An Awfully Overdue Autopsy of Bill Nye Saves the World 

I half expected this to be a 40 minute long supercut of the fist bumps with a paetron shout-out at the end.

Wow it's weird to see a 40 minute bobbybrocoli video and have it start with apologizing for being long

This starting with "my longest video yet" when I have started with the multi hour epics is so quaint

Just found the channel, it’s brilliant, hope it blows up. Minor thing for the whole political side of science, Galileo was put under house arrest mainly due to internal court pressure on Pope urban (claiming he was too lenient on heretics) who had previously given him explicit permission to publish on heliocentric and copernican models as long as he kept balanced and also put forward the mainstream argument of the time. Galileo ends up writing a character called Simplicio who puts forward pope urbans exact phrasing of the mainstream thought. Its considered that Aristotelians and Jesuits who disagreed with previous work of Galileo about the basis of matter convinced the pope that this was an intentional caricature of the pope (although it’s now widely regarded that it wasn’t deliberate, or supposed to be antagonistic). While the whole religion squashing science has been beaten to death time and again. It’s worthwhile to note that Galileo’s observations didn’t actually support the Copernican heliocentric model, his model would have had a stationary earth, with the rest of the system being heliocentric, which closely resembles Tycho Brahe’s (known as “the first competent mind in astronomy to seek empirical facts”) hybrid model. With no calculus or Newtonian mechanics heliocentric models were unprovable at the time. Also for religion and science the golden age of Islam was obviously religion helping science, same with the renaissance Greek and Latin was translated by Christian monks

Ngl, that strawberry DNA segment is EXACTLY what actual DNA labwork looks like in real life. It's a whole lot of nothing happening, setting up equipment and going through the motions, all the while you can't see anything happening. It's not even as visual as the strawberries: you get a clear sample, mix it with clear reactives, let it dry into a clear tube, then mix with more liquids that look exactly like water. By the end, you have what you started with: a tube that looks like it has nothing in it. You just have to trust the process and hope you did everything right so you'll get results later, because you just spent an hour of your time doing the real life, grown up equivalent of playing pretend with a toy kitchen set, and a LOT can be riding on you not fucking up this invisible tea party mimicry - ie, forensic DNA testing, diagnosing COVID or AIDS, etc. It's visually boring as all hell, and if you don't understand the science behind it you'd be tempted to think it's just someone fluffing about with random tubes and funny-looking pipettes filled with water, but it's honestly nervewracking as a process. So Bill showing how an intense laborious process ends up so anticlimactically, and being like "yeah this is DNA, and it looks like absolutely nothing" could have been a really interesting angle if he was talking about how abstract fields of science actually work, how it's tough, and even kind of faith-based in the sense that you need to have faith in your own abilities because you don't know what's going on visually, and the theory behind what you're doing needs to be 100% right for your procedure to produce any tangible results. It could have been a really poignant moment showing how science isn't always rockets and bubbling concoctions, sometimes it can be watching a guy, for ten gruelling minutes, mixing a LITERAL drop of clear liquid into two drops of clear liquid, shoving that comically tiny tube into a machine that will mix it further, then rinse and repeat until he lets THE DROP DRY IN THE TUBE, shows us a close-up of that completely dry and empty tube, and tells us that this thing is the reason why people are sent to jail, why millions of people can live to see another day, why we can catch diseases in time, why we can tell why your dad is your biological dad. All of it in an empty tube that isn't actually empty.

Remind me never to make anything this long again. Sorry for the reupload, had to fix some content claims.

"I've found from personal experience that a change in tone, not necessarily the structure of your argument, can be the thing that opens up someone's world view!" BobbyBroccoli, YES YES YES!!!!!!! I immediately rewound that and listened to it again to hear it WELL!!!!!

holy crap... that anti-vax mother at the end was like hitting him head on. Like, what she was saying practically sounded like a criticism of his show and not just of her experience with pediatricians. Holy macaroni. Also Kev yo have you thought about hitting up some education science topic style videos? You'd absolutely slay.

