Welcome back. Now...
if you spent any time on Twitterin the past 48 hours,
then you've heard aboutour next story.
Rapper B.o.B. blowing up Twitter
with his theories onthe actual shape of the earth.
Rapper B.o.B.-- perhaps you knowhim for hits "Airplanes"
and "Nothin' On You"-- he firmlybelieves that the earth is flat.
He is on a Twitter missionto prove it,
and he says he hasphotographic evidence
and that we've beenfooled all this time.
Mm. Mm.
You know, guys, first timeI heard "Nothin' On You",
I definitely thought,"This B.o.B. guy--
he is the one to finally takedown that asshole Aristotle."
Take him down.Take him down.
Seriously, though,these tweets are amazing.
"...the horizonis always eye level..."
"Once you go flatyou never go back"?
"...where is the curve?"
Um, B.o.B., if you'relooking for the curve,
you got to call Sir Mix-A-Lot.
That is a manwho did not deny science.
He did not.Am I right?
I'm not lying about that. Okay.
Anyway, so this thingwent viral.
And even world-renownedsuper scientist
and friend of The Nightly Show Neil deGrasse Tyson
got involved and refuted someof B.o.B.'s retrograde nonsense,
which prompted B.o.B.to release a diss track
called "Flatline".Here's a taste.
♪ Neil Tysonneed to loosen up his vest ♪
♪ They'll probably write thatman one hell of a check ♪
♪ Flat line, flat line
♪ You got me oncebut that died, aye ♪
Oh, (bleep)!
This (bleep)just got real, y'all.
Uh-oh.
I'm gonna tell you--looks like we've got ourselves
a r...code red science emergency.
So I'm gonna have todo something I rarely do.
I got to hitthe science panic button.
WOMAN: Science emergencydefense program initiated.
Science emergency defenseprogram initiated.
-Oh, my God. -Science emergencydefense program initiated.
(audience cheering, applauding)
WILMORE: Hey, Neil...Neil deGrasse Tyson!
-Larry?-It's Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Neil deGrasse Tyson, everybody.
Yes.
Look at... look at that.Thank you.
-Larry...-Yes?
I'm trying to eat my dinner,I got your distress call.
-I apologize, I know.-Is everything okay?
No, Neil, everythingis not okay.
This B.o.B. BS aboutthe earth being flat
is getting out of control.Can you please help us?
Uh, h-hold my sandwich.
-Oh, sure, okay.-I'm sorry.
Here, you take that.Here, here, you want your...
-Oh. Oh. Oh, my God. Okay.-(audience cheering, applauding)
Looks good.All right. Go.
All right, listen B.o.B.,once and for all.
The earth looks flatbecause, one,
you're not far enough awayat your size.
Two, your... your sizeisn't large enough
relative to earthto notice any curvature at all.
It's a fundamental factof calculus
and non-Euclidean geometry.
Small sectionsof large curved surfaces
will always look flat to littlecreatures that crawl upon it.
But this...
but this whole thing-- it's justa symptom of a larger problem.
There's a growinganti-intellectual strain
in this country that many th...that may be
the beginning of the endof our informed democracy.
O-Of course, in a free society,
you can and shouldthink whatever you want.
And if you want to think theworld is flat, go right ahead.
But if you think the worldis flat and you have influence
over others,as would successful rappers
or even presidential candidates,
then being wrong
becomes being harmful--
to the health, the wealth,
and the securityof our citizenry.
Discovery and explorationgot us out of the caves.
And each generation benefits
from what previous generationshave learned.
Isaac Newton, my man,said, "I have...
"If I have seenfarther than others,
it's by standingon the shoulders of giants."
(cheering, whooping)
-WILMORE: Yeah! (whoops)-Can I get an amen?
So that's right, B.o.B.,when you stand on the shoulders
of those who came before,
you might justsee far enough to realize
the earth isn't (bleep) flat.
And by the way...
this is called gravity.
-(cheering, applause)-Oh! Oh!
Neil deGrasse Tyson, everybody!
Oh! We'll be right back.
-Oh! Oh!-I'm out!
-♪ -(cheering, applause)