I don't look down on people who don't have graduate level degrees in general, obviously. I sure don't have a PhD. I'm saying that when you have someone on to provide the "science" perspective on an issue - which is literally the only reason anyone ever invites Bill Nye on a cable news show - the person offering that opinion should be an expert. Bill Nye is not.
There are a huge, huge number of people you could find on any scientific question who could go on TV and explain the issue and actually know it inside and out, and presumably at least some of them are charismatic and would present well - I wish they'd use those people. But if you have to have a general "this guy speaks on behalf of all scientists everywhere" who's the first guy in every producer's speed dial, it'd be nice if said guy was actually a scientist.
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"The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
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