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Everything happens on a continuum. So we need vocabulary and mindset to recognise that. Whereas, humans have this urge to put you in a box.

Are you with me or against me? Are you a boy or are you a girl? Is this high or is it low? Are you black or are you white? And anybody who’s looked at the actual world will recognise that all of those features come on a spectrum. They’re on a spectrum.

And if they’re on a spectrum, but you’re forcing everybody into categories that make it easier for you to tribal-ise, but instead if you see everybody on a spectrum, you can’t tribal-ise that. Because you can’t put an easy divider.

You have to recognise a continuum connects me to that person. And once you realise that, I think, you’re more prone to have a conversation. 

Neil deGrasse Tyson speaking with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show, in answer to the question “what stories can Science tell us that will bring us together?”

Neil deGrasse Tyson speaking with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show, in answer to the question “what stories can Science tell us that will bring us together?”

A long held guilty pleasure of mine is listening to clips from The Late Show with Steven Colbert while I have my breakfast. I like that he’s open to challenge, and at times that he takes on challenging guests. Mostly though, he seems to have a positive history with his guests, and it’s clear when there’s a friendship built on a history of previous meetings and interviews.

Neil deGrasse Tyson fits both of these guest types. He and Colbert have met many times before, are clearly very comfortable in each other’s company, and with pushing and challenging each other.

Neal said the above during some back-and-forth that saw Colbert trying to provoke some responses around the idea that science and facts alone aren’t enough to solve all our social and political problems, and that stories are needed to help people better relate and understand.

Considering this was an off the cuff response, I think it’s fantastic. It appeals to a LOT of my current research and thinking about neurodiversity, and what it takes for us to work more effectively with each other in diverse teams.

We need to find ways that can help people see the spectrums and continuums of reality, to feel more comfortable with such diversity, and to resist clumping everything into binary or tribal categories.