It’s become something of a running gag at this point — renowned astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson taking to social media to poke holes in genre entertainment, by pointing out how real-life science is frequently incompatible with science-fiction.
But according to Tyson himself, he’s not doing it to ruin anyone’s fun — he’s hoping that pop culture can take cues from science to make things “even more badass.” In this exclusive clip from AMC’s Talking with Chris Hardwick, Tyson uses 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens as an example, saying that if real-science had been applied to the Starkiller Base, the film’s creative team would have realized it could have wielded even more destructive power.
“If you take all the energy out of a star, so the star completely disappears, do you realize that is enough energy to destroy a thousand planets?” Tyson asked Hardwick. “They didn’t do this math! Had they done the math, it could have been even more of a badass planet killer. So don’t tell me that real science is holding you back. No. Real science is grander than even the limits of your own imagination.”
The Neil deGrasse Tyson episode of Talking with Chris Hardwick airs 11 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 20 on AMC.