The reason we have smartphones, the reason we have television, we’re able to talk on opposite sides of the continent, the reason we have smoke detectors… the reason we have these things is because we understand the reactions – the nuclear reactions – that take place in elements, in protons and neutrons and so on. Without that deep understanding, we wouldn’t have everything you can touch and see in our environment. So this claim that [the age of the Earth] has nothing to do with the economy is just wrong.
– Bill Nye, talking about Sen. Marco Rubio’s claim that he wasn’t qualified to answer a question on the age of the Earth, and that it didn’t matter to the economy anyway.
Watch Bill Nye’s whole interview with CNN over on Boing Boing.
Of course, you might be surprised to hear that President Obama’s answer to the same question hasn’t been much different in the past.
(via jtotheizzoe)