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What It's Like To Be the Scientific Consultant For The Big Bang Theory
sciencehabit (1205606) writes "Science sits down with David Saltzberg, who's been The Big Bang Theory's one and only science consultant since it premiered. Saltzberg is an astrophysicist at the University of California, Los Angeles. He chats about how the portrayal of science on the show has changed over the years, whether it turns kids away from science, and how you can get your own job as a scientific consultant in Hollywood."
Unless you get lucky, the only thing it's actually good for is wiping your ass.
I've watched the occasional episode and it seems more targeted at "fake nerds" - the type who like "I fucking love science" on facebook. The viewer isn't made to relate with the geeky characters, they're made to laugh at.
Being said, the science usually has merit, even if it's something that geeks would never say either because it is just too obvious/cliche or doesn't make sense to say.
Big Bang Theory is like blackface comedy. It's not for nerds, but for people who want to laugh at nerds.
You get ignored a lot.
Yes... because we know that all good actors always only portray characters that are just like them in real life.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I don't generally like to think when I am trying to have someone entertain to me. Give me some poorly placed references to nerd culture with a cast of good looking folks living in wildly expensive apartments while working non-demanding dream jobs - that's what I want. Also, please include laugh tracks and facial-expression-close-ups so that I know when to have a sensible chuckle. Also, I am easily frustrated and dislike critical thinking - please pander to these characteristics.
Sincerely,
Your Average Prime Time Television Viewer
I was in this thread to see comments about being a Hollywood science consultant, yet I can see are "I like tBBT", and "I don't", interspersed with the occasional "What do you know" and "You're obviously a moron".
Have all the slashdot accounts been hacked by some preschoolers?
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
I'll bet it's at least a couple of orders of magnitude higher than that!
"Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." - Roald Dahl
I can't believe that a single science consultant writes all the science for BBT! Firstly, everything they broadcast is usually 100% correct. Secondly, they also show real experiments with real chemical and physical reactions. So they obviously have access to lab equipment too. But it's not just the astro-science that impresses me. It's everything else that comes out of the characters' (especialy Sheldon's) mouths - be it history, grammar, geography, literature, music, etc. . . All of it meticulously researched and scripted.
I tips me lid to David Saltzberg! What an amazing all-rounder he is!
I would like to take a moment to apologize to my fellow nerds for littering the pages of /. with a sports reference. I don't actually know anything about sports and only learned of Sterling while listening to my coworkers bitch about it at work. It seemed appropriate at the time and I am truly sorry for my indiscretion. I shall now give this thread back to the ACs, APK, and Ethanol-fueled so they can return your programming to its usual GNNA/goatse/Grammar Nazi goodness. Don't forget to keep your HOSTS file updated!!!!!
There is a certain subset of nerd that cannot cope with the idea that the problems that nerds face in life are a lot like the problems that non-nerds face.
there's definitely a parallel between "blackface" mocking & the kind of "geek humor" employed by the show
I love the concept of the show: Sitcom about everyday life of young physics PhD...sounds like a good premise
In execution...damn...i'd prefer an execution to watching a whole episode of "Big Bang Theory"
1. afore mentioned unfunny mocking/reinforcing dumb stereotypes
2. laugh track (these annoy the living crap out of me...."hahahahahha"....)
3. superficial mentions of science ephemera intended to pass as actual realistic dialogue
TV can be so much better than the show...hell the main actor is a great actor...the material is atrocious and unwatchable
Thank you Dave Raggett
You seem to be forgetting the physics part of the degree. An astrophysics degree is in many ways a physics degree where the student has opted to take the astronomy related options. You can pretty much do with it anything you can do with a physics degree.
There is gamer culture. There is comic culture. There is anime culture. There is hacker culture. There was a punk culture. There was a hippie culture. However, there never was Geek or Nerd culture, just like there was never Nigger culture. Geek, Nerd, and Nigger are disparaging terms. Without corporations appropriating the culture for the commodification thereof, there would not be a Geek or Nerd culture. The whole "Geek and Nerd" culture is just commodification, even here on Slashdot. "News for nerds" -- Whatever, Dork. Dork culture! Oh I'm such a Dweeb! Hey I know, "Gnus for Goobers, Stuff that Chatters!" It's not "Goober" culture is it? We don't run around calling each other Dorks and Dweebs right? That's what you sound like calling yourselves "Nerd" or "Geek" culture. That's very some fake bullshit there.
