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!
No comments:
Post a Comment