Hey, guys.
Wanna see a cool trick?
Watch this.
Good thing I had that magician's wire.
See, it's true.
You can't always believe your eyes.
We see what we expect to see.
And that's why we can be so easily fooled.
Ever been mesmerized?
This is a portrait of Franz Anton Mesmer.
He coined the term "animal magnetism" and believed he could use it to mesmerize
and hypnotize humans and, uh, animals.
Uh, but that didn't work.
Hey, uh, thanks, Todd. See you after the show.
Hello, hello.
Welcome to the show.
I am Bill Nye, and I'm here to save the world from malarkey.
Let me explain.
Just put my feet up the way I do.
There are several common pitfalls
when determining cause and effect in a complex system.
To avoid these, we first observe a situation
and then hypothesize a reason for what was observed.
From there...
Cool. All right.
We test the hypothesis, not to prove ourselves right,
but to try and prove ourselves wrong.
Otherwise, we can reach incorrect conclusions.
Ah, there we go.
- Do we need a...? Do we need...? - Sorry, Bill.
We're having some power problems. It should be good now.
Uh, thanks.
See, I thought the lamp started working again because I had tapped it.
I was wrong. Perhaps I should have known,
several taps didn't do anything at all, but when it did work,
I still thought it was me.
I kept remembering the hits and forgetting the misses.
It's like being a fan of the Eagles.
I was suffering from confirmation bias.
I only paid attention to the evidence that supported my belief, my bias.
And I ignored what contradicted it.
Confirmation bias is a sort of brain trap, which is why, in science,
we try to prove ourselves wrong, not try to prove ourselves right, right?
Wrong. Exactly.
Fighting confirmation bias is even harder
when we really want to believe in something.
And a lot of us want to believe in literally incredible things.
Ghosts, astrology, Bigfoots.
Hi, Sanden.
Hi, Mr. Foot.
He's really into it.
And that's when a pseudoscience is born.
Charlatans use confirmation bias to sell us nonsense.
And once you buy in, that same bias will keep you in the dark.
I got this.
You know what, I need a minute.
Tell them how you really feel, Bill.
No, you think it's harmless.
Okay, you go to a psychic.
You watch Ghost Hunters.
You get somebody to read your tarot cards.
You look at crop circles and look for patterns.
You believe in aliens.
Yeah. Six billion digital photos a week,
and no one's ever seen a single unidentified flying object.
Oh, that's all right. You'll be safe. All you need's an aluminum hat,
and crystal ball.
Or an 8 Ball.
Whoa.
Sorry, it seems to be glued down.
Or crystals that will heal you.
It's all crap.
None of it's true, and it wouldn't matter. The thing is, people take your money.
Often when you're vulnerable, when you've had a death in the family,
when you're concerned about something, that's when they prey on you.
They can't tell you the day you're gonna die by looking at your palm
unless you're almost dead.
Hey, you got three minutes.
People, we want critical thinking skills.
We want you to understand the world around you through the process of science.
Don't be confirming your biases. Question things.
I'm fine now.
But you don't have to believe me.
You don't have to believe me without any evidence
because we have our super skeptical science sleuth Karlie Kloss out there.
Hot on the trails.
There are many wild theories
about the billowing trails emitted by aircraft that decorate our skies.
Look around. Look at this.
They're accelerating a plan, man.
Why are they doing it?
Jets. Population control.
Look up, people. Look.
Chemical trails.
Is there any truth behind this speculation?
I decided to take my inquiry to Torrey Ward,
a commercial pilot with over 11,000 hours of flight experience
in more than 80 types of aircraft.
He should have a scientific explanation
for what those mysterious streaks in the sky really are.
So, Torrey, these long white lines that are left in the sky
after a jet flies through the air,
is there any truth to the theory that there's chemicals that are released
by the government?
Absolutely not.
- What about, to control minds? - Nope. Doesn't exist.
- Zombies? - They are very much conspiracy theories.
It is a condensation trail.
Contrails are formed by, generally, aircraft at higher altitudes,
where the temperature is cold enough and also moist enough.
Why do some contrails last for 30 minutes
and some stay in the sky for hours?
The conditions to create this vapor trail, this contrail, are very magical.
It has to be cool, but it also has to be damp.
- So, too warm, no contrail. - Okay.
Too cold, you might have contrail,
but you also need to have moisture in the sky.
And as you get higher, then the air becomes drier.
And so even if a jet is flying through different conditions,
- at 30,000 feet... - Yes.
There will be definitely areas where you won't see any trail at all.
And then you'll see thick trails.
And it's just as it flies through the moisture and temperature
- that helps create that. - Okay.
