for your opinion on a subject. Some of the scientists like Stephen Hawking and Neil deGrasse

Tyson have brushed it off as a meaningless topic. I’m just wondering about your thoughts

on the subject.

Bill Nye: Mike, Mike. This is a great question. I’m not sure that Neil deGrasse Tyson and

Richard Dawkins, two guys I’m very well acquainted with have declared philosophy as

irrelevant and blowing it off in you term. I think that they’re just concerned that

it doesn’t always give an answer that’s surprising. It doesn’t always lead you someplace

that is inconsistent with common sense. And it gets back – it often, often gets back

to this question. What is the nature of consciousness? Can we know that we know? Are we aware that

we are aware? Are we not aware that we are aware? Is reality real or is reality not real

and we are all living on a ping pong ball as part of a giant interplanetary ping pong

game and we cannot sense it. These are interesting questions. But the idea that reality is not

real or what you sense and feel is not authentic is something I’m very skeptical of. I mean

I think that your senses, the reality that you interact with with light, heat, sense

of touch, taste, smell, hearing, absolutely hearing. These are real things.

And to make a philosophical argument that they may not be real because you can’t prove

– like for example you can’t prove that the sun will come up tomorrow. Not really,

right. You can’t prove it until it happens. But I’m pretty confident it will happen.

That’s part of my reality. The sun will come up tomorrow. And so philosophy is important

for a while but it’s also I get were Neil and Richard might be coming from but where

you start arguing in a circle where I think therefore I am. What if you don’t think

about it? Do you not exist anymore? You probably still exist even if you’re not thinking

about existence. And so, you know, this gets into the old thing if you drop a hammer on

your foot is it real or is it just your imagination? You can run that test, you know, a couple

of times and I hope you come to agree that it’s probably real. It’s a cool question.

It’s important I think for a lot of people to be aware of philosophy but just keep in

mind if you’re spending all this money on college this also may be where Neil and Richard

are coming from. A philosophy degree may not lead you to on a career path. It might but

it may not. And keep in mind humans made up philosophy too. Humans discovered or invented

the process of science. Humans invented language. Humans invented philosophy. So keep that in

mind that when you go to seek an absolute truth you’re a human seeking the truth.

So there’s going to be limits. But there’s also going to be things beyond which it doesn’t

matter. Drop a hammer on your foot and see if you don’t notice it.