Everybody remembers the loveable Bill Nye the Science Guy right? Of course they do, he probably taught most children in America the fundamentals of science. In a video which surfaced recently on ‘Big Think’, a knowledge forum, the children’s show host spoke against the denial of evolution, and that this type of view can not only harm young people, but can also contribute towards hampering progress in Science.
Bill was made famous by his educational show which aired on PBS Kids from 1993 through to 1998. The clip from the ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’ host has been viewed well over a million times. During the clip he gives particular praise towards the United States for how much they are contributing towards innovation on a technological scale, but also goes on to state that evolution being denied is actually unique to the United States.
“People still move to the United States. And that’s largely because of the intellectual capital we have, the general understanding of science”. He then went on to say “When you have a portion of the population that doesn’t believe in that, it holds everybody back, really”.
Bill Nye then explains why it is holding people back. He states, truthfully, that evolution is the basic idea behind all of life science. Without it, you cannot actually take biology forward. Without evolution as a concept you cannot get the answers you need, and the world is a mystery and isn’t exciting. He stated that the “world just becomes fantastically complicated when you don’t believe in evolution”
“Here are these ancient dinosaur bones or fossils, here is radioactivity, here are distant stars that are just like our start but they’re at a different point in their lifecycle. The idea of deep time, of this billions of years, explains so much of the world around us. If you try to ignore that, your world view just becomes crazy, just untenable, itself inconsistent.” He follows this up in the clip by urging adults to allow young people to learn evolution, not to deny them of this right. He says that grownups can have their own views about evolution that is inconsistent, but not to force these views onto their children as they are needed, they are the scientists of the future.
Billy Nye believes that this view about evolution won’t exist in the future, well, another couple of centuries at least, mainly through the lack of supporting evidence for it. If everybody is educated properly and are not denied access to the education of evolution, then there is a massive chance that it will be eradicated totally, which is always going to be a good thing.
During the Summer of 2012, Bill Nye made three stops in New Hampshire. The goal here was to push President Obama’s education policies, whilst also highlighting the need for more science and engineering programs. He has also recently endorsed Obama’s re-election bid for the White House.