this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 7 points 16 hours ago

He still audits classes at MIT occasionally.

[–] Asswardbackaddict@lemmy.world 14 points 21 hours ago

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

[–] Asswardbackaddict@lemmy.world 8 points 21 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.

[–] underscores@lemmy.zip 2 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Dolph Lundgren also smells crime, and when he's not out fighting crime ...

[–] thatradomguy@lemmy.world 4 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago

120ft tall robot version of himself.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 63 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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 31 points 1 day 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.

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[–] glitchdx@lemmy.world 85 points 1 day 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 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 26 points 1 day ago

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

...

BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL!

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 day 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.

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[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 1 day ago (12 children)
[–] pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 1 day 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 1 day ago (1 children)

Neil does have a PhD. in astrophysics, however.

[–] LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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.

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[–] WrenFeathers@lemmy.world 40 points 1 day ago (3 children)

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

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

This is science, not math.

[–] mfed1122@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 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.

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[–] Vespair@lemmy.zip 48 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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

[–] buttnugget@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day 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 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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 120 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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[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 101 points 1 day ago (21 children)

He's a science guy, not a scientist.

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[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 151 points 1 day ago (11 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 135 points 1 day ago (1 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.

[–] RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com 51 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'll happily take a minimally qualified Science Guy that inspires thousands or millions of people to get into science than the most sciency scientist in all science that only ever inspired people to punch people.

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[–] bear@lemmy.blahaj.zone 47 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Is there some controversy around Bill Nye that I haven't heard?

He has been a leading science communicator covering hundreds of topics for many decades, and is only human, of course there are going to be shortcomings.

[–] Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 50 points 1 day ago (2 children)

He has a reputation of just being an unpleasant dick and difficult to work with. Nothing super problematic to my knowledge, just a bad personality.

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

Pretty much this. Met him once. He's has no scandals, he's just kind of a rude guy.

I had a friend tell a story once about how he was on a field trip and the class found out Bill Nye was in the building. But once Bill found out kids were on the way he escaped out a window to avoid them. I'm not sure how true that is, but its kinda funny.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 40 points 1 day ago (15 children)

I've also heard that he gets a lot of weird people who are overly attached to the idea of him getting their fantasies crushed when they meet him. Realize that a lot of those "I met him and he was rude" people might not be completely honest about their encounters. Think along the lines of Paris Syndrome, but for a person.

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[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 32 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (19 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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[–] DominatorX1@thelemmy.club 2 points 22 hours ago

Theater is everything. Even in "science".

[–] burgerpocalyse@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago

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

[–] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 89 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (11 children)

And he is a Trump and Putin supporter. Fuck him.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 90 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I could only find this:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2013/06/dolph-lundgren-putin-sniper-rifles-interview.html

It mentions only Putin (which also sounds like a joke) and it's from 2013 (before the annexation of Crimea).

Is there any more, and preferably recent, info?

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 90 points 1 day ago

I don't care much about this guy specifically, but I wanted to chime in and say that I appreciate you looking for a source.

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[–] Boxscape@lemmy.sdf.org 54 points 1 day ago

Bill is just a science guy after all. Not a science lord.

[–] troglodytis@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)
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[–] jsomae@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 day ago

He's a science guy.

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