The Moon Landing Wasn’t Fake and Gay
Dear Magicians,
Let’s talk about expertise in an age of ignorance.
This week, Candace Owens declared NASA’s historic space accomplishments “fake and gay.” A comedian with seemingly no travel experience is suddenly a geopolitical expert. And upcoming guest, my friend Douglas Murray, faces mockery by Joe Rogan for suggesting that maybe, just maybe, actual knowledge matters.
Interesting timing.
Because right now, graduate students — our future experts — face anxiety and depression at six times the normal rate. Half are psychologically distressed. They’re training to become authorities in an era that increasingly despises authority.
Think about that.
We’re attacking expertise while desperately needing it. Climate change accelerates. AI advances daily. Nuclear tensions simmer. Yet we’re choosing TikTok hot takes over decades of research.
The system doesn’t help.
“Of course you’re struggling; it’s a PhD,” they say. Like psychological trauma is a badge of honor. Meanwhile, social media influencers gather millions of clicks and Adsense bucks by declaring Earth is flat.
Consider the paradox.
We’re building knowledge while society seems to prefer ignorance. Creating specialists in an age that celebrates generalist declarations. Training experts for a world that increasingly shouts them down.
But here’s why it matters.
The moon landing wasn’t “fake and gay.” It was real and magnificent. It happened because experts dedicated their lives to understanding physics, engineering, mathematics. Not because someone had a spicy take on social media.
We need experts.
Not fewer.
More.
We need minds trained in rigorous thinking. In careful analysis. In the humility that comes from understanding how much there is to know.
Yes, the PhD system needs reform. Yes, we must protect mental health. But the answer isn’t to abandon expertise — it’s to make accessing it more sustainable.
Think about it.
The next moon landing. The next vaccine. The next breakthrough in clean energy. These won’t come from influencers. They’ll come from experts who endured the gauntlet of specialized training.
The question isn’t whether getting a PhD is “worth it.” The question is whether we can build a system that creates experts without breaking them. Because we need them now more than ever.
Want to be part of the solution? Support experts. Value knowledge. And maybe, just maybe, consider becoming one yourself.
Are experts infallible? Of course not. As Richard Feynman said, “Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.” And he was an expert! That simply means you must test your assumptions about who you trust. As with free speech, the solution to the lacunae of some experts is not fewer experts — it’s more and better experts!
Because in an age of ignorance as a badge of honor, expertise isn’t just an achievement.
It’s an act of resistance.
Want to hear more about the value of expertise? Watch my Prager University video “Follow the Science!”. And make sure to catch my conversation with Douglas Murray — leave a question for him here.
Until next time, have a M.A.G.I.C. Week,
Brian
Appearance
Sky & Telescope’s new piece chronicles the exploits of my former graduate student Dr. Dave Boettger and our recently completed Simons Observatory — now perched 5200 m high on Chile’s Cerro Toco — detailing how our trio of 0.4 m Small Aperture Telescopes and the freshly installed 6 m Large Aperture Telescope captured first light in February 2025 . Together we’ll map CMB polarization with unprecedented precision, hunting primordial gravitational waves, constraining neutrino mass, and stress‑testing cosmic‑inflation models .
Explore the first part of this three part report online now 🔭 here
Genius
Deadline 🎞️ announces Monolith, a groundbreaking, highly anticipated documentary on Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 opus, exploring its cultural, technological, and spiritual impact. Backed by the Kubrick Estate, TIME Studios, Partners in Kind, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mike Medavoy, and more, director Stevan Riley will combine AI reconstructions, rare Kubrick–Clarke correspondence, and interviews with leading thinkers to show how 2001 predicted today’s tech age. As a founding member of the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination 🌀, I find this project truly exhilarating. Hat tip to my colleague and past podcast guest Professor Benjamin Bratton for bringing this to my attention!
Image
Tonight! The Lyrid meteor shower, born from Comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher), is one of the oldest documented in human history, with observations dating as far back as 687 BC. Unlike the more predictable Perseids or Geminids, the Lyrids are known for their unpredictable outbursts — most famously in 1982, when rates surged to 250 meteors per hour. Though typically producing a modest 10–20 meteors per hour, their meteors are fast and bright, often punctuated by occasional fireballs and persistent trails. Peaking around April 21–22, the Lyrids remind us that even ancient cosmic debris can still put on a surprise show.
Conversation
Buckle up for a cosmic thriller! In this episode of the Into the Impossible podcast, I sit down with the legendary “Pluto killer” himself, Professor Mike Brown, to unravel the dramatic story behind Pluto’s demotion and hear firsthand about the ongoing hunt for the mysterious Planet Nine. Get ready for astronomical controversy, scientific detective work, and the human stories behind rewriting our map of the solar system — this is science at its most thrilling!
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This Friday at 12p Pacific Time I’ll hold my first ever paid “Office Hours” where you all can connect with me for the low price of $19.99 per hour. I get a lot of requests for coffee, to meet with folks one on one, to read people’s Theories of Everything etc. Due to extreme work overload, I’m only able to engage directly with supporters who show an ongoing commitment to dialogue — which is why I host a monthly Zoom session exclusively for patrons in the $19.99/month tier.
It’s also available for paid Members of my Youtube channel at the Cosmic Office Hours level (also $19.99/month). Join here and see you in my office hours!
Upcoming Episode
Douglas Murray, whose sharp analysis cuts through ideological fog with surgical precision, will be joining me on The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast soon. His work tackles everything from the decline of European civilization to the peculiar moment we’re living in where expertise is treated with suspicion while social media influencers are treated as authorities. What would you like me to ask Douglas about navigating truth in an era where being an expert has become almost suspicious?
Submit your questions here: https://tally.so/r/mevW70
