Bill Nye: Why We Explore | Big Think
Bill Nye: Why We Explore
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Bill Nye has many feathers in his cap — he’s the CEO of The Planetary Society, has a brand-new Netflix show, flew on Air Force One with President Obama, has at least six honorary doctorate degrees and two books to his name — but there’s thing one he’s most proud of, and he shares it with Tracey, a 19-year-old student just beginning her science studies at college. As she steps into a lifelong pursuit of science, Nye advises her on the greatest contribution scientists can make to their community. Dropping awe-inspiring facts and publishing groundbreaking findings are exciting parts of being a scientist but the greatest contribution a scientist can make is to educate people — especially kids from a young age — about the scientific method. Carl Sagan, Bill Nye’s mentor, can explain this in better words than anyone: “Science is more than a body of knowledge, it’s a way of thinking, a way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we’re up for grabs for the next charlatan — political or religious — who comes ambling along. The people have to be educated, and they have to practice their skepticism and their education otherwise we don’t run the government, the government runs us.”
Bill Nye’s most recent book is Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World.
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BILL NYE:
Bill Nye, scientist, engineer, comedian, author, and inventor, is a man with a mission: to help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. Making science entertaining and accessible is something Bill has been doing most of his life.
In Seattle Nye began to combine his love of science with his flair for comedy, when he won the Steve Martin look-alike contest and developed dual careers as an engineer by day and a stand-up comic by night. Nye then quit his day engineering day job and made the transition to a night job as a comedy writer and performer on Seattle’s home-grown ensemble comedy show “Almost Live.” This is where “Bill Nye the Science Guy®” was born. The show appeared before Saturday Night Live and later on Comedy Central, originating at KING-TV, Seattle’s NBC affiliate.
While working on the Science Guy show, Nye won seven national Emmy Awards for writing, performing, and producing. The show won 18 Emmys in five years. In between creating the shows, he wrote five children’s books about science, including his latest title, “Bill Nye’s Great Big Book of Tiny Germs.”
Nye is the host of three currently-running television series. “The 100 Greatest Discoveries” airs on the Science Channel. “The Eyes of Nye” airs on PBS stations across the country.
Bill’s latest project is hosting a show on Planet Green called “Stuff Happens.” It’s about environmentally responsible choices that consumers can make as they go about their day and their shopping. Also, you’ll see Nye in his good-natured rivalry with his neighbor Ed Begley. They compete to see who can save the most energy and produce the smallest carbon footprint. Nye has 4,000 watts of solar power and a solar-boosted hot water system. There’s also the low water use garden and underground watering system. It’s fun for him; he’s an engineer with an energy conservation hobby.
Nye is currently the Executive Director of The Planetary Society, the world’s largest space interest organization.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Tracey: Dear Bill Nye. My name is Tracey, and as of today it is my 19th birthday, and I’m pursuing my education in the sciences thanks to the influence of worldly educators such as yourself. My question to you is: what do you think is the most beneficial thing a scientist can do for the community, and what do you consider your greatest accomplishment as a scientist and an educator? All the best, and thank you for your contributions to the generations ahead of you.
Bill Nye: Tracey. I’m delighted that you are pursuing a career in science. We need as many scientifically literate people as we can in our society so that when it’s time to vote and make decisions about our future we do it in an informed way with science as the background. So thank you. This is fabulous.
As far as my contribution, that’s a very nice ques…
For the full transcript, check out https://bigthink.com/videos/hey-bill-nye-what-do-you-consider-your-greatest-accomplishment
@zeitgeist5134
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
There is a difference between exploration and colonization. I delight in the exploration of Mars by drones. New knowledge is candy to society as well as to the individual's mind. The childish science-fiction-fantasy of colonizing Mars, however, is patently absurd. Such an effort to colonize would be an appalling waste of resources that would better serve to healing the harm that the human race has done here on Earth. Bill Nye talks about exploring the ecosystem of a rainforest, but if that rainforest is extinct because we have killed it, so what if we have a colony on Mars, a colony that is grotesquely demanding of our limited resources? If an egotistical, immature idiot like Elon Musk advocates colonizing Mars, it's a damn good indication that it's a stupid, irresponsible idea.