A note on Galileo. Galileo wasn't put under house-arrest for his views on heliocentrism necessarily. He was put under house-arrest for disobeying a Papal order set by the previous Pope whom he pissed off. Note that in the first round he wasn't stopped researching the idea. Just from publicly displaying the idea pretty much. In a bid to gain Papal Patronage (which he had been trying to do), he submitted his work thinking he was cool with the new Pope. But it turns out that Galileo pissed off that Pope and the hammer was brought down on him again (the Papal order wasn't removed and that's what got him). One of the most important things though in medieval history is that the Church/religion was at the center of science and is actually where the term "doctor" comes from. As well as why everyone is so obsessed with Latin. The only reason that the Church was at the center for so long is because the church had money. If you didn't have money/patronage, you weren't doing research. That's why you get a bunch of alchemists search for gold which are funded by royalty, why you have nut jobs sailing across the ocean (looking at you Chris), and people going around the entire European continent catalogue plants. The reason why you would get funded/patronage was almost 100% political. Royalty gave you money to expect results to impress and One-up kings of other nations. Otherwise if you were doing research, you came from money. In the first place, you needed money to get education to actually read and write and then gain a higher degree of learning.

It would be pretty neat if they did a butt load of experiments with Bill teaching the class/audience. So they could film each group and splice together the good stuff

loved the video. technically polio hasn't been eradicated (small pox has been, the virus only exists as samples in like 3 labs), wild polio cases (a very small amount) have been reported in Asia as recently as 2021

I LOVED the White Rabbit Project. Just as much appeal as the original Mythbusters, maybe even a bit better paced. I'm incredibly disappointed they didn't do a season 2 of it.

That sex junk song and the ice cream sketch really remind me of a particular genre of tumblr posts (like the "all or nothing" one) that might seem superficially interesting and clever, but when it comes to execution just end up being cringe

55 seconds in and 29 fist-bumps, I would ditch from cringe if I hadn't watched the three part on plastic transistor dude.

to misquote Extra Credit, if you agree it's common sense, if you disagree it's politics. Therefore politics is defined as "all the opinions I don't agree with".

The strawberry DNA extraction is real, but also very boring.... So a pretty good summary of real jobs in biology lol

I didn't know Bill Nye Saves the World was a show name. My dumbass thought the title was saying that Bill Nye has passed away and the act of performing autopsy on him somehow saved the world.

Ironically Bill Nye became the Ken Ham of his own world in the end.

The way they treated people who disagree reminded me immediately of Felipe Castanhari's own science Netflix show. There's a janitor (kinda elitist ik) that doesn't really know a lot, and tries to debunk the scientists, but they only ever grab him by the hand and show him the truth, all while making it easy to digest and not being patronizing, acknowledging he doesn't understand science terms all that well, and guiding him through every doubt, which made the show very easy to go through, in my opinion, he represented some real questions people watching would've had (especially since the show is Brazilian and targeted at Brazilians)

This is a fantastically put together video! Amazing job with this one! :)

I randomly discovered your channel yesterday, and have already consumed 12+ hours of your content. Really love the long 2-3 hour videos instead of the multiple part ones but either way love your content. Super entertaining and informational.

I loved this series. You touch on so many great things: how science works, questioning authority, science is political, how to get your message across to kids or adults, empathy is important, (among other things). 👏

love how we go from a small "it's cute how you think science isn't political" here to the current stuff you're putting out of "here's several hours about just how political science is" (And that's a good thing!)

Thank you. This video summarizes my feelings exactly for why this show failed. I love Bill Nye, and as you said it's not that his stances are wrong, it's the presentation. Educating people, and helping them learn shouldn't come from a negative space, it needs to come from an exciting, enthusiastic, and welcoming stance. Bill truly encapsulated that in his original kids show, topics were exciting, he would explain the reasoning behind why something is accurate, and would do it in a fun, interesting, and welcoming way. Bill Nye saves the world on the other hand is too focused on why people are wrong, and not why something is right.