You can buy "Punk" clothes at hot topic... That's not punk at all! That's cultural commodification of the do-it-yourself anti-conformist punk culture. Thug culture started off as artists singing about making endsmeat to survive in the ghetto while being persecuted for your race. Now it's about being more violent, having more money, nicer cars, more "fresh" clothes, more "bling", and impressing women to have more sex than your peers -- This is a culture that has been commodified. Wearing bell bottom pants and floral print blouses and tie-died bandannas, etc? That style was a cultural construction of a "hippie", and had nothing to do with the free love, ride hitching, anti-establishment, communal counter culture.
The Poindexter nerd stereotype was created by conflating social outcasts with intellectuals. This just never was the case. It's true that having the passion to create something that takes a lot of time means you'll likely be somewhat introverted, and less extroverted, placing less value on social life; However the socially awkward "geek" had nothing to do with intellectual pursuits. People will make fun of the outcast for having the wrong color backpack, or being "too" rich or poor, or for a variety of reasons. The bully doesn't really care that you like ancient 3D Unix file system explorers, it's just an excuse to pick on you. There's lot's of other folks getting picked on for being socially awkward introverts but they're not "geeks"? "Geek" culture was never really about D&D, hacking, videogames or any of the other things they shove under that umbrella. The media is just monetizing culture by selling you on the label of geek, including the sense of belonging to a fucking news website -- though, cut the Slashdot admins some slack, they're just newbies who can barely think for themselves and didn't know better when they bought into the cultural commodification themselves. Nerd culture never existed, it's fake. All Geek Girls are Fake because all Geek Guys are Fake too.
Read up about the typical hacker, and you'll get a very different idea than that portrayed in media, one that I suspect many here will match. Computer Hacker is a group identity that self assembled through a natural process and was not commercially constructed. The media hates this, and the powers that be fear hackers -- Those who could crack systems and reveal secrets are the feared worst enemy of the anti-activist governmental bodies, and so they make sure not to use the term in a positive light in mainstream media. Instead the naturally emerging "frisbie throwing, skateboarding, kung fu practicing, intensely abstracted, computer whiz kid" stereotype was quickly replaced with the undesirable, pimple faced, social outcast Poindexter who ineffectually rages against machines from the dark safety of his parent's basement.
Likewise, gamer culture was self emergent. Those card, paper and dice games which required extremely imaginative minds were the very antithesis of anti-socialites. They overcame their shyness to come together with strangers and cast spells, summon m
Caltech the post-doc world (which is portrayed in TBBT) and Caltech the under-grad world (which is portrayed in RG) are actually quite different worlds that exist mostly under the same roofs (except for the UG houses which are apparently a world upon themselves).
I haven't noticed them making many references to Caltech in TBBT, but when they do it's not totally out of line with what I remember about interacting with post-docs at Tech (nobody calls it the Institute), but of course it usually isn't quite right. I'm guessing that is probably due to one of the script writers Eric Kaplan who did not go to Caltech, but Harvard as a grad turkey, not a post-doc...
I don't know if I a nerd or just socially awkward, mentally disordered person.
Have fun sniffing all the lines of semen that's dribbling from the crotch of that skank.
Seriously? Slut shaming?
Personally I find Big Bang Theory simple and predictable, but I find The IT Crowd to be quite clever. It's kind of like the difference between sympathy and empathy for me with these shows. BBT is like a geek zoo, whereas IT Crowd puts you in their shoes. Characters on BBT are just that, characters. That's cool and all for some people but I consider it to be forced, manufactured shit.
An answer to the question nobody asked.
Just a reminder to everyone:
You are not everyone else. The things you like are not neccesarily the things everyone else likes. The things you don't like are not automatically unworthy of existence just because you don't like them.
In short, get over yourself.
If you think this post doesn't apply to you, you're either right or very, very wrong.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Culinary Consultant for Hannibal. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
I honestly thought the show was pretty funny for the first couple of seasons, but then it wore off. Why? Because it's just the same formulaic, stereotypical nonsense after 7 or 8 seasons.
