize the limits of human dominance.
Themes
biology
humility
perspective
Mood
thoughtful
informative
Type
educational
scientific
When to use this quote
- dietary health
- environmental policy
- education curricula
Key Concepts
microbiology
anthropology
Questions to Reflect On
- What does this tell us about human hubris?
- How can we better communicate scientific scale?
A Different Perspective
Complex ecosystems are hard to simplify for public understanding.
![“They [scientists of centuries past] call on God only from the lonely and precarious edge of incomprehension. Where they feel certain about their explanations, however, God gets hardly a mention.” quote by Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0b0/neil-degrasse-tyson-143_century_they-scientists-of-centuries-past-call-o_12921.jpg)