The Eyes of Nye was a far, far better show. I wish PBS would have continued producing it. I feel like Bill Nye Saves the World is trying to take a kind of Penn and Teller route, with the mixture of scripted performance and impromptu interaction.

i honestly love the tirade (using the term affectionately) in part 5 about leveraging empathy to correct disinformation in loved ones and complete strangers. a very important sentiment that social media and public shaming has kind of erased in this era.

Wow. Just, wow. Amazing dude. :) While this video is long, what a way to end the Bill Nye trilogy. It was great dude. On a side note: While I am not the biggest fan of Hbomberguy, I liked that Bill Nye Pseudoscience video he made. And I can see why people wouldn't like this version tbh. Even if right, it is definitely best to go the respectful route generally. You win more people that way even if you don't convince them. :P

hey this was awesome! i'm glad i stumbled upon your channel. i thoroughly enjoyed this in-depth, multi-part analysis. what really struck me was your touching on the topic of empathetic communication--it /is/ easy to get frustrated with the other side for their perceived ignorance. i think we do all need to remember more empathy when we go to argue about what we believe in. besides that, cool video, saved me the trouble of watching the show to ridicule it, lol. nice job.

That hollow knight needle drop hit me like a bundle of bricks

Glad to know we're both sonic kids, Bobby

"I might have a corn bomb in my stomach" MASSIVE missed potential for a good informative lesson on why you shouldn't each unpopped popcorn kernels. Too few know of this danger.

recently discovered this channel. I am so glad you addressed how dismissive he was about nuclear energy in the first episode. He didn't let the guy speak more than 8 words.

I miss the old Mr. Wizard where you learned to blow stuf up from someone with the friendly disposition of Mr. Rodgers with explosives.

He comes back after months with an absolute banger

The use of Robot Waiting Room #4 from Portal 2 felt so perfect

The random Metroid music is something, but I’m here for it

I just have to tell you that I really love your content. I've completely geeked out and stayed up all night before on your documentaries about the super collider and the people who have tried to fake cloning and elements!

I’m here from the future. The conclusion of the vaccine episode being the most important has aged extremely well.

There was more than one season of this?

hearing the cave story ost along with vvvvvv just makes me… it fits so well with the world of science and the exploration of it that covers the subject, how vvvvvv was about breaking the laws of physics to change the entire mechanic of a game and about the crew going into the great unknown, and cave story about the feats of beneficial technology unfortunately given to war and the distrust of technology even though Quote doesn’t even know where they’re from… ya Allah it’s beautiful, this video is clearly wonderful and I would love hearing musical themes like this in videos more. it fits so well

I'm impressed you watched all the episodes. I couldn't make it through the first one.

I had that goddamn Bubble Bobble loop stuck in my head this morning for the first time in ages, and then I actually heard it in this video for the first time in literally 20 years probably. So ironically thanks to this video I totally believe in auras now. And astrology. And dragons too.

This sure aged well lmao

Is that the subtle background music of Portal 2 I hear?

