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Survivor Meets Junkyard Wars for Scientists
MyNameIsFred writes "Stepping back to Gilligan's Island, PBS has a new "reality" show Rough Science where "five scientists are challenged to put their collective scientific knowledge to practical use. Transported to isolated locations, they are presented with a series of tasks, with two notable restrictions: they must complete their work within three days and, with the exception of a rudimentary tool kit, must use only indigenous materials." Could the Professor really build all of those things? We'll soon know." Check out the Episode guide.
They start voting on which one to eat first within a week. Scientists weren't designed to survive outside of a lab. =]
Karma: Dyn-o-mite!(mostly affected by Jimmy Walker reading your comments)
"scientists"?
"practical use"!?
They're doomed.
But then again, I could be wrong.
That said, its still worth catching if you've nothing else to do.
It was on the BBC and had two series.
http://www.open2.net/science/roughscience/
"Look guys! I made this helicopter entirely out of bamboo and coconuts!"
(I don't understand why Gilligan's Island went so long, I mean the Professor came up with these brilliant inventions every episode. Why couldn't they just make a raft and have the Prof build a small nuclear reactor to power it?)
Sheepdot: Open Source good, Closed Source baaaaaaad!
"Will they make alliances with each other and scheme to get the other scientists?"
They're academics, aren't they?
Steve
Dr. X: They mocked my research! But I'll show them, I'll show them all!
Announcer: Fascinating. What scientific principle have you applied?
Dr. X: Leverage.
Announcer: I see, and how are you going to use your invention... what's it called?
Dr. X: A big stick.
Annonucer: Yes, your stick. Dr. Sullivan has succeeded in making charcoal a furnace. How does your invention compare to that?
Dr. X: I will use it to leverage his cranium.
Announcer: That science-speak is too much for me.
Dr. X: Let me demonstrate. [Smashes announcer's head in.]
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
What kind of scientists do you suggest?
Psychologists - Starve to death, but leave excellent documentation of the experience.
Organic Chemists - build homemade reactor to convert tree sap into TNT, cause large periodic explosions until they are rescued.
Nuclear Physicists - Would cause even bigger explosions, but lack the proper infrastructure.
Theoretical physicists - dismiss building a raft as trivial.
Software Engineers - Useless without coffee. In fact, useless altogether on desert island.
Evolutionary Biologists - Decide to stay and watch the ants.
.. start a fire or catch a fish, then they would have beaten every person that has been Survivor.
Every season of Survivor is the same with the same cast of idiots starving because all they can find to eat are coconuts that practically fall out of the trees and hit them on the head and maybe some snails that crawled into their sleeping bags.
Pick up the damn fishing pole and catch some fish!
Live web cams
Sure, he's a moron for not filing a cruise plan (er, the boating equivalent of a flight plan...whatever it's called) with the Coast Guard (but then, who really wants to voluntarily tell the gov't their every move?), or telling friends where he was going and when he'd be back...but he was a true survivor.
And,. although he was very happy to see the US warship, he wasn't looking for a free ride home: he asked them to repair his mast and he would sail home on his own. That's freakin' impressive.
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
The idea of a realistic situation like the above is to remove external intervention from the picture altogether. If you're actually stranded on a desert island, you don't get the opportunity to win a hammer - you have to strap a rock to a stick. You're not able to win an 8" sheath knife, you have to scratch a rock into a jagged and/or sharp edge.
I can't recall whom, or on what channel it was featured (I believe it was Discovery) a scientist (outdoor survivalist was, I believe, his actual trade) stranded himself in the bush - dropped his snowmobile (intentionally!) through thin ice out in the wild - miles from any civilization, and with only the most basic set of gear (the things a snowmobiler would typically carry with them, no fancy survival kits) and, of course, a camera (which, I believe, was dropped in advance, I forget how it was situated).
He started out his adventure soaked to the skin, cold, and without food (except for some energy bars he'd brought with him for the trip. Five of them, I believe. "Trail Snacks"). Being early afternoon, he had only a short time to locate a suitable area, build a shelter, start a fire, dry himself off, and find a source of food in the process (being cold and wet come nightfall with two feet of snow on the ground and more coming is a very bad thing<tm>).
He set up complicated camera shots by himself, for example; camera atop a mountain, run down mountain, walk across a field in camera's view, run back up mountain, stop camera (this brought an amusing anecdote where he set up the camera, ran down the mountain, looked up to see the camera tilting forward, forward, forward... thud!)
He used, and tested several survival techniques that he teaches in an outdoor survival course, for example setting up four smoke-signal fires on the extremeties of a cross which he walked into the snow in a large open area. At the end, he determined that it was too much hassle to run back and forth between each of them to light and maintain all the fires. He decided instead to go with a walked-in cross (or X, depending on how you look at it) with pillars at each corner and a single (large) signal fire at one extremity.
All in all, he was in the bush for a little over a week and managed to make himself a cozy living arrangement, including various meat and fish meals at dinner time. Some nights, of course, his fishing instrument didn't work so he didn't eat anything but berries.
To make a long story even longer {smile} - that is what reality television, IMHO, should be. No challenges, no assistance, no winning tools or champagne, no medical crew standing by to assist as soon as the going gets tough - just (an) individual(s) and (his/their) smarts to get through the situation. Camera crew optional.
BD Phone Home!
Shameless plug. Like you weren't expecting it.
I repeatedly uttered "fascinating" while watching this episode from the viewscreen on the bridge.