Part II, As Promised

In my last post, I said I'd comment on "Why Americans Do Science Shows Badly" - so here goes......

As a society, we suffer from "nerd" syndrome.  People who enjoy science and technology are "different", and not in a complimentary sense of the word.  This isn't news to anyone, but I think the view from the other side is what most people don't think about.

Most people with a technical or scientific bent think that people who aren't like them are dumb.  That's why we have "Dummies" books for "the rest of us".  As an example, I give you Mr. David Pogue.

If you aren't aware of who he is, he does some Popular Science-type series on PBS.  At about the 6th grade level.  While I salute his attempts at scientific education, I find the man unwatchable.  The shows remind me of what might ensue if you gave some 11 year old boys a garage full of lab equipment on a rainy Saturday afternoon and then left for a few hours.

Everything has to blow up, and the simplest reactions/experiments have to be "WOW'ed" and ooh-ed and aah-ed over.   It dumbs things down to the point you feel stupid for even wanting to watch.

By contrast, I give you Mr. James May, from across the pond in the UK.  His series "Man Lab", while not hardcore science, takes a much sillier premise and makes it pretty entertaining.  And all done in a mature, understated English manner.  I have to say I've actually learned something from James May, while I can't even bear David Pogue long enough to see what he's trying to get at.

So there you have it, educators of the world.  Everyone except you is NOT an idiot, so quit trying to take science news back to the 7th grade level where things have to be dumbed down so "you'll get it".

Somewhere between the boring science teachers of our youth and the childish antics of a nerd attempting to be cool is the way to reach your audience.

It's Not About Science, It's About Technology

I'm always somewhat amazed when I watch PBS science shows, even the well done ones like NOVA, at how we see "science" with a capital "S" presented with a lot of shows on geology, paleontology, and even quantum physics (it lends itself to neat visuals), yet we never really see anything on the technology that we encounter in our daily lives.

Imagine how many people might benefit (and how many tech support calls would be avoided) if we had a show that told us how computers, software, and the Internet worked.  What really happens when you click a link, or type in a URL?  What does it really mean to delete a file, or create a new one?

90% of people who use a computer all day long at work don't really have an idea of how they work, or why we do things the way we do.

And it's not just computers.....the internal combustion engine is a completely different beast from the one I knew as a 16  year old.  How do modern, fuel-injected engines work, and how do they operate?   How does hybrid technology work?  Most people have so distanced themselves from knowing how a car operates that I"m surprised cars still have hoods.

Shows like these would raise the general level of technical knowledge among the population, and probably be more interesting to young people than dinosaurs, volcanoes, or geological processes that happened millions of years ago.  The universe formed....I don't really know how, but I'm OK with not knowing all the specifics.  It would help most people a lot more to know what causes that "Check Engine" light to come on, and what it's trying to tell you.

But showing "the go of it", as Michael Faraday used to say, would spur curiosity and help a lot of people understand technology and be more comfortable with it.

There will be a Part II of this post....on "Why Americans Do Technology Shows Badly"

Stay tuned!