There you have it. Myth debunked. Chemtrails, they're just not real.
Very cool.
Yeah, I know.
I learned a lot in this mission you sent me on.
Yeah. So, uh, when you burn jet fuel or any fuel...
- I learnt this. - You get carbon dioxide and water vapor.
- It's the by-product. - You get water vapor,
and sometimes, it turns to a cloud.
But the crazy thing is that it doesn't happen all the time.
And that's what I learned. No. That's why, you know...
not every airplane that flies through the sky leaves a contrail.
It depends on the atmosphere.
It depends on the temperature. It depends on the humidity.
It depends on how high or low it's flying.
And sometimes, it happens in certain times of the year.
And it's...
So, it's kind of just a "sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not."
But it's not chemicals that are controlling your brain
by the government or by aliens.
- Can you imagine...? - At least, as we know so far.
So far.
Here's what I say to people.
Imagine...
Look how difficult it is for people to work together to get anything done.
Let alone to subvert stuff.
Yeah, the government. Yeah, they're really organized.
- Yeah, that's great. - No, but, you know,
the thing is, Bill, is that, you know,
I didn't know about these crazy conspiracy theories before looking into this,
and the one thing that I realize is that these conspiracy theories,
they kind of happen pretty easily.
You read something on the Internet, and you believe it as fact.
I think that's the biggest takeaway for me is I wanted to know, so I asked questions.
Did you enjoy flying around in a small plane?
So, I am six-foot-something and sitting in that plane, like, all curled up,
I felt like I was actually flying.
Cool. I'm glad you had a good time. Thanks for filing that report.
- I'm happy to debunk anything for you. - Karlie Kloss. Blow it up.
We are bombarded with pseudoscience every day.
But how do we stay skeptical without being too closed-minded?
Well, I'm here to discuss it with our distinguished panel.
Give it up...
...for Timothy Caulfield, author of the book
Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?
Not some things, the whole deal.
- Sam Reynolds, you're an astrologer. - That's right.
- From Brooklyn, New York. - That's right.
And, uh, Jamila Bey, you are a professional skeptic.
That indeed is so.
So, with all this, what is Gwyneth Paltrow wrong about everything?
She's wrong about an awful lot, Bill.
Uh, and she never disappoints me.
'Cause she has so many examples of pseudoscience.
And one of my absolute favorite is the vagina steam,
which was her advice...
We were all... Well, not all of us.
- I'm not... - A significant portion of us
are supposed to steam our vagina for the purpose of detoxing.
- Which we call "second-degree burn." - Yeah, exactly.
This idea that we have toxins residing in our bodies
and we have to do all these crazy things to rid our bodies of these toxins.
You know, people have heard of cleanses. Many celebrities suggest things like...
You know, there's Reiki to center your meridians.
There is grounding. Have you heard of this?
Earth things. You're supposed to walk on the ground.
You're supposed to lie on the ground, and you get the energy from the Earth...
- Or you get a nap. - Yeah, you have a good nap.
Does she have astrological points of view?
She... I would suspect that she is very open-minded
to the idea of astrology, but... Look, there's so much pseudoscience out there,
particularly in the context of health, which is one thing I'm interested in
because that can have real consequences.
- Now, Sam. - Yes, sir.
- You're an astrologer. - That's right.
You know, I don't believe any of it.
Yes, I do know that.
And do you know why?
Tell me. Enlighten me.
Well, it just never has anything to do with anything.
You're telling me there's only 12 types of people?
And what about the wobbling of the Earth
and what used to be a Sagittarius is now... What's the other one?
- Capricorn? - Ophiuchus?
Oh, yes.
- Ophiuchus. - That's me.
- You're the 13th sign. - There is no 13th sign.
- You would be under the 13th sign. - Yes.
- But you're not. - Which gives me superpowers.
- I could go invisible on you. - No.
- Really? - Yeah.
But what's your deal? You don't believe it either?
I use astrology. I think astrology is like a language.
When you say, for instance, it's a pseudoscience, right?
I would have to first believe it's a science.
- I don't believe astrology is a science. - What is it?
- It's an interpretative art. - An interpretative art.
As my friend, Shelley Ackerman describes it...
it's the marriage between math and myth.
And that's how it's been for at least 5000 years.
The idea that we look at our cultural imagination
with myth and mythological stories,
and marry it to what we now know as science,
in terms of astronomical phenomena.
So, what service do you provide for people with your art?
I use the cultural imagination that we know as astrology
to talk to them about how their idea of themselves,
based on their chart, their birth chart, syncs up with their life experience.
Basically, using biography... as a means...
In other words, you get them to tell you stuff about themselves
- and then you reinforce it... - No.