It's basically a very predictable slapstick comedy with a bunch of technical and scientific jargon sprinkled on it.
I also agree TBBT has blackface or 'coon show' qualities.
REALLY? Point out to me the 400 years of slavery or some equivalent to Jim Crow laws. Show me where in the history of the US geeks were not allowed to marry non-geeks. Show me where in the constitution they had to put in an amendment protecting nerds. Show me where nerds were prevented from voting. Thinking blackface shows and TBBT are in any meaningful way equivalent is both arrogant and absurd.
I don't care if you like the show or not. People's senses of humor vary and it's fine if you don't think it is funny. But you seriously need to stop taking life too seriously and laugh a bit.
M*A*S*H, specifically the comedy years. It was nothing at all like the appalling Nerd Blackface that The Big Bang Theory is.
"Appalling nerd blackface"? Before you go claiming some equivalency to blackface plays, please point out to the rest of the class where in the course of US history nerds were systematically enslaved, denied voting rights, subjected to Jim Crow laws, forbidden to marry non-nerds, declared to be sub-human, segregated, forced to sit in the back of buses, refused service, denied basic civil rights, etc. Where is the constitutional amendment protecting nerds as a protected class? When did nerds need their version of a Civil Rights act?
[crickets]
I thought so...
We weren't supposed to be laughing at the nerdy Radar
Radar wasn't nerdy. He was supposed to be a naive farmboy who was more clever than he seemed at first.
r the obviously gay Klinger
Klinger wasn't gay. He was trying to get a Section 8 discharge (the kind you get for being crazy) and dressed in women's clothing among other things to get it. What made it funny is that it was obvious even at a glance that he wasn't crazy at all so they never discharged him.
Hot Lips Hulahan not supposed to be the dumbass blonde?
No. She was supposed to be a rulebook quoting pain in the ass and involved with Frank Burns who was a dumbass.
Big Bang Theory is like blackface comedy.
It is nothing remotely like blackface comedy. Nerds do not have anywhere close to the history of racism and slavery and abuse that black people do. The comparison between the two is absurd on the face of it.
It's not for nerds, but for people who want to laugh at nerds.
I'm a nerd and I laugh at it. But maybe I actually have a sense of humor and can laugh at myself.
I've watched the occasional episode and it seems more targeted at "fake nerds" - the type who like "I fucking love science" on facebook. The viewer isn't made to relate with the geeky characters, they're made to laugh at.
And with that, the Hipster Nerd is born. You're not a real nerd. You don't enjoy science correctly. I was a nerd before it was cool.
There is not one single kind of nerd. Deal with it. Also, we're talking about fictional characters in a television show.
75% of the guys in show have steady girlfriends and love lives. Certainly was not that high when I was at MIT.
Then I was average there. And my intellectual hobbies were accepted.
I am still a nerd. I'll attend a scifi convention this weekend and science festivals tthis year.
As a PhD in engineering who has worked with physics PhDs on cutting edge stuff, (one group got the Nobel Prize in 2001 for Bose-Einstein Condensates, which is a field they work on in the show) I can safely say that Big Bang Theory doesn't come ANYWHERE close to reality. The reason I know this beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that when I tell people what the realm of high level engineering and scientific research is really like in America, they are downright shocked and horrified.
One, the show should consist of 5 Chinese, 3 Indians, and MAYBE one American. The Chinese and Indians are of course desperate to get their green cards, and the American is wondering why he ever got into a STEM field to begin with. Communication is difficult, with the Chinese constantly reverting back to speaking Chinese amongst each other.
Two, the characters should constantly pull an 80-100 hour work week and get paid half of minimum wage or less (This will easily explain why the show has 9 roommates in one apartment).
Three, they spend at least 40% of their time writing proposals.
Four, their dialogue is 95% work, 5% geeky stuff.
Five, the stuff they are working on NEVER works out as planned and always fails miserably.
Six, they spend the rest of their time writing and publishing papers. Much of the science dialogue should always be colored with the attempt to publish whatever it is you are doing.
