i just clicked one as a sample "gravity falls exponentially with distance" vs. "gravity falls the inverse square of distance" are actually the same thing

@Janiesuper Had you stayed awake in school algebra you would know that inverse square and exponential function are different things.
Exponential function: f( x ) = k^x where "k" is a positive constant.
Inverse square: f( x ) = x^-2 .

Thank you for another piece of evidence supporting my case. I believe Tyson is making American even dumber.

@HopDavid it's the same

I'm a scientist. He knows it's the same too.

@HopDavid no an exponential function is f(x )=k x ^n where n is any negative or positive value and. think is anything but zero. (Not think, k bad autocorrect) also you might be thinking to hard. The inverse square is n= -2

@Janiesuper Wrong. It is the exponent that's variable in an exponential function. Setting the exponent to a constant negative two is not an exponential function. Here's a citation: [en.wikipedia.org]

Please comment more. You giving me more evidence Tyson is making 'Murica even dumber.

@HopDavid wrong, well yeah it can be variable but it doesnt have to be. mine was f(x ) but it can be f( n) too, it doesnt matter, n or x can still be negative

Tyson is contrasting ignorance here with reason--that is, magical thinking vs. critical thinking.

Another way to think of the kind of "reason" he is using is through the prism of cognitive restructuring. Cognitive restructuring would be the intense use of critical thinking, reason, evidence, and the Socratic Method to identify irrational thoughts and thought processes to become more functional in reality. Its opposite (what Tyson broadly terms "ignorance" here) would be magical thinking, brain washing, etc., among many other maladaptive thought processes.
[en.wikipedia.org]

No one is ever absolutely reasonable and devoid of ignorance. But there are some who are not even on a path to being reasonable--they are not even in the same zip code, don't know how to find it, and are not even aware they should be looking for it.

Willful ignorance. An excellent observation and distinction.

I am always reminded of W.B Yeats' poem The Second Coming:

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

@brentan I think being passionate about things is what divides us as a people.
I don't fully understand passion, I hear people stating that their work or profession is their passion. I personally do not understand that. Work is only to earn money to survive and hopefully save a little for retirement.

Exactly

@RobertMartin Yeats was talking about the ignorant intensity of feelings among what we would term the mob. And the others, who have the ability to think are all just being apathetic. I rarely worked in a job I had a passion for - just once. I got more than money from it, perhaps I felt I had a value. But nobody could criticise the most of people in the most of jobs who do it just for the paycheck.

@brentan This also aligns with both halves of the Dunning-Kruger effect. The ignorant are absolutely certain (and brash and passionate) as a side effect of their ignorance, and the knowledgeable are doubtful (and reluctant and even tempered) as a side effect of their knowledge.

Education worldwide would solve a great many problems.

@JesseThompson I disagree. If we were going to do that, we'd have done it by now.
We're getting worse. Not better.
We have all the "insights" we need.
We aren't going to "circumvent" anything.
We're going to be responsible for our own extinction. Unless we get lucky, and this rock gets hit by an asteroid first.

@JesseThompson I'm not being "negative', just realistic.
However, you are free to believe as you choose.

You know the old proverb : ignorance is bliss

@RobertMartin And everyday I’m blinded by all of the shiny happy people. ?

Many people think science is just "dependable magic", and thus no different than any other kind of magical thinking.