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“…a documentary that does not contain any monsters, but it will scare you.”

To be clear, Monsters from the ID is a documentary that does not contain any monsters, but it will scare you.  The film argues that science has been at the root of solving our modern problems, but their aren’t nearly enough scientists to tackle what lies in our future.  And we’re distracted by the media’s obsession with new kinds of heroes.  The heroes of today score points in sports as professional athletes, score fans rocking out on stage as rock stars or score laughs as a reality TV stars — these are the heroes revered by the public and the media.

Things were very different not so long ago.  The 1950s was a time in American history when the movies and the media actually worshipped the scientist.  Well, at least in the movies of the time.  In those corny sci-fi films from the 50s and 60s, it was the scientists who were romanticized as the heroes taking on alien invasions and all of earth’s crises.  And it was these movies that actually inspired children from that era to pursue careers as scientists.  They watched movies like The Day the Earth Stood Still (the original) and It Came From Outer Space and thought, “Gee golly, wouldn’t it be cool to be a scientist?”  How times have changed.

But since interest in America’s space program has fallen dramatically since the 1970s, the United States has far fewer students pursuing a career in science.  Using footage from those sci-fi films and interviews with todays top scientific minds, frightening realities emerge.  The United States GNP is tied directly to the number and quality of scientists working in the field.  Because the number of scientists has dropped, so has the U.S. economy.

The message is simple, Hollywood and the media should take a crack at making science sexy again to inspire a new generation of scientists.  Make those smart men and women in glasses cool… heroes to look up to.  With the challenges facing our world now, we certainly need their help now.

by Chris Gore

3.00 (2 votes)

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