Posted on 09/19/2014 10:54:47 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
F.A. Hayek wrote an excellent little book about the misuse of science: “The Counter-revolution of Science: studies on the abuse of Reason”
“Since 2006, Nye has lived in Los Angeles, though he has also owned a house on Mercer Island.[51] As of July 2007, Nye and environmental activist Ed Begley, Jr. are engaging in a friendly competition “to see who could have the lowest carbon footprint,” according to Begley.[52] In a 2008 interview, Nye joked that he wants to “crush Ed Begley” in their environmental competition.[53] Nye and Begley are neighbors in Los Angeles, and sometimes dine together at a local vegetarian restaurant.[53]
Nye often appears on Begley’s Planet Green reality show Living with Ed. Nye enjoys baseball and occasionally does experiments involving the physics of the game. As a longtime Seattle resident before becoming an entertainer, he is said to have been a fan of the Seattle Mariners, although recently he has voiced his preference (as a D.C. native) for the Washington Nationals.[8] He also played Ultimate while in college and for a period of time while living in Seattle.[54] In July 2012, Nye endorsed President Barack Obama’s reelection bid.[55]
Nye announced his engagement during an appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and was married to his fiancée of five months, musician Blair Tindall, on February 3, 2006. The ceremony was performed by Rick Warren at The Entertainment Gathering at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Yo-Yo Ma provided the music.[56] Nye left the relationship seven weeks later when the marriage license was declared invalid.[57] In 2007, Nye received a protective order against Tindall after an incident in which she came onto his property and used herbicide to damage his garden. Tindall admitted this, but denied being a threat to him.[58]
In 2012 Nye sued Tindall for unpaid attorney’s fees he wracked up against Tindall when he went to court in 2009 to enforce the protective order after she allegedly violated it, which Tindall was ordered to pay. According to Nye’s court filings, she had not paid any of it.[59]
Nye is an avid swing dancer.[60] He has been spotted at local dances in the Los Angeles area as well as at nationwide events such as entompology (Rochester, NY).[61] Nye describes himself as agnostic.[62]”
Bill Nye has a degree in mechanical engineering. But he is an entertainer who poses as a ‘scientist’.
“On March 12, 2011, Nye made an appearance on CNN to discuss the evolving nuclear incidents in Japan as a result of the devastating earthquake and tsunami there. Nye erroneously stated that cesium is used to “slow and control” the nuclear reaction.[24][25] In reality, cesium (specifically cesium-137) is a nuclear fission product, not a control rod material.
“Nye also erroneously stated that the nuclear reactor involved in the Three Mile Island incident is still running (the reactor involved in the incident has been decommissioned, but there is a second reactor at the site that is still operating as of February 2014) and that the use of boron to slow the nuclear chain reaction is uncommon, when in fact boron-10 is commonly used in control rods, and is circulated in the coolant of reactors in the United States, as well as stored on site as a method of emergency shutdown.[25][26][27]”
The writer confuses ‘science’ with the ‘scientific method’.
I'm not here to defend Nye personally, only his qualifications for the title "scientist".
My analogy is the word "soldier" -- George Washington, Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower were all soldiers, indeed, Omar Bradley was called "a soldier's general", meaning he could better relate to average soldiers than most generals.
But the word "soldier" does not only refer to your world-famous nation-founding & preserving top generals -- "soldiers" usually refers to G.I. ground-pounding, boots-on-the ground grunts.
Likewise, the word "scientist" does not only refer to the top-tier paradigm-changing theorists like an Einstein or Hawking, but also to those who dig in the dirt or solve the equations of basic research.
And "scientist" can also refer to educators, all of which qualifies Nye.
Using that "soldier" analogy, Nye certainly does not rank as a top general -- I would put him at the level of PFC or maybe Spc5.
Like any good soldier, Nye has some training and has done some good work in his fields.
So I don't understand why you people feel it's soooo important to mock and diminish him personally.
I wonder if the last word in the article was intended to be “door”, rather than “dark”.
One of those “DOH!” moments, when the author left the spell check/grammar check on, mistakenly.
I would expect a better grasp on in the history of philosophy of science from an author named “Pascal”.
Perhaps.
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