• Asswardbackaddict@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    Stephen Hawking fell into the same role in his later years. If your first introduction to him was trying to communicate science to stupid people, please read Black Holes and Baby Universes, or really, any of his works before he was getting ready to die.

  • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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    21 hours ago

    to be fair bill nye is using his degree and teaching rather than someone that just ditched his degree after he got it. in a job setting they will take bill nye over someone that hasnt used his degree in a while. some people. one is passionate about the stems while the other ones wasnt, some people get higher degrees just because of pressure in thier social circles and then end up hating it and leaving, there were alot of those people in college.

    they are seeing someone as having more prestige and degree means they are more qualfied than someone that has more experience in the field.

    • meep_launcher@sh.itjust.works
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      19 hours ago

      If anything, in my 30 years I’ve learned degrees only mean so much. Someone without a degree but with actual on the job experience will out perform a new grad any day of the week.

      Frankly the university system has become a way to make sure the poor stay poor.

      • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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        18 hours ago

        i believe that too, unfortunately for stems its still archaic in the way it gains experience, plus its also gatekeeped too in a way too, like they gatekeep MD salaries, although not as aggressive, the profs at my school you can gauranteed one of them had money to go to harvard or some expensive school and come out with a job in hand, you can tell which one came from these top schools because they also give off an elitist attitude. one the gen chem prof was like that.

  • glitchdx@lemmy.world
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    24 hours ago

    bill nye is not a scientist, and he never claimed to be one. He is a science communicator, a role he has done well for some time.

    Same with Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

    • Twoafros@sh.itjust.works
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      16 hours ago

      Neil DeGrasse Tyson has a Phd in astrophysics and he has published a lot of papers. He is a scientist and a science communicator. Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye are not the same.

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      19 hours ago

      Not the same with Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

      I’m not his biggest fan, but I fully respect his scientific credentials. He has a PhD from Columbia. He published at least a dozen papers. There’s no question that he’s a scientist, a manager of scientists, as well as a science communicator.

      The problem is that his success seems to have destroyed his humility. It’s not that he brags about being so incredibly smart. It’s more that he doesn’t ever seem to sit back and say “hey, maybe this isn’t something where my contributions won’t be appreciated”. I think his science communication is doing more good than harm. I think he’s a great role model for little black boys who think all scientists are white, or that they’re all stuffy nerds with no personality. But, I think he’s at his best when he’s in a show where there’s a script and an editor. On social media and on free-form podcasts, he comes off as a know-it-all ass.

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        But, I think he’s at his best when he’s in a show where there’s a script and an editor. On social media and on free-form podcasts, he comes off as a know-it-all ass.

        ^ This. I still am miffed at his attitude in regards to considering the issues of AI on I forget which talk show, but he took the attitude of “we’d just pull the plug”.

        Maybe when in a scripted format or in writing, he might be able to extrapolate a bit, but he just sounded like a layperson when it comes to the topic, and I honestly have no idea if he’s read or considered the kinds of things that, say, Nick Bostrom has put out there. It just sounded like some hot take man-on-the-street kind of response, talking about the problem as if we are talking about someone’s server running somewhere. It was just…facepalm.

      • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        He is a know-it-all ass. He’s a self-important dickhead. But I appreciate his role in getting young black kids seeing a role model that they can relate to. That’s far more important than his ego.

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          17 hours ago

          Ha! It makes it sound like you’re saying that young black kids are self-important dickheads and that’s why he’s a good role model.

          But, yeah, I know what you’re trying to say. Despite his social media presence, the image that kids generally see is a very positive one. He’s a somewhat stylish (in his own way) guy, who clearly has personality, and is a very accomplished scientist. I just cringe any time he comments on something not related to astrophysics.

          • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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            16 hours ago

            Exactly. He doesn’t need to ruin movies. We know that movies are for entertainment, it doesn’t need to be dissected as fact. And we certainly don’t need someone taking our escapism away from us. Let us have this, dude. We need this right now, including from the time he became prominent. He killed Pluto, which I guess is fine because it was accurate, but he didn’t need to shove himself into movies and try to ruin our very-much-needed escapism. It’s egotistical, and insulting, as if we don’t know that it’s a movie.

      • pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        23 hours ago

        Sure but watching him on nova when I was a kid is a big reason I got so into science and engineering so I don’t really care

      • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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        23 hours ago

        Unfortunately same with Bill Nye. He seemed so pissed at getting recognized by people at a Symposium.

        Like geeze dude sorry you inspired people as kids and encouraged them to pursue science and they’re excited to meet you.

      • S0ck@lemmy.world
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        23 hours ago

        It’s a downside of being educated and fascinated by what you’ve learned.

      • LustyArgonian@lemmy.world
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        23 hours ago

        Neil regularly gets osmosis wrong and thinks it/distilled water can “suck minerals” from your body, something I was taught repeatedly in basic A&P, biology, and chemistry, that isnt true bc osmosis is the movement of water, not solutes.

