[Karsten]

I was thinking about this when I came here today. And then I read the thread about TV numbing the mind. One of the posters asked the question you can see in the subject line (and I liked it so much that I used it without permission  ^).

There are a lot of people who seem to be bored with what is possible in reality since they have become so used to what is possible in movies and video games. People all too often don't seem to be capable any more to separate fact from fiction. Or being interested in facts and currently unexplained facts. Why bother with reality if you can enjoy so much faster, higher, stronger, etc. in the fantasy world or when doing/watching extreme sports? Has this been like this for other generations before?  According to a TV show I saw, Star Wars has inspired some young people at the time to become engineers to create some of today's products. Does this still work? Can it still work when fiction is occasionally so outlandishly over the top? How do we interest young people in studying science and engineering when reality becomes boring to them?

[CliffordK]

Of course there is "Reality TV".

I have a great idea of a new COPS TV series.

Call it "Buckingham Palace Guard"


No, that isn't a still photo...  that's a Live Action Film Clip!!!!!!!!  (well, at least I think it is).

There are a few aspects of good fiction, whether it is in print, or film.  One is that there must be conflict.  The second being some kind of action sequence.

Did the guard move yet?

A happy life may, in fact, be somewhat mundane.  Get up, have breakfast, go to work, a few coffee breaks, go home, dinner again, ...  etc.

For fiction, one has to mix it up a bit.  Perhaps throw in a mugging, or juggling sleeping with a half a dozen people.

The problem is when one assumes the fictional situation is "normal".  Families are more harmonious, and happier if the husband isn't sleeping with the secretary, and the soccer mom's aren't picking up the soccer dads.  But, TV makes it seem "normal" for everyone to sleep with everyone else.  Dramatic yelling & in your face moments, and etc.  I agree, there must be a better way to do it.

Some of the car shows are, in fact, a good mix of reality and action.  For example Richard Hammond tries out heavy equipment (and drives a tank over a Porsche).  Other shows demonstrate building motorcycles from scratch, or restoring classic vehicles.

Could one make a reality vacation show?  There are many things that one may do that are fun & interesting, from white-water kayaking to climbing to the top of a somewhat leaning 97m tower in Bologna.  But, still, one might just show a few frames of each activity.  One has to realize that a lot of life happens between these few select action frames.  I suppose that is one of the appeals of shows like Bachelor is that parts of it is like a reality vacation show.  But, there is also too much backstabbing and snide comments. 

Oh, did the guard blink?

[CliffordK]

Should TV practice good "first responder" medicine?

TV CPR seems to be improving somewhat.  However, why is the first response to finding a "body" a scream, rather than the basics.

• Check Scene
• Check breathing, pulse, vitals, temperature, etc
• Notify someone to call Emergency (911 in the USA, 999 in UK)
• Start CPR if appears to be recent

Obviously in a good murder mystery one wants to limit disturbing the crime scene.  However, if I was a victim, I'd much rather someone try to save me rather than just waiting for someone else to show up and confirm death.

[Karsten]

Should TV practice good "first responder" medicine?

TV CPR seems to be improving somewhat.  However, why is the first response to finding a "body" a scream, rather than the basics.

• Check Scene
• Check breathing, pulse, vitals, temperature, etc
• Notify someone to call Emergency (911 in the USA, 999 in UK)
• Start CPR if appears to be recent

Obviously in a good murder mystery one wants to limit disturbing the crime scene.  However, if I was a victim, I'd much rather someone try to save me rather than just waiting for someone else to show up and confirm death.

Based on personal experience, the first response to finding a dead body is rather shocking. Some people may respond with a scream although no one did on that sad day. TV folks chose to present those who are visually or acoustically remarkable somehow. Normal is boring. Reality TV is not real. It is heavily edited to increase viewer ratings. I agree that some documentaries are pretty decent and educational.

I still wonder about my initial post. Every time I begin teaching my robotics unit to a new batch of kids many are disappointed that they cannot create flying, shooting, killing machines. Most kids I encounter don't have the persistence to manage even basic programing  and prefer to return to their fantasy world where anything is possible. How can we convey to our youth that we will need their help if they are hiding somewhere where the real world's problems don't exist or are perceived as terribly uninteresting in comparison?

[distimpson]

Interesting subject. For what it's worth, when I was teaching physical science it was typical to have most of the kids show very little interest but a few percent showed great interest.

So, what do most people do? Sales: according to this site (http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2010/11/11/americas-most-popular-jobs/). The 30K US scientists and engineers don't even make it to the top 15 jobs.

I can only assume it takes a very few people to know how the physical universe actually works and sufficient info is passed to folks that really don't care.

Not to be disagreeable but I've seen some documentaries that are just infomercials, guess that is to be expected with the number of folks in sales :-)