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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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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.
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).