Bill Nye on Facts, Falsehoods, and the Scientific Method

Alive with Steve Burns

Lemonada Media

Society & Culture

5.0 • 588 Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The legendary Bill Nye joins Steve Burns for an honest, fun, and - occasionally unsettling - conversation about one deceptively simple question: how do people decide what’s true? Nye breaks down why intellectual shortcuts are so tempting, why conspiracy thinking spreads so easily, and why the scientific method remains the most reliable tool for separating fact from fiction. And they reflect on whether they failed their mission to educate audiences. —--------------------------------------------------------------------- ** if you like this episode, then check out these ** Is AI Gonna Eat The World https://youtu.be/q6oRIoA9TBs The Dangers of Charisma https://youtu.be/feh3bAha3P0 ——————————————— Exclusive Offers For Our Listeners: For a limited time only, go to drinkag1.com/alive to get a FREE AG1 Flavor Sampler and AGZ Sampler to try all the flavors, plus FREE Vitamin D3+K2 and AG1 Welcome Kit with your first AG1 subscription order! This is a limited time offer, only available while supplies last. Head to MarleySpoon.com/offer/ALIVE for 45% off your first order and free delivery. Hero Bread is offering 10% off your order. Go to hero.co and use code STEVE at checkout. Go to Midea.com to see how you can bring home a little wow today. Sign up and get 10% off at http://betterhelp.com/stevealive. ——————————————— Alive with Steve Burns - Season One Episode 20 | Bill Nye Instagram: @alivewithsteveburns TikTok: @alivewithsteveburns ———————————————— There are a thousand podcasts you can listen to. This one listens back. Alive with Steve Burns continues the conversation you began all those years ago. Back then it was letters and numbers and graham crackers. Now it’s death, sex, taxes, and all the big, messy questions of being alive. Why does money stress us out? Is the American dream dead? What’s the future of truth? Each week, a new guest drops by Steve’s window for a genuine and respectful dialogue between two people just trying to figure it out, together. Funny, tender, and just a little weird, this show invites you to sit down and think with Steve once again and wonder… what it really means to be Alive. You are not alone. You are cared for. If you need someone to listen: National Suicide and Crisis Hotline: https://988lifeline.org/ NAMI Helpline: https://www.nami.org/nami-helpline/ Crisis Text Line: https://www.crisistextline.org/ Watch full episodes of Alive on YouTube. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. If you haven’t yet, now is a great time to subscribe to Lemonada Premium. You’ll get ad-free episodes and bonus content from Steve. Just hit the 'subscribe' button on Apple Podcasts, or, for all other podcast apps head to lemonadapremium.com to subscribe. Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Lemonada.
0:06.0	The U.S. Constitution, as I like to joke, available in paperback.
0:11.2	And I show everybody this.
0:13.8	Congress is to promote the progress of science and useful arts.
0:18.9	That's in the Constitution.
0:25.6	Yes, the word science in 1787. Science is in the Constitution.
0:28.6	Hey, hi, hello.
0:41.3	Welcome to Alive.
0:43.3	Made you a cup of tea.
0:45.3	There you go.
0:46.3	So, a question for you,
0:49.3	would you consider yourself a critical thinker.
1:03.0	Yeah? Yeah, I mean, I'd like to think that I am.
1:05.0	I certainly try to be because I just feel that it's so important, especially right now. In the moment that we
1:16.7	currently live in, it seems that the scientific method, critical thinking, testing your assumptions
1:25.3	before asserting your beliefs, these don't feel like intellectual exercises.
1:30.9	They feel almost like survival skills in a world this full of miss and disinformation, right?
1:39.8	So I had very recently an amazing conversation with one of the true goats of critical thought,
1:48.9	Mr. Bill Nye, the guy of science himself.
1:53.8	And it was really fascinating because it's always an honor and a joy to talk to him.
1:57.9	But it was really great to hear his thoughts on the topic. So check that out,
2:02.9	and I'll be here when you get back. I would love to hear what you think.
	...

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