this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2025
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I would say, pleasantly, that Bill Nye suffers from one of the classic blunders of academia. Just because you're smart about one specific niche subject in one specific niche field doesn't mean you are smart about every subject in every field. Most scientists are quite honestly just as knowledgeable as the rest of us in any field that they didn't academically study. That sounds like common sense, but once you have a PhD on your name you kind of forget it.
Bill Nye is an expert mechanical engineer, and a middling to decent planetologist. Any subject beyond that and he's just as good as you or me even though he speaks with an authoritative voice.
I felt like he started in the tradition of Mr. Wizard, who himself was a teacher who didn't know the intricacies of every science, but knew how to put together a fantastic and accurate demonstration.
But I think Nye is doing talk shows and shit now, which Mr. Wizard, I don't think, would have tried to sell himself the same way. He really sold education.
it often collabs with neil degrass sometimes, or in the past.
Maybe that's just because I haven't seen anything from him super recently, so my opinion is biased with rose tinted glasses. What little Ive seen of him he seemed like an alright dude. Then again, that's easily a tailored image of himself.