Awesome video. I would just like to respond to your take on science and politics. You said a number of things (paraphrasing): "science (in practice) is inherently political", "the abstract process of science is not political", "science is enmeshed in politics" etc. I understand that scientific enterprises and scientific problems are the subject of political concern, but your usage of just the word "science" for both "scientific endeavour" and "scientific fact / consensus" can lead to confusion. I am not sure that you will disagree with what I am about to say - I say it to clarify why I think this is an important distinction. First, the example of climate change. While scientific inquiry informs us of the scientific fact that climates are changing globally, it cannot inform us on what we do with that fact. Should we even care? If we care, how ought it be addressed? There can exist two politicians who both accept the scientific consensus about climate change and yet have different approaches to deal with it - eg. free market enterprise solutions on the right and global interventionist solutions on the left. Indeed, there exist many such politicians in each camp and in between. That's politics. In this sense, the climate science is apolitical. The acceptance of a scientific fact may become a point of political divide, but scientific facts themselves are just statements of best approximation of the world around us - they are not problems in need of solutions. It is the individual person's mind, with it's unique experiences, concerns and biases that map problems and solutions onto the world which we come to see better through scientific endeavour. The world in and of itself ("the science") is not political. Another example: the sexuality episode. In social science, the prevailing model for human sexuality has four aspects: sex, gender, gender expression and sexual preference ("attraction"). Given that this is the case, that fact doesn't actually tell us what to do about it. A libertarian type will advocate for the freedom of all people to 'do what they will' given their sexuality, and the traditionalist type will chide that the 'desirable social order' will be disrupted by such freedom. Who is right? That is not a scientific question, but a political one. Yes, scientific understanding can and must inform politics insofar that scientific misunderstandings may proliferate on one side of a particular issue (eg. climate change, sexuality), but scientific facts are amoral and apolitical. This is part of why Bill's sexuality episode was so panned. It is not merely the presentation of a model for human sexuality, but an endorsement of a particular stance on what to do about in light of that model (the "sexually libertarian" position). Case and point, the sexuality song - which, as you say, had nothing to do with the science and was basically a politically pandering piece of poo. TLDR; You cannot derive 'ought' from 'is'. One cannot simply "follow the science" to a better world, but we can follow the science to a better understanding of the world such that we can better realise the world we (individually) want to see. P.S. I'm not saying that politicised science shows shouldn't exist, just that I think people are right to point out that Nye's show, particular the sexuality episode, is politicised, and not merely because it clarifies scientific misunderstandings. Like I say, two people can both have sound understandings of science and radically different policy proposals. That's politics. Sorry it's a big rambly post. Took a bit of time to get it clear.

Excellent rant on the "science is apolitical" crowd.

Bill Nye is so self absorbed everything has to be about him, not science, its more noticeable when he is a guest for other shows

I only heard of his new shows through Popular Science magazines. The hatred for him is massive nowadays. But the nostalgia in me still likes him. He made me like science

My text notification is the sonic rings and I played the vide walked away...did w.e and the beginning goescrazy with it...lost my mind

lmao, Bill saying "I wasn't sure you'd be here" made me chuckle

Wow. I can't imagine the dimensions of the effort put on this video. Man, I'm in pain just trying to imagine. This video deserves 1.000.000 likes.

More importantly, why was Bill using a volumetric flask to boil a liquid? He should've used an Erlenmeyer flask

I think this is by far the most valid criticism and analysis if bill Nye saves the world I've ever seen. Good job

I can’t quite put a finger on it, but the way u describe things are so logical I wish more ppl spoke like this

"Every minute is worth watching" - Proceeds to waste a minute of my life with fist bumps

This was amazing! It really helped me put some of my nebulous disdain for the show into perspective and pin it down! Ultra small correction 38:31 MRI doesn't usually use radioactive isotopes and the electromagnetic radiation involved are radio and AC frequencies, so wouldn't generally be considered "radiation" in the "radioactivity" sense since that is commonly used as a synonym for ionizing radiation. I guess you meant MRI with Gadolinium contrast agents? Also none of the procedures you listed use radiation to improve your general health like the crystal healers claim, there is also medical pseudoscience and grifters trying to sell radiation as having health benefits (radon caves and radioactive bracelets) so even linking those two concepts is something I'd be very careful about. Ionizing radiation is a difficult subject that the general public doesn't understand super well and where large open questions remain (like dose effect curves for small doses). The amount of accessible good information out there is matched by oversimplified takes and misinformation, so I'd suggest we should be careful about even making tenuous connects which might be used by grifters as evidence in their favour. No joke some grifters tell people that radiation therapy helps with cancer so getting some low dose irradiation regularly would help them not getting cancer or relieve their pain.