...with these astrological things in the background.
No, it's actually using the language of astrology
as a means of talking with them about...
Dialoguing with them about their lives, about themselves.
So, it's a language.
- Jamila, you're a skeptic. - I am.
How do you feel about this point of view?
Uh, I feel touchy-feely and weird
and I want it replicated in a lab.
- I, you know... - Yeah, can you make a prediction?
Sure, I can make a prediction.
But I don't think every aspect of knowledge has to be replicable...
- It does in science. - ...in a lab. I don't think...
- In science, or a lab... - So, is all knowledge...
sequestered to science?
- No. No. - Okay.
Um, however...
it's just, to me, you know... I kind of take... I think it's fun.
I take that... I'm a Scorpio and...
- Do you know Carl? - I like...
- Which Carl? - He's a Scorpio.
Oh.
Okay. You know, I think I might.
But, like... Oh, yeah, Carl. Just like me, we like to fight and sex is fun for us.
- That's so weird. - Yeah. I know.
But that's not astrology.
Astrology isn't just reducing people to 12 signs.
It's looking at the complex relationships between the planets,
looking at the complex relationship between the signs.
It's not going just, like, by your horoscope.
People read their horoscopes and think, "Well, that's just all astrology can do."
That's entertainment.
Can you make my life better with astrology, in any way? I mean...
How does Hamlet make your life better?
It entertains me. It gives me insight into...
You know, it gives me some insight into human nature.
It allows me to look at a historical moment
and perhaps infer ideas about the way people used to be,
the way language once was.
Hamlet's good, but right now, I'm totally on a Hamilton kick.
That makes me tap my toes. That makes me sing.
It's brought me closer to my own little boy
who does "Guns and Ships" really well for an eight-year-old.
But here's the thing.
You... Astrology makes no provable predictions.
In fact, in our opinion...
Timothy, it's a little bit of a waste of time.
- But you make a living on it, right? - Yes.
You make a good living.
- People come to you for advice, right? - Yes.
But, Timothy, you were gonna jump in.
I was. I mean, what's interesting here is that...
he's providing a service, and people think that they're getting something from him.
And that builds on something that you said earlier.
It's these cognitive biases that we have
that allow this kind of pseudoscience to thrive.
It's the causal illusion, right, that he makes some kind of prediction,
something happens, and some have suggested
that kind of causal illusion is the foundation of pseudoscience.
Whether you're talking about Wi-Fi causing cancer,
whether you're talking about this kind of phenomenon,
whether you're really talking about almost any kind...
What's the first thing I said... about astrology?
- It's not science. - There you go.
I'm gonna come onto your side, a little bit.
- Can I come onto your side? - All right, come on over.
I like the fact that you're saying, it's not science.
'Cause, Bill, a horrible trend that's happening right now
is people are claiming things like this are science.
Of what use is it? That's what I'm saying.
It's the same use as any kind of art.
It touches the imagination, it touches the human heart.
People can relate to some things that are said through astrology,
just like they relate to seeing a film, just like they relate through poetry.
It's celestial poetry.
It's seeing the stars come alive as it relates to your heart.
Gotta say... as a, uh...
scientifically literate guy, or I try to be...
when you realize what's really happening in the universe,
what's really happening in the cosmos,
it's far more inspiring.
You're looking for data. You're looking at it in terms...
- I'm looking for beauty, in this case. - But human beings relate to meaning.
One last thing for me.
Mm-hm.
What makes people skeptical of climate change?
- What happens to people? - They don't understand it.
- They don't understand it. Yeah. - Lack of education.
How do you deal with people who are believers?
I deal with them as people.
You know, you ask people, you know...
One of... I'm not gonna name them, but, you know, in the halls of our Congress,
in Washington D.C., holding a snowball:
"There's snow. Can't be no global warming."
So, it's... My claim is that
lack of discipline, lack of searching for true cause and effect, is inherently bad.
It's bad for you.
The just moseying around, trying to figure things out,
and claiming there are connections which are provably unconnected,
is troubling for us on the skeptical side.
With that said, thank you all very much.
- Let's have a hand for our panel. - Thank you.
- Thanks, Bill. - Tim, Sam and Jamila.
Hi, Dr. Mesmer.
Some people claim that through the power of mind over matter,
with mental and spiritual strength...
you can walk across coals without getting burned.
But we're scientists...
and that's... ridiculous.
So, let's be skeptical and try to prove it wrong.
- Donald Faison. - Hi.
- So good to see you, man. - Bill Nye.
- You're all suited up. - I, uh...
I heard I was coming into your lab, so I, uh...
