Tom Hanks on The Daily Show Talks Physics

I don't want to hear Tom Hanks talk about physics any more than I want to hear Jenny McCarthy talk about vaccines. I would, however, listen to legendary Queen guitarist Brian May talk about physics. It doesn't matter that he is a geat musician. It does matter that 36 years after starting his thesis, he went back and finished a doctorate.

Tom Hank's Hollywood stardom gives him an audience. It does not give him any credibility on any subject other than acting. We should not buy into the trap of granting celebrity status a privilege it does not deserve, even when addressing a topic we support.

I think that it is great that the public can see that someone whom they know and like for other reasons is also interested in science. I think that people generally should, and in most cases will, carefully consider the source. I agree with Matthew Nisbet that many will be motivated to learn more, and thus find some of the quality sources of information online

I also believe that the scientific community would be wise to monitor these sorts of situations and be prepared to jump into refute any misstatements that might be made. Perhaps, assuming this program was well accepted by the Colbert audience, it might serve as an opening for a professional physicist to appear on the show to give a "real scientist" perspective.

If we want to increase scientific literacy, we need to encourage discussion and debate, and thus expect that misstatements will occur and clarifications will need to be made as a part of that discussion process.

If we adopt an attitude that only people with PhD's should be qualified to talk about science we will only fan the flames of anti-intellectualism and ensure that science is only a fringe activity.

But what would I know? I only have a Master's degree.

Note: I think I do usually know how to distinguish Jon Stewart from Stephen Colbert, but apparently not always.