Our discussion last week centered on the communication of science to the public and to lawmakers. It is clear that there are many obstacles to creating an scientifically informed populace. However, what we didn't consider in our discussion is how movies and television represent science. In a recent post over at ScienceProgress.org (a great site for science policy news), author Jonathan D. Moreno writes about Hollywood's portrayal of scientific discovery leading to terrifying doomsday scenarios, particularly focusing on the new film "Rise of the Planet of the Apes".
Maybe another barrier to the public acceptance and understanding of scientific progress is that the public resists if the research is too futuristic/creepy/engendering-of-word-destruction. For example: cloning? What if someone makes a clone army! Transgenic animals? What if a rogue scientist creates glowing people with four arms and aggressive tendencies! Gene therapy? What if the virus mutates and leads to a zombie apocalypse!
Perhaps it is the job of the scientist to ease the public's worry about these scenarios. For example, each episode of The Walking Dead could lead with a disclaimer: "9 out of 10 scientists agree that there is only a 0.5% chance of a zombie apocalypse occurring within the next 50 years."
Discussion question: do scientists really have it all under control?
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