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Pentagon Wants Screenplays From Scientists
Aix writes "According to the New York Times, the Pentagon is funding classes in screenplay writing for 15 scientists. The idea is to encourage kids to go into science and engineering through mainstream media and thereby presumably bolster long-term US national security. While it sounds like a lot of fun for the researchers involved, and anything that stems the spiral of the US into a culture of anti-intellectualism is a good thing in my book. Will glamorizing science in the movies make kids pay better attention in chemistry class?"
I would love to see more science and engineering being taught and endorsed by the federal government, but it does not help that our POTUS is endorsing the teaching of Intelligent Design (ID) as a science rather than the religiously biased belief system that it is. I don't have a problem with ID being taught as long as it can be taught along with other philosophy and religious curricula.
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I don't think it is an A leads to B thing- Movies won't make kids automatically interested in science, however I think a lot of people were inspired by the cold war to get into science, and movies that made the Russians look bad got American kids into science, and vice versa.
Whatever your opinion of the administration- Imagine if W had a conference, said that we are going to get rid of our need for foreign oil w/in 10 years, and got scientists etc. going with the support they deserve and need- it could be like JFK's moon challenge.
It isn't just movies that influence people- we need a whole atmosphere of education in the US.
Of course, another way to do this would to bring kids to 15 year reunions, when the football team captains have gotten fat and work at car washes, and the high school nerds are making great money in great jobs.... Education is cool man.
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This seems like an awkward time for them to do this, considering as how they just slashed funding for hard research (DARPA) and schools all over have been scrambling to find new sources of funding.
Seriously, for me this flick from the 80's helped fuel my disire to learn more about computers & software. Although, after seeing this movie with my father (I was 8 or 9), he forbid me from using a modem until I was 18.
Paranoid tinfoil hat crowd say Y here, everyone else say N.
if you see what's on tv, you'll find so many shows dedicated to doctors (ER, grey's acadamy, chicago hope) lawyers (law and order: special victims unit, criminal intent, trial by jury) and cops (CSI miami, ny).
you never hear anyone even mention engineers in movies or tv series. it's got to do with the social culture of the states. 100% of the political leaders in China have an engineering or science degree. In the states? none! (source: IEEE spectrum magazine June 2005).
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Well, first of all it's actual scientists being taught how to write screenplays. Hopefully they would try to make it as realistic as possible. That aside, I know there are plenty of geeks that grew up watching science fiction shows and that, at least in part, were intrigued by that enough to go into a scientific field of study. So even lots of "movie" science could be beneficial, if done in the right way.
are rising wildly, right? NOT!
So... we're starting to outsource knowledge work, lumping science/technical skills in with manufacturing labor in the competetive race to the bottom. And Academia is increasingly competetive and less remunerative, and public funding is getting slashed.
I guess science is something you go into for love, right?
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Oh man... that is really funny, but all in all it is kidn of true, I remember when a girlfriend asked me when had I learned some "tricks" I made in an "encounter". I thought to tell her that I have seen them in a lesbian film (you can imagine which "tricks" did I do ;o) ).
:)
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I'm sure the scientists will write screenplays that are very realistic. However, I really doubt that these screenplays won't pass through some hands that will alter them here and there to make them more "entertaining" (read: revenue generating).
Come on - what is computer science without an "Uploading Virus" dialog box? What is aerospace engineering without do-it-all, land-anywhere-in-the-solar-system rocketplanes? What is biology without absurd mutations? What is astronomy without the approaching FTL alien invasion fleet to observe? Etc.
Hollywood (in general) does cheap ascientific things because it makes better movies than the real stuff. Just like people don't watch a "hacker" movie to see someone typing endless lines of C code, the same goes with "technical" fields, in general.
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> Suddenly something in one of the tubes starts
> fizzling. Suddenly the President comes into view
> and hands Billy a big bag of money
I very much doubt that. It is much more likely that suddenly a SWAT team would burst in and surround little Billy, pointing their automatic weapons at his head and screaming obscenities. Then they'd throw him in jail for possessing drug paraphernalia (namely, labware, chemicals, alcohol burner, etc.). If Billy wasn't alone at the time of arrest, conspiracy charges would no doubt follow.
Then he'd be named a terrorist, after some underpaid police chemist runs some unspecific test and finds explosive precursors (do you realize how many chemicals fit in that category? Anything with a benzene ring can be converted into TNT.) in Billy's test tube. Billy's friends would be immediately included as co-conspirators to blow something up while stoned on some homemade drug.
As anybody who has tried to do chemistry anywhere outside strictly controlled and designated places knows, the message from the government is chrystal clear: don't do chemistry. And now they try to blame us for listening and obeying the law? How amusing.