Another interesting discussion with Patrick last night. He was saying how he hates all these movies and shows that attempt to present science in an easy way, for example The elegant Universe, What the bleep do we know, CSI, A Beautiful Mind etc. His argument was that they portray a wrong image for scientists and they are non realistic. For example in CSI you cannot match fingerprints and dna in a few minutes, or in star wars you hear and see great explosions in space while there is no air and therefore no sound waves can travel and no explosion be sustained without oxygen.
Although I agreed with the mistakes I said this is what makes movies more interesting and in another case we wouldn't have any image of science at all! The principles on which these facts in the movies are based are 100% viable, but they extend them in a wrong way. Personally, I prefer the principles to be ok even though what gets out is not entirely accurate rather than not have any publicity at all (because if the explosions are not so cool no one will watch the movie). This is just a trigger to people's minds; if they are interested they will find their own way to clarify and investigate more later.
"Prepare to fast forward!"
"Preparing to fast forward..."
"Fast forward!"
"Yes sir!"
Hilarious...
