[Semiapies]

Way too many people taking this far too seriously as an attack on liberal arts. It's just absurd humor and could be flipped for equally funny effect - some movie astronaut/action hero in a tense meeting of academics who all consider his input weirdly vital.

[ajuc]

Of course it's joke, but when I tried to think of situation that would be analogical in importance and where astronaut/engineer would be so much worse fit than liberal arts, I couldn't.

That probably just tells my imagination is limited.

But not everybody has to be able to save the world when it comes to that. Singers and writers are useful, and they wouldn't fit in to asteroid scenario, neither.

[Semiapies]

Or loads of "geeks" who know barely more than a layman about astrophysics.