The Joy of Discovery, Featuring Bill Nye

“We are, you and I, at least one of the ways that the Universe knows itself.” – Bill Nye

Did you manage to (or choose to) watch the much-anticipated debate between Science Guy Bill Nye and Ken Ham on the “merits” of Creationism on Feb. 4? While clearly nothing more than a publicity event cooked up by Ham to fund his Creation Museum in Kentucky (yes, I’m afraid that’s actually a thing here in America) Nye felt it to be in his — as well as the country’s — best interest to stand up and defend science and its methods in the face of unapologetic fundamentalist denial.

The video above, just released by John D. Boswell — aka melodysheep, creator of the excellent Symphony of Science series — takes some of Bill’s statements during the debate and puts them to music and images of our fascinating world.

Although not in Boswell’s usual whimsical auto-tuned style, the video is no less entertaining — if anything, it has a bit more gravity (no pun intended) — and plays like a trailer for scientific investigation of the Universe… if that were a movie.

Which it kind of is, actually, and we all get to be the actors, directors, and audience. But Creationists like Ham want to take that script and that screenplay away from us, away from our children, and hand it over to… something else. Something that doesn’t reflect the reality of the world we live in and the laws that govern the Universe and doesn’t call out for our active participation in its discovery, doesn’t expect critical thinking or understanding of basic scientific knowledge. Bill doesn’t want to see that happen, and that’s why he went on stage for two hours last week at an anti-science museum in Kentucky.

You can say what you will about how good of an idea it was or how well it turned out, I say: good for you, Bill.

Watch the full debate here.

Video by melodysheep.