@mrmonky01
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
BiLl NyeE ThE SCIencCe GuuY
@robertlight6905
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
"Science is the formalization of our natural curiosity." – Jacques Cousteau.
@michaelgirodat1062
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
Let us all take a moment for a slow clap. What an amazing man.
@Angel-vihs
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
Last night i dreamt i made out with this guy now i just sit in silence
@biologyelwell666
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
I like Bill Nye but these videos are subpar!
@codybecker4260
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
BILL NYE HE SCIENCE GUY
@NocturnalToothbrush
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
People are ignorant on so many levels, they say something can't be when they don't know the whole picture. What's impossible to us today could be a common thing tomorrow. Like the airplane for example. The human mind can’t comprehend the cosmos, so before you go and say something can't be done stop for a second and open up your mind, you might discover something truly amazing. Imagine if in the past we took what we thought to be true and left it at that. We’d still think the earth was flat while riding on our horse drawn carriages. Humanities ability to progress always starts with defying the impossibilities of today.
@cicimanchester4840
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
We explore the world because of a deep-rooted, unconscious instinct we have to understand our surroundings. Some people explore the inner workings of human relationships or even celebrities to better understand themselves. Others explore the natural world. The spirit of exploration can be suppressed by disappointment, alcohol, drugs and depression, or cranky old age. A child cannot suppress curiosity but adults can.
@Lem0nsquid
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
I really hope Im able to get out into space before I die. Perhaps even go to a moon colony. Plans are to become a structural welder for somebody like SpaceX
@jeimymora3896
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
Espesialmente en el espacio?no se a terminado de descubrir lo de la tierra y dusiendo que lo mejor esta en las afueras de nuestra admosfera. Como el mismo lo dijo:mientras mas descubrimos,menos savemos
@fractalspace1111
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
Understanding the deepest problems of the universe is important not only for evolution of our reality but dare I say of spirituality. Religion really should support science more because there are problems out there that when they are solved it would bring peace to the idea of death. I do recognize though that the vastness of space and time may always be incomprehensible to the mind we have right now, maybe it is something you could only understand if you were outside looking in. Remember that the universe is a very small part to a picture that is infinite. A human mind does not have the capacity to understand this. Life is a beautiful thing and science is very important. It is important to evolve our ideas and become more intelligent, but how far down the rabbithole can we look before we realize we aren't getting to the bottom of it. It is amazing, it is chaos, it is profound and prolific beyond our imagination. Was there a beginning? The big bang is a good theory, but that wasn't the beginning, it was something that happens an insane number of times. People think "oh the big bang, it is so important" it is like looking at a grain of sand in a desert. The universe is a nice thought, but it is a grain of sand.
@peanuts2105
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
Glacial water for the mind. It is so clear I can see the stars
@TheFallibleFiend
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
Well said, Bill! We need the voice of people who care about science, not the economic, political and religious mythologists!
@jkovert
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
Bill Nye: empty lab coat. Humans have always looked for stuff, without benefit of a-holes like Nye telling them how great exploration is and how they should not stop doing it.
As far as economics goes, he's also being a dick. It certainly will be "well-educated" people lifting us up. But not the type of "intellectuals" which Nye imagines. It will be men who have vision to explore, discover, and most important, to EXPLOIT (yes, EXPLOIT) discoveries for PROFIT (yes, PROFIT).
It has ever been thus.
@SlapDatCow
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
Right staying at home when exploring space is just completely idiotic considering the vast distance of space itself…But my issue here is we have so many problems on this planet yet we continue to waste billions world wide on space exploration. Messed up planet.
@VoltageTHD
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
The grand adventures of Space!
@braveapollo5872
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
Fucking Bill Nye is Fucking ACE! I never realized!
