Science, superstars, and sex. The price for fame!

All the way through high school, I was one heck of a science nerd.  So much of a nerd that once when my physics teacher couldn't answer a question to my satisfaction, I wrote a letter to a physics professor at the famed Indian Institute of Technology in Madras--I had heard about a Dr. Shastri and that was the only piece of information I had.  It was one exciting return home from school one day when my mother said there was a letter for me from IIT!  Dr. Shastri had provided the explanation, and more.

But, the older I got, the more I became intellectually and personally curious about the problems of poverty and related issues all around me in India, and in the rest of the world.  Since then, my intellectual journey has been far, far away from physics.

The fact that I am no longer a formal student in physics doesn't mean that I have sidelined physics or the sciences.  Au contraire!  I am concerned at what I perceive as a lack of serious interest in science.  The US is, of course notoriously even anti-science, not only in politics but right from the elementary school level.   A while ago, a student, "T," who is a science major himself, had tweeted a picture that is a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the fame that science and scientists have:

so true twitter.com/TFRoush/status…
— Trevor (@TFRoush) November 17, 2012

I am sure there is no exaggeration about sex tapes!


Writing in Bloomberg, Stephen Carter notes:

As the economist Tyler Cowen puts it, “Few women or men dream of dating or marrying a scientist.” Although we’re all delighted to use the latest technological innovations to reach the market, science for its own sake -- the thirst to indulge the human need to know -- seems to be fading.

Science and scientists are not considered, for want of a better word, sexy anymore.  Another student, in a class discussion on global priorities, referred to the popularity of Honey Boo Boo as a statement by itself on the pathetic state of American priorities.  Which then had me inquiring about the show, from which, thankfully, I stay away!

Carter further notes:

If we’re not careful, science itself -- the expansion of knowledge as a serious endeavor -- will wind up going the way of serious literature. Blakey Vermeule of Stanford University, in her wonderful book “Why Do We Care About Literary Characters?,” explains why literature has such difficulty commanding our attention: “Literary narratives are like antique jalopies on a highway crowded with SUVs.” One reason literature is losing out to more instantaneous pleasures is that it “makes heavy demands on our processing capacities.”
So does science -- a fortiori. Science is hard.

Yep, science is hard, and I have blogged about that quite often, like here.  And, therefore, a rational thinking will mean taking an easier route and avoiding life.  Especially when science is not considered sexy enough!  As I noted in that post:

Thus, even a small university like mine has quite an extraordinary amount of fluffy courses (like geography?) where students can excel.  The number of students graduating with the various levels of "laude" honors seems to increase year after year.  Seriously, how many of us will openly admit that for a typical student, earning a B in organic chemistry is way more difficult than earning an A in economic geography?  I will. What have we gained then as a society when thousands of students graduate magna cum laude?

I agree with Stephen Carter and Tyler Cowen on this:

[To] lift the status of science, we have to lift the status of scientists.

Indeed.  But, ain't gonna happen, unfortunately!

Popular television shows like "The Big Bang Theory" or "The Daily Show" routinely feature scientists and their ideas.  But, science and scientists seem to come across more like props than anything else.

Even the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) couldn't get Americans excited about science.  Sadly, and hilariously, the LHC further highlighted our collective scientific illiteracy when it did capture our imaginations--with the worries that the LHC operations would cause the end of the world.

Oh well ... I better go make a sex tape before my equipment goes kaput!