General · Media · TV

We’re a story-driven species — 2019 TV series ‘Cosmos’

This Space.com article heralds the coming new season of the “Cosmos” TV series: “‘Cosmos’ Tackles Humanity’s Future: Q&A with Creator Ann Druyan.” Yes, science communicator is a real profession.

A new season of the science TV series “Cosmos” [“a show largely about astronomy and astrophysics”] is set to premiere in the spring of 2019, penned by one of the show’s original creators, Ann Druyan. Earlier this month, Druyan talked with reporters about what fans can expect from the new series, and discussed the role of science in the modern world.

We’re a story-driven species. We need to know these stories to understand the meaning of the work. And I think one of the great tragedies of my own education … was that the science was denuded of all the passion and the feeling. Now, obviously, when you’re doing the science you have to be dispassionate, but once you’ve figured something out, that doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t really feel [the passion that went into the discovery]. And I think that’s the reason “Cosmos” remains so special to people. I think it works on many different levels, and it’s not afraid of the visual beauty and the feeling. But I don’t think we ever cut corners on the rigors of the science and the data. We try not to. We never do that knowingly.1

As far as revisiting the topic of climate change, Druyan answered:

Oh, yes. I think the most emotional episode will be that one.

What we did in that [episode about Venus] is that we tried to take every objection to climate change that anyone could have — things like, “Maybe it’s a natural cycle,” “Maybe it’s the sun,” “Maybe it’s this other thing.” We addressed every single objection that we could think of. And so, we made our argument there.

 

[1] Druyan’s answer to the question “What’s your general approach to the current distrust of science, and is that something you incorporate into the show?” is particularly interesting.