@j9312
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
"Everybody's like 'What?' Dude, yea."
@macgyverman55
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
The thing is, to do any actual exploration or "to boldly go where no man has gone before" requires too much goddamn effort, I don't want to spend a good portion of my life training to be an astronaut just to fly a couple inches off this rock just to sit there for a day or two…
@usuallydead
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
"…especially in space."
@nO_d3N1AL
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
"The more you know, the more you realize how much you DON'T KNOW."
Wow, that is true yet mystifying
@eninfonivek
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
bill ur my hero.
@aaronbell5994
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
Bill Nye looks like Abraham Lincoln… Aaand now I just realized @David Wakefield said the same thing hahah.
@TonyTheDoomLord
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
I've watched all the Bill Nye videos of Big Think, and I want more.
@TylerOnMondays
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
If he had an English accent, he would make a great Doctor Who~
@SpiritHEX1
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
So true, if we stop exploring we won't evolve as a species.
@treticle
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
Did he say that nothing matters? He said we evolved, he said that chances are, we will not die having all the answers we want. However, he never said that life didn't matter, that's for you to decide.
@atila007l
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
Actually i don't care about people that don't affect my life, i know that sounds selfish, but i am just being honest. If what i said was all that needed to push someone over the edge i believe that that would happen sooner or later with or without my pushing. Also i believe that we should do what makes us happy, if exploring is making someone happy, why shouldn't he explore? Its in human nature to be curious, learn, explore and adapt, thats why we evolved in the first place
@benjamincuellar4045
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
yeah space is a really good choise
@TheOmegau
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
I'd link you to a video on youtube that shows you why IC is a farce, but I can't post links. Essentially, every "part" of an organ has it's own function that is beneficial on it's own.
Look up the video Irreducible Complexity (bacterial flagellum) debunked.
@TimJSwan
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
I'm not ignorant. I know that certain things can be proved like mathematical laws. Biology classes do not show things built on proofs. Actually, the only way to be sure of these complexity theories is to work them out as proofs. Imagining an organ can evolve without ensuring the process is actually possible is ignorance. Biology teachers will just teach that because it is the material. You can't just make the claim that irreducible complexity is false without giving any reason.
@uppyoass
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
The world will not end soon. it will persist in one shape or the other for billions of years, though we most likely wont be part of much of it due to our own stupidity and ideas that "god" will save us so who cares about today when yuoi will be in heaven tomorrow. Seriously ceep that ignorant dumb crap to yourself and do the human thing, helping people around you without asking for a reward(be that a moral reward that leads to heaven or money for a nice act.)
@TheOmegau
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
Does your ignorance have no end? Has the Banana man actually managed to convince someone? You realize that creationists are commonly caught lying about the evidence of evolution. There are mountains of evidence, and you only need to have had a high school biology class to see how organs could have evolved. They're just masses of cells working together. Irreducible complexity is a creationist farce. Still, if you're so set on being ignorant, then I'm not going to bother with you.
@TimJSwan
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
How has evolution been proven? I have seen no proof for how any organs in a creature developed. The only evolution that has been observed is shifting alterations to a gene pool like wolves reducing to poodles. That is a result of breeding. There has been no proof of evolution as an abiogenesis.
@TheOmegau
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
You realize that he was a JOURNALIST right? That does not make him credible. Evolution has indeed been proven, and you can see that by looking through the multitude of scientific journals on the subject. This is the internet, it's not that hard to look up.
@TimJSwan
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
abiogenesis and change of species through evolution has not been proven. So if you say that God needs to be proven to give him any credit, then so is with evolution. Have you ever heard of Lee Strobel? He was a man who initially sought to prove that no God could exist and wanted to show evolution was our ancestry. He eventually figured the probability theory behind it showed him that it was more difficult to believe that live could have come about in that manner. He also studied prophecies.
@jrzy49
April 1, 2026 at 1:27 am
Actually, I'm agnostic.
Comments are closed.