        • Doxatek@mander.xyz
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          20 hours ago

          Neil regularly says super dumb shit lol I don’t subscribe to him but I see random clips of him talking sometimes and not getting things right

        • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
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          17 hours ago

          Well, considering that’s not astrophysics, I can’t say I’m surprised. Not trying to defend the guy; he can be confidently wrong and a dick at times and should be more aware of what he doesn’t know. On the other hand, I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about Bill.

    • mfed1122@discuss.tchncs.de
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      8 hours ago

      I, too, spent longer than I ever should have thinking about this. My first thought was, they’re just using it in a linguistic sense, so it doesn’t matter that the exponent would have to be something very small to go from 1 qualification to 4. But then I thought, hm, I guess since there’s only 1 qualification for Bill, no exponent would be enough. But then I realized that grammatically the value in question is “qualification” and not “number of degrees”. The number of degrees is merely standing in as a heuristic proxy to illustrate qualification. This “qualification” scale makes the most the most sense if it’s between 0 and 1, representing percentiles of qualification. Therefore, the exponent applied to Bill’s qualifications must also be between 0 and 1 in order to increase the value to Lundgren’s. For a moment I thought this was the nail in the coffin for the original text, but of course the word “more” there again refers to the qualification, not to the exponent itself. This interpretation has the nice benefit that no matter what the exponent is, we always get a qualification value between 0 and 1. Hence I can conclude this is the only viable headcanon for this post.

  • Vespair@lemmy.zip
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    24 hours ago

    …Does Bill Nye need more qualifications to be an effective science educator?

    • buttnugget@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      He does not. This post is gatekeeping bullshit. The only thing that matters is knowledge of a subject. This shit reminds me of the worthless dumbfucks who immediately start asking for credentials when I tell them that their understanding of AI is nonsense.

    • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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      21 hours ago

      the post thinks having more degrees means your more qualfied in that profession, and also prestige. experience and basic qualification> more degrees and prestige just because your an actor.

  • El_guapazo@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Nye is more of if an educator than scientist. A lot like your average science teacher in high school.

    Dolph is usually posted in this manner to put down Nye’s support for climate research, anti creationism, and other ‘political’ stands.

      • Blueberrydreamer@lemmynsfw.com
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        1 day ago

        Based on what exactly? I’ve gone to one of his events, he’s pretty explicit about being a science educator. I can’t say I’ve seen him claim otherwise anywhere, though people definitely like to put those words in his mouth.

      • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        aw did the science guy hurt your feefees?

        show me where the bad man TOLD YOU SOMETHING OBVIOUS THAT RUINED YOUR DAY.

          • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            it’s ok, calm down calm down… just explain what your beef with the science bro is.

            not hard, articulate your issues man. let it off your chest, I can tell it’s really really bothering you.

            • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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              24 hours ago

              I personally found his style really abrasive in the first and only recent show I’ve seen. Reddit was shitting all over him too, stating mostly that he’s a prick and not friendly IRL at all.

              That said what he advocates for is right.

              • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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                24 hours ago

                I personally found his style really abrasive

                the goofball science schtick doesn’t work for you? I know him from his old tv show from my youth.

                Reddit was shitting all over him too, stating mostly that he’s a prick and not friendly IRL at all.

                well that’s… kinda an endorsement for me lol. most of reddit is a prick and not friendly irl from my own experiences.

                appreciate the reply

                • Wolf@lemmy.today
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                  11 hours ago

                  well that’s… kinda an endorsement for me lol

                  From me too. Reddit wasn’t mad because he’s ‘not friendly’, they were mad that Bill was “too woke” and featured a song and dance number by Rachel Bloom that even I found a little cringy tbh. Not because of the message, but I just think it was kind of poorly done. The only people I’ve ever heard say a bad word about Bill were climate deniers, anti vaxxers etc.

                  I’m proud of Bill for not backing down from politically charged issues, when he could easily ignore them to get more viewers/supporters. Scientists shouldn’t let politics interfere with Science and Science Communicators shouldn’t either.

                • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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                  23 hours ago

                  I’ve never seen the originals, as he’s not that popular in Europe. My only exposure is “Bill Nye Saves The World” on Netflix. I couldn’t get past the first episode.

                  I’m a big fan of Sagan, and while I don’t think NDT’a Cosmos: A Space time Odyssey was as good as the first series, I was mostly looking at Nye’s show with the same lense and trying to draw comparisons between them.

  • Daftydux@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 day ago

    What do you guys think is so special about a scientist.

    They measure things and record data really well. They apply scientific principles and such.

    They use lab equipment and usually have a very narrow scope on the things they are working on.

    Do you think every scientist gets a nobel or something?