Obviously Big Bang Theory will never spawn a reality show, but the fact that our STEM in the US is so horribly broken makes me really upset whenever I see Big Bang Theory now. The sheer ignorance of the public about our situation in this arena is precisely why it can be perpetuated like it is. Big Bang Theory is usually the only STEM ambassador to the general public that I hear about anymore, and it is horribly ineffective or even downright misleading in its job.
Oh, and it doesn't help that the science is commonly wrong or badly portrayed. I guess that's what you get when you have only 1 science consultant for a jillion hours of dialogue. (Or just the need to gloss everything over with a mile thick coat of Vaseline to make it sexy)
AccountKiller
I have not been able to establish correlation between BBT characters (probably anecdotal - only seen 3 episodes) and scientists/engineers. .
Myself and fellow employees are mainstream, and not that exceptional for engineers. My boss, with three technical degrees, was former airborne, and broke his leg in ranger school. I am a former marine with two technical degrees. We both are technical climbers, do xc hiking (fuck trails), are married, like to do lunch at local micro breweries while enjoying an over-hopped ale. We are both IPSC shooters, and are both licensed pilots.
The sw engineer is somewhat of an outlier. She was an RN, biology degree and working on a math degree, is married with two offspring, does assembly through Python, and can actually make stuff work on windoze. She is a quiet person, a bit introspective, and thinks that many ales are over-hopped.
The mech engineer went to Cal Poly, builds his own audio equipment, is on his second wife, has a kid going to college, and drives a Lexus, while most of drive small trucks or motorcycles.
There are four other engineers in the dept, but will not further bore with incessant details - certain that an image has been formed.
Our politics are scattered, our ethics are dissimilar, and our morals are similar. But we all agree that the BBT is mind-rot, two-dimensional, and a poor caricature.
But ignore the opinion of this engineering dept - my wife is an artsian and musician (opposites apparently can attract), has a brother and mother that are PhD scientists, and cannot see any relevance in these characters.
I believe that the show is derogatory, has further contributed to American hatred of intellect, and has promulgated bias against 'academia'; that is, yet another hollywood hack-job.
I like TBBT, but I do have one criticism of it. I know a lot of you are saying it makes fun of nerds, rather than idolizing them, and I think someone even went so far as to call it "blackface for nerds", or something like that. But the show is a sitcom and ALL sitcoms rely on caricatures and clownish antics. TBBT is no different. I don't criticize them for that.
My problem with TBBT is that it's been going on a little too long. The actors are getting into middle age. Jim Parsons is over 40. Johnny Galecki and Mayim Blaik are almost there. The others are all approaching their mid-30s. Most people, by this age, are raising families, getting mortgages, etc. Maybe not everyone, but among professionals this is certainly the case. Certainly, by middle age, most people have moved beyond paintball and hanging out at the comic book store. The show is becoming a little too unrealistic.
Proverbs 21:19
wow what a post!
"nerd humor" != "blackface" minstrals
"nerd humor" :: "blackface minstrals ...it's analogous...they share characteristics which are relevant to the discussion at hand...comparing the two is different than **equating** the two!
it is using the same context of *superiority* on behalf of the joke-maker and person being mocked...it's the same **form** of humor
that context of superiority is why people claim it is "anti-intellectual" and I agree...
smart people come in **all personality types**
Thank you Dave Raggett
Does you question imply that you are asking: "How can a very smart and educated person disagree with me?"
So after I posted the original reply last night, my coworker heard me laughing my ass off at all of the responses. Being the curious sort, he wanted to know what was so funny and I told him about what was going on in the thread. That set off an HOUR long narrative of why Amish Mafia is the greatest reality show evar! I've never seen it. I do indeed judge books by their cover and I have no interest in the Amish so never bothered. Once he told me about this horrid show the first thing out of my mouth was how stupid does someone have to be to film and televise all of the illegal and downright immoral things these "enlightened" people seem hell bent on doing, for God of course. I guess America really does want to bring back good old fashioned vigilante justice. I don't want to live on this planet anymore...
Walter White is NOT an anti-hero he is a villain or antagonist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antihero
God, you clueless science geeks can't even get the most basic terminology of literary analysis correct. Just turn in your library card and Netflix subscription, you are too stupid to watch video or read fiction.
Note: Think about the typical geek/nerd reaction to someone who doesn't know where the start button is.
Start button?