this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 3 points 29 minutes ago

He still audits classes at MIT occasionally.

[–] thatradomguy@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

If he is a Prime, what does he transform into?

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 3 points 27 minutes ago

120ft tall robot version of himself.

[–] Asswardbackaddict@lemmy.world 13 points 4 hours ago

Carl Sagan, Neil Tyson, Dora the Explorer. All very important. Be interested in things.

[–] Asswardbackaddict@lemmy.world 5 points 4 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.

[–] DominatorX1@thelemmy.club 2 points 6 hours ago

Theater is everything. Even in "science".

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 56 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

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 28 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

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 3 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 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 79 points 19 hours ago (7 children)

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 10 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 11 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 13 points 15 hours ago (4 children)

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 1 points 5 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.

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[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 25 points 18 hours ago

He specifically claims to be a science guy. Not a scientist.

...

BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL!

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 19 hours ago (12 children)
[–] pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 19 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

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[–] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 12 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Neil does have a PhD. in astrophysics, however.

[–] LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 14 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

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 7 points 16 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

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[–] WrenFeathers@lemmy.world 39 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

Whoever made this meme doesn’t know what exponentially means.

[–] mfed1122@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 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.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 13 points 15 hours ago

This is science, not math.

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[–] Vespair@lemmy.zip 45 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

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

[–] buttnugget@lemmy.world 17 points 18 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 12 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 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 113 points 1 day ago (4 children)

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.

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[–] burgerpocalyse@lemmy.world 19 points 19 hours ago

im not a scientist but my data points indicate that this meme fucking sucks

[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (17 children)

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?

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[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 87 points 1 day ago (21 children)

He's a science guy, not a scientist.

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[–] troglodytis@lemmy.world 17 points 20 hours ago (1 children)
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[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 144 points 1 day ago (34 children)

Eh, it's more about the enthusiasm than the qualifications. Plus, while Bill Nye is no angel, at least he's not a Putin supporter.

[–] LikeTearsInTheRain@lemmynsfw.com 134 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Bill Nye is an entertainer / educator. I've met plenty of people with PHDs and masters who couldn't present a basic concept because they're too caught up in technicalities and not understanding what it's like to teach and get people interested in something.

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[–] MacNCheezus@lemmy.today 2 points 13 hours ago

Sounds like he got him beat.

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