- I love you, man. - I dressed up for you. Put on a...
This is my least favorite coat rack.
And now we look exactly alike.
Oh, yeah. People can hardly tell us apart.
I am your black doppelganger.
So, here's what I want you to do. I want you to consider... the following.
This, you may recognize,
as an ordinary skull with a hole in its head.
- And a candle. - Oh, that's right.
- It has a candle in it. - And a candle, yes.
So, here's an interesting thing.
Here's how people walk on hot coals.
First, they light a candle.
Oh, this is... Yeah. This is adult resistant.
Oh, we got quite a breeze here, Donald.
- Let me help you out there. - There you go, man.
- Thank you. - There you go.
Look at the breeze, okay? Nobody leave this room.
Hang on here. Let's see if we can pull this off.
Wait, wait. No, this is gonna be great. Here we are.
All right. Now...
- Do you want me to hold it there? - Now try holding it over the flame.
- We'll count. One, two, three, four. - One, two, three, four.
- There we go. - Don't let it... It's up to you.
But it went about four-and-a-half or five.
- I'd say about four-and-a-half seconds... - Four-and-a-half seconds, yeah, yeah.
Whoo!
Woo-hoo-hoo.
But now...
I'm already nervous for what's gonna happen next, man.
Do you wanna try this one or you want me to do it?
No, no, no, I'll do it, I'll do it.
So, we have wrapped the same piece of paper...
Or from the other half. ...around this ordinary aluminum can.
Now hold it over the same flame and I will block it in the same fashion.
One, two, three...
four...
- five, six. - Five, six, seven, eight... nine.
So, my claim is you can be here for quite a while.
- Thirty seconds, anyway. - The can's getting warm.
But the can's getting warm. So, what's happening is the heat...
is passing right through the paper...
into the can. This is how fire walking works.
It's not mental or spiritual preparedness.
Anyone can do it.
Because your feet, the meat of your feet...
absorb the energy of the fire without burning.
- What? - It's amazing.
Then the second thing is, uh...
wood, even when it's on fire, doesn't conduct heat that well.
You know how you stir spaghetti with a wooden spoon rather than a metal one?
And then the other thing that happens, your feet get, uh... cold
because when you're nervous, you ever felt this vaso... constriction of your veins,
your hands get cold? And then the big one is
you wet the area around the fire, like, wet.
So, the first couple steps...
the liquid water on your feet turns to steam.
So, that buys you another couple steps.
But you can't just, like, stand in hot coals.
- You can't just stand, but you can walk. - Or run.
Another trick, yeah, motor.
Get her done.
Now, I'm not kidding. It looks like an effect that could not possibly work.
- But I claim it does. - Okay.
And what we're gonna do is see if we can prove me wrong.
Are you up for it?
- What I'm saying here... - I want you to be correct.
'Cause I have a feeling I'm gonna be the guinea pig in this situation.
- Well, I'll go right... after you. - After?
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, here's the strange thing, you guys. We have prepared a big fire.
And we're gonna go out there and try walking on it.
Are you with us?
- It's gonna be cool. - I'm so excited!
Uh...
- let's go. - Let's go.
- This way? - Yeah. You look great.
- You can do this. - No.
You can do this. You're feeling it.
You can do this.
A bed of flaming coals.
You can feel the heat...
the heat back here.
You can feel the heat, everybody?
It's cool. Or it's hot.
Yes, yes. The heat is mak... It's moving my hair.
It's moving your laboratory coat.
- So... - Oh, my God. Oh, my God, you guys.
So, we're ready to go, right?
- Oh, my God, you guys. - Now, we have...
- I'm good. I'm ready to go. - Fearless. Fearless. Fearless.
What's our temperature? We're below a thousand, probably.
- How much? - What?
- A thousand degrees. - Above a thousand degrees.
A thousand Fahrenheit.
That says, 90... Uh, yeah, it's hot.
So, if I understand this, we're supposed to walk with intentionality.
- How are you doing? - I'm great.
Yeah. You look great.
One, two, three, four, five.
Wow.
Go a little faster than that.
One, two, three, four.
Cool.
So, uh, do you feel empowered?
To be honest with you, I felt some heat...
on my feet.
- That's cool. Way to go, man. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Now, Donald...
having experienced the candle flame, and the can and the paper...
do you feel that there is spiritual preparedness,
that there's some sort of empowerment,
that comes from some psychic force that enabled you to do that?
Or was it just... science?
Do I feel empowered?
Uh, yeah. Do I feel like it's because of science?
- Yeah. - I love you, man.
Be skeptical out there and question things,
and together, we can, dare I say it...
save the world.
Thanks, everybody.