Photo courtesy of The Northern Light.
On Aug. 21, Bill Nye spoke at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. He is the first speaker participating in the 2025 UAA College of Arts and Sciences Community Lecture Series.
The Northern Light interviewed Nye to discuss his career as an educator and his thoughts on science-related crises facing Earth.
The “Bill Nye the Science Guy” show first aired on Sept. 10, 1993, but Nye first was pushed toward being an educator around 1980.
“I felt the United States was making terrible cars, abandoning the metric system, taking solar panels off the roof of the White House … I got concerned about the future,” he said. This initial concern served as the foundation for the “Bill Nye the Science Guy” show.
Nye has been the face of numerous live television climate change debates. He said he embraces the role of being a trusted eco-political commentator, and hopes that more impactful global climate policies can be implemented sooner than later.
The “Bill Nye the Science Guy” show has maintained relevancy over the past three decades, and Nye attributed the longevity of the show to a rule he and his producers made during the writing process.
No skit was allowed to exceed 46 seconds — giving the show an extremely fast pace. “We were doing TikTok 35 years ago, the way people do TikTok is not that dissimilar from what we did years ago,” he said.
Nye said other elements that have given the show staying power include the diversity of the cast as well as a focus on elementary school-level science.
In recent years, more attention and resources have been allocated to STEM programs in government and academic institutions. Nye believed that the same focus should be redistributed into the humanities.
“This presumption that art … is a waste of time is all wrong,” said Nye. “Art is where you innovate.”
As content availability has changed over the past 15 years, Nye took issue with modern media creation. “Did guys at the rock quarry outside of Rome get a huge block of stone and find Michelangelo and say, ‘Hey, man, can you give us some content?’” he said, in criticism of the way modern media is often commodified for profit.
Nye said that his favorite conspiracy is the claim that the Earth is flat. He finds it extraordinary that people believe the theory — although he said he felt most people will eventually realize the world is round.
Nye is concerned about the theory that vaccines are not successful. He said public health is fundamental, and places a responsibility on the individuals to get vaccinated in order to maintain a healthy and safe community.
Nye said he is optimistic about the future of AI — despite its current state. He said while it could mislead people, it has many beneficial applications.
He also expressed the amount of electricity used by AI will be negligible in the long run. “It’s very reasonable to me that — not in 40 years — but in the next 15 years, somebody’s going to solve nuclear fusion. And if you have fusion, then we’d have electricity for everybody,” he said.
The following lecture by Nye saw a large student turnout, with live streaming services that provided coverage of the event for residents across Alaska. The panel consisted of UAA professors Paola Banchero — the chair for the department of Journalism and Public Communications — and Travis Rector — doctor in Astrophysics.
Many of the responses Nye provided during the panel mirrored the ones he had given during his interview with The Northern Light, further reaffirming his stance on the topics discussed.
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