ACTIVITY 1 – VIDEO RESPONSE WORKSHEET

Instructions: List down at least 5 topics or statements and briefly discuss. Please note that
your answers should not be more than five sentences.

1. “Is knowledge always a good thing?”

I sometimes say ignorance is bliss because I am aware that knowing something

sometimes comes with a price, but after hearing what Dr. Tyson said, my thoughts shifted a little.
He said that knowledge empowers us to react, meaning it encourages us to do something,
especially when we think that action needs to be done, and I think that is so incredible and
terrifying at the same time. It is almost unfathomable how even a tiny piece of information can
affect our point of view and how it can drive us to make a change. I would say Dr. Tyson himself
is a perfect example of this; as a city dweller, he always believed that there were little to no stars
at night and thought that what he saw in the planetarium was a hoax. After going to Pennsylvania
those thoughts immediately vanished; that was such a simple moment of discovery, but that
simple discovery changed his point of view to the point that it is now his life, learning and
discovering what is beyond us and the world.

2. “I don’t want to blame knowledge, I want to blame the behavior of people in the presence of
knowledge”

I agree with this statement because we learn new stuff every single day, but that does not
mean that we should do something about it. Just like what Dr. Tyson said, we need better
knowledge management. We have to limit ourselves to a certain point; we have to learn when to
take action and when to stand down. We must not forget that everything we do has a
consequence no matter how big or small they are. Knowledge is indeed powerful, but how we
will deal with it is up to us.

3. “Science literacy is vaccine against charlatans of the world that would exploit your ignorance”

We all know that science is an inquiry on how and why everything is the way they are;
that is why I think this statement is true. The world is not black and white, and things do not
“just” exist or happen. Sometimes we should not accept things as they are; there are times when
we have to ask questions to know more to save ourselves from being tricked. I personally think
that people who ask questions are smart because they do not limit themselves to what is
presented in front of them; they do not just accept what is being fed to them. Just like in Dr.
Tyson’s example regarding the crystals, you would not just immediately buy those crystals; you
should inquire to gather as much information as you can to protect yourself from fraudsters.
4. “Distrust in Science”

Humans are naturally curious about everything; we all think that we are superior beings
because we believe that we are the only life forms existing. I think this is the reason why Dr.
Tyson said that if we ever discover another life form that is far more intelligent than us, it would
mess up our ego. I guess this is also one of the reasons why people doubt science sometimes;
some things are beyond our understanding and knowledge; as I said, humans thrive for
information. We fear what we do not know and distrust what we do not understand to the point
that we label it as magic. Personally, I do think it is amazing to ponder about the existence of
other life forms and whether or not they are doing the same things that we do.

5. “Our academic system rewards people who know a lot of stuff and generally we call people
smart”

This is actually quite upsetting because we all grew up with this kind of system and we
accepted it with little to no questions at all. I think we should stop equating fact memorizing to
being intelligent because it takes more than that to be wise. Just like what Dr. Tyson said, we
should promote curiosity because the only way we can ever truly learn is by asking questions.
We do not get answers just by looking at something; there are times when we have to do
experiments to understand more. I firmly believe that by doing this, we will be able to advance
and achieve more than we already do.