Bill Nye is one of planet Earth’s most popular, recognizable figures in the world of science, particularly in the realm of teaching science to kids. Bill Nye, the Science Guy, his long-runnning television series, is still played in schools and other establishments to this very day, keeping teachers, parents, and school children, alike, entertained and in a state of near-constant education.
A former engineer and stand-up comedian, Bill Nye has an effective means of delivering information in an accurate, yet entertaining way. Whether you like him or not, Nye is a cross-generational favorite of millennials, generation Z-ers, and even 100-year-olds.
Nye, in an interview just days ago with news media giant Vox, was quoted as stating that “It really is, for me, unpatriotic to deny science.” Even others, whether they’re proponents of the process of science that seeks to find truth in the world, would likely agree with the statement.
The quote came in response to him discussing the fact that some people, especially some recent political figures here in the United States, “[deny] science for what seem to be economic reasons.”
Bill Nye is likely referring to the fact that President Donald Trump has rolled back regulations on the oil, coal, and petrochemical industry. Although such rollbacks foster more business and economic activity in transactions and environments involving such organizations, such activity is undeniably bad for the environment, according to science.
While we often hear the word “science” and it being related to truth, or alleged truths, should I say, in my goal to stay unbiased, few people can define what it actually means. Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the most popular dictionary in the world – well, other than the one that Google provides through its search engine – defines science in several ways, though the following definition refers to how science as Bill Nye used it above:
A system or method reconciling practical ends with scientific laws.
Another similar definition, that of the “scientific method,” states:
Principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of knowledge involving the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection of data through observation and experiment, and the formulation of testing of hypotheses.
So, rather than coming to assumptions, science, when done properly, strives to find the truth in things, whatever those things may be. Nye was unarguably referring to recent rollbacks of regulation to the coal and gas industry.
What do you think?
