Science Guy Bill Nye Explores Life's Meaning in 5 Minutes (VIDEO)

Brian Dyak is president, CEO and co-founder of the Entertainment Industries Council (EIC) and executive producer of EICnetwork.tv. Dyak contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

In this special, sit-down interview on EICnetwork.tv from the SET Awards, the ever- animated Bill Nye "the Science Guy" spends five intense minutes examining the meaning of life, innovation and "the stuff of stars."

While most of us remember his familiar character from our youthful classroom activities and childhood television favorites, Nye, a former mechanical engineer, continues to capture our hearts and minds with his insights into the science and technology world.

With a career as a scientist, engineer, comedian, author and inventor, he says he has but one mission: "To help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work." That's exactly what he does.

In his interview, Nye asks us to ponder how "everything you can touch and see, everything, came out of someone's head." Science and technology affects and changes the world every day. Everything starts off from someone wanting to explore and dig deeper into creating something bigger and better. For Nye, it was his curiosity for how a bicycle works that compelled him to explore the question of how machines can improve people's lives. His curiosity ultimately led him on a path to become a mechanical engineer for Boeing — before he won a Steve Martin look-alike contest and entered into comedy, to later be followed by his career promoting science and technology. His experience of wanting to know more and learn more is a perfect example of how anyone can venture into the world of science and technology and make a difference in the world. [Bill Nye's Creationism Debate Not a Total Disaster, Scientists Say]

Whether you're a budding scientist, a media creator or a tech-hobbyist, you know embracing science and technology is critical in shaping future lives. Getting excited about science is important, and if becoming a scientist is not part of your plan, appreciating science is still valuable.

EIC reached out to Nye as part of our efforts to work directly with writers, producers, directors, actors and journalists to bring the power and influence of entertainment and news media to better communicate about health and social issues to vast audiences.

We bring the power and influence of entertainment and media to showcase scientists, engineers and technologists in more authentic ways, portraying their real life stories on the Web.

In this video, Nye encapsulates the effort perfectly: "The Internet has changed everything. It is so exciting! It is a very exciting time to be alive."

The author's most recent Op-Ed was "Hollywood Makes Mental Health an A-List Cause (Op-Ed)." Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates — and become part of the discussion — on Facebook, Twitter and Google +. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Live Science.