The Los Angeles Times reports that Bill Nye, host of the popular ’90s television series Bill Nye the Science Guy, collapsed Tuesday evening while giving a presentation at the University of Southern California. Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics, as well as USC public safety were on hand, but it is currently unknown whether or not Nye received medical treatment, but audience members told the Los Angeles Times that he regained consciousness and continued on with the lecture. “It was just all a very bizarre evening,” USC senior Alastair Fairbanks said. Nye has since recovered from the incident. “Bill Nye is feeling much better after a good nights rest,” his rep said in a statement to EW. “He says he pushed himself too hard after a long day of an early satellite media tour combined with a late night speech.”
Nov 17
2010
01:54 PM ET
'Bill Nye the Science Guy' host collapses at USC event
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I read a description of what happened elsewhere. It sounded scarily like a stroke, so I hope he’s getting medical treatment.
Sounds more like cancer. Let’s hope it’s not.
OMG!! I grew up on Bill Nye!!! I hope he recovers.
you did? he must be either really fat or really strong. sounds very painful. did he ever complain?
This!!!
hilarious
I loved watching him in school. I really hope he’s okay.
i hope he’s okay! i love bill nye
and it sounds like he had vertigo like what matt roloff had. collapsing and regaining conciousness right away.
The incident of the “Science Guy,” Bill Nye, passing out on stage at USC when about to give a speech – and no student coming to his aid, just having fun using their mobile phones to post notes about the episode – is grotesque. What were they thinking? I can only surmise they were living in the “media world” rather than the real world. Helping a man who might have been seriously ill, in the real world, was not in their minds. Rather, it was a media event, so they posted to online sites about it.
Sadly this shows how we live through media. We think media is reality. The average American watches four hours of television a day (according to the US Census, which also points out that we spend more time consuming media than anything else – it is the dominant thing in our culture, the most significant thing about us). The Gantner Group projected that by this year in developed countries we would relate to people on screens ten times as much as we relate to them in person. Texting is way, way up, hugs are down. It’s a sad state of affairs. In my study on this phenomenon, which I call the fragmentation of the modern mind, I found in a national online study that most people think we’re talking faster and interrupting more. That, to me, means we’re not communicating. And I fight this, but still do it myself a great deal. Two-thirds of all Americans keep the TV on during most meals. Some people sleep with their Blackberry on their beside, and if they get a call in the middle of the night, wake up to anwser (that’s nuts, and that’s why they call it a crackberrry).
In short we need to get back to earth, spend more time face to face with people we care about. Turn off the TV. Slow down on the texting, and the net flicks. I know we can do it, the human animal is wired to be social, it’s one of the most important things about us. Without it, we lose our ability to empathize with others. So think about it, folks!
For more on my study on the topic, and a review of key books on the subjects, see thefragmind.com There’s a condensed Power Point of my study with video on each slide explaining the major points (because of course we’re in a hurry and it has to be visual and pitchy and online to be heard at all!).