Everybody who's a physician, who makes vaccines, who wants to find the cure for cancer. Everybody who wants to do any medical good for humankind got the passion for that before he or she was 10.
Bill NyeRead
When Rush Limbaugh says I'm not a scientist, I'm charmed - I smirk.
Interpretation
Bill Nye expresses amusement at Rush Limbaugh's acknowledgment of not being a scientist, implying the importance of scientific understanding.
In this quote, Bill Nye highlights the contrast between public figures who speak on scientific matters without credible expertise and the value of genuine scientific knowledge. By reacting with charm and a smirk, he underscores the absurdity of non-scientists taking authoritative stances on complex scientific topics, reinforcing the necessity of informed discussion in society.
In practice
In a debate about climate change, this quote can emphasize the need for scientific expertise.
Everybody who's a physician, who makes vaccines, who wants to find the cure for cancer. Everybody who wants to do any medical good for humankind got the passion for that before he or she was 10.
What makes the United States great, the reason people wanted to live in the United States, move here still, is because of our ability to innovate.
NASA is an engine of innovation and inspiration as well as the world's premier space exploration agency, and we are well served by politicians working to keep it that way, instead of turning it into a mere jobs program, or worse, cutting its budget.
Television isn't inherently good or bad. You go to a bookstore, there are how many thousands of books, but how many of those do you want? Five? Television's the same way. If you're going to show people stuff, television is the way to go. Words and pictures show things.
If the Earth gets hit by an asteroid, it's game over. It's control-alt-delete for civilization.
Burning carbon-based substances like oil, gas, and especially coal, produces billions of tons of extra carbon dioxide each year. Methane gas from cows and pigs and other animals on our large farms ends up in the atmosphere as well, trapping more of the sun's energy as heat.
If two scientists are giving their papers at a symposium, and one of them is just naturally better at talking to the public or talking to a group of people, that scientist is liable to get more attention - in fact, I'm told that they do get more attention - than the one who's a little more stiff about it. Well, that's not good for science.
The more I work with the powers of Nature, the more I feel God's benevolence to man; the closer I am to the great truth that everything is dependent on the Eternal Creator and Sustainer; the more I feel that the so-called science, I am occupied with, is nothing but an expression of the Supreme Will, which aims at bringing people closer to each other in order to help them better understand and improve themselves.
Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio. A slight acquaintance with numbers will shew the immensity of the first power in comparison of the second.
The strongest affection and utmost zeal should, I think, promote the studies concerned with the most beautiful objects, most deserving to be known.
The real purpose of the scientific method is to make sure nature hasnβt misled you into thinking you know something you actually donβt know.
As a theoretician, I am proud to be part of a counter revolution... discovering that quantum field theory language was not dead and finished but had not really been explored thoroughly enough.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.