Veritasium was there? Damn son

talk, don’t argue

the legend has finally returned

As a New Zealander who has never once seen a Bill Nye show (we had three channels in NZ in the 90s when I was a kid and they played exclusively sitcoms, soap operas, and the news) he always seemed like a really nice guy. Then I read about his interactions with fans.

With the crystals, I do honestly think theres something there in regards to placebo/human psychology. Its severely disappointing to know Bill followed the talk show plays to the letter, and just brought people on to dunk them.

"Bill didn't make science political; society did." So well said.

The terrible execution of some of those "science" scenes make me wonder if a Teller style artistic performance of science could work. Teller carries some very simple magic tricks with his flawless execution and quiet creative backdrop.

29:50 The inclusion of HK music over this segment, combined with the fact my entire family fled our home due to politicians making laws in opposition to the accepted science, hit me pretty hard.

i like the portal music :)

geez the fistbumps only get worse

Appreciate the dirthmouth ost at 29:55 , hollowknight is such a fantastic game with an arguably even better soundtrack.

Did not know Derek from veritasium was on that show. His own videos are pretty good at science communication, similar to vsauce without the quirky bald man.

You have really good taste in video game music :D

That was an amazing start 🤣 Edit: So he's got stuck somewhere in self discovery, and other-interest. I'm glad and sad to hear that S2 improved so much, but it feels like it shouldn't have reached the place s1 did.

That opening sequence has given bill Nye the tittle of Master Fister.

I like the portal music :)

Part of the issue is, sadly, that being polarising markets well because it gets our attention in a world where our ability to be entertained is almost gluttonously oversaturated to the point attention spans are growing ever smaller. And in a market where hyper individualism is starving us of the healing affects of a balance of collectivism, most just want to have a 'them' that they can identify their 'us' against.

12:13 Clearly Bill is an engineer because that's a volumetric flask, and isn't used for heating over a burner like that. He should have a standard round bottom.

34:00 this song is from a Humongous game isn't it. I have these vague memories...

can u turn on transcript for this one plz? :C

He is not a scientist. He is a political personality.

Give it up for DJ Seahorse

I was not expecting to see Randy Couture in a mascot outfit in this video

This was so long, also, I forgot I put it on 3/4 speed.

I just watched it in the bath

1:00 I was so weirded out, I just saw a glimpse of gus sorola and was like, that's rooster teeth, what are they doing here?? and I went down a small rabbit hole of they apparently were a guest on this show for a small cameo?

I remember before his kids show he had a reoccurring segment on a kids morning show called "Wake Rattle and Roll". However, I also remember some skit show that he was on doing funny joke/satire experiments. I forget the name of it, but it was on MTV or Comedy Central in thw early to mid 90's.I could be wrong about that though.

woah... what happened at around 30:00?? ... all of a sudden, watching the video is like standing in front of a fire hydrant. Had to check if I accidentally changed the playback speed to 5x lol.

Important lesson, well put.

No amount of good intentions is a safeguard against ego.

The rayman music at the start works so well

Yo why is there hollow knight music at 30:00 lmfao

I just want to let you know this video has 9k views and you channel has 15.8k subscribers because you are doing everything right. Don't try to cater to anyone who tells you otherwise. Godspeed gentleman.

I watched the first couple episodes when it came out and it was just so cringe I couldn't do it anymore.

My wife and I were VERY excited for this show, watched the first two episodes and never came back. Even though we both agreed with what he was saying on the show, we didn't like the very clear hostility that was behind a lot of it, and I couldn't help but feel that it was only furthering a divide that it was, ostensibly, supposed to be bridging.

bro pls turn on the subtitle autogeneration. thx

Did you watch TVO Kid's Heads Up with Bob McDonald?

Holy crap hollownight music

8:40 You fucked up, I'm totally watching how ice cream sandwiches are made now.

that last line actually made me really sad???

Huh, had never heard of The Eyes of Nye

If any one knows the name of the song at 30:30 please let me know. I know it from somewhere but can't think of where. Is it valheim?

nice portal music

The SpongeBob background music 😂 too me a while to realise