What if…


…scientists were treated like celebrities?

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There’s one photo at the link of fashion violations — man, that would be a hotly contested page with no end of possible entries, I would think. Somebody needs to start a Nerd magazine, and just cruise science and engineering conferences for endless material.

Comments

  1. Richard Harris says

    This could be a good thing. Maybe some of the science, & accompanying philosophy, plus an appreciation of engineering, might rub off onto the masses.

    I mean, the masses soak up the awful crap that is modern pop music, & banal chatter about worthless parasites, so they could take to anything.

    Oh shit! I forgot something. They’d need to understand some science & philosophy.

  2. Virgil says

    Yeah but it’s not far from the truth in Hawking’s case – he left his wife to bed his secretary.

  3. says

    I’m reminded of that bit in Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! where Richard Feynman hangs out with chorus girls in Vegas and they’re cruising along in a cab when one of them asks Dick where he works. When he fesses up that he’s a physicist at Caltech, the girls ask him if he knows Murray Gell-Mann. Feynman was flabbergasted. The chorus girls were better read than Feynman had given them credit for and they had read about Gell-Mann in Time magazine or something like that. (Or maybe it was Star or Weekly World News.)

  4. Disciple of "Bob" says

    Steven Pinker enjoys a drink at the release party for his debut rock album, Steven Pinker Comes Alive!

  5. says

    #7 – “The chorus girls were better read than Feynman had given them credit for”

    Along the same line, the musical group Ned’s Atomic Dustbin song Selfish has a line “The selfish gene in me, has finally come into being.” So perhaps the band members read Dawkins.

    NOTES: Dawkins’ book “The Selfish Gene” was published in Oct 1989, Ned’s song Selfish was released in July 1991.

  6. Scott Mc says

    Another case of “Don’t feed the troll”. Pharyngula probably gets more exposure than the pathetic gossip mag shown. You’re feeding them, PZ.

    As an aside, YOU GO STEPHEN!!! If I were him, I’d have that framed.
    He’s quite a guy – for those interested, can I suggest you check out the TED website for the footage of his zero-G escapades – 8 parabolas!!!

    Scott.

  7. Benjamin Franklin says

    Next up, the edition on creationists-

    Ray Comfort orally satiating himself with a banana,

    Kent Hovind’s wild gay prison antics,

    Ken Ham lewdly fondling “Eve’s” fig leaf,

    Private jet & Bentley lifestyles of preachers,

    Oh, wait – these are reality, not satire – never mind!

  8. s1mplex says

    Booze, broads and black holes

    Well, they say that once you go black (hole), you never go back… through the event horizon.

    Except, of course, as Hawking radiation.

  9. JB says

    #9 Since ‘Selfish’ is on the ‘God Fodder’ album, I wouldn’t be surprised if there in an interest in non-religion. (Which is possibly the only time I will ever have a use for Ned’s Atomic Dustbin trivia.)

    I recommend ‘Kill Your Television’ to anyone reading – NAD’s only song to rise above a background of quite good , but what a song!

    On the Star magazine idea – one look at the photos page of any conference website (especially the ones of late into the conference dinner) will tell you all you need to know about why this just isn’t going to fly.

    Sorry.

  10. Nick says

    Yes indeed, trick the mindless masses attracted to scandalous pop-culture rumors by tricking them to read about scientists. It certainly couldn’t hurt the cause.

  11. says

    What? There’s a magazine called “Geek Monthly”…and I’m not in it, but Phil is?

    There goes their credibility.

  12. Jim Baerg says

    Re: #9
    NOTES: Dawkins’ book “The Selfish Gene” was published in Oct 1989, Ned’s song Selfish was released in July 1991.

    The copyright date on my copy of “The Selfish Gene” is 1976.

  13. says

    Somebody needs to start a Nerd magazine, and just cruise science and engineering conferences for endless material.

    It’s called Wired.

  14. DrA says

    This reminds me of a cartoon, from years ago, of a pimped out fellow strolling along the sidewalk with a babe on each arm, and out front are a couple of strong-arm types pushing people clear of his path. And one says, “Step aside varlet, a cartoonist is coming!”
    The cartoon was called the world the way things should be. I used it in a talk once substituting botanist for cartoonist. It got a good laugh.

  15. says

    There actually is a Geek magazine, it’s pretty interesting.
    And I’ve always thought that Richard Dawkins is smoking hot.

  16. Longtime Lurker says

    And, Sili, the proper term for those of Sir Martin’s ilk is “silver fox”.

  17. Tanya N says

    I can’t resist a Simpsons quote on this one …

    “Everywhere I go I see teachers in Ferraris, research scientists drinking champagne.”
    — Krusty the Clown

  18. Robert Byers says

    Is Neil Degrasse Tyson a scientist/ I see him on a nova ish show etc and it seems to be he represents the constant attempt to showcase Black people in prestigious professions. They want to bring up these people and so , with prejudice, select them out of proportion to their groups actual contribution in these areas. In short this guy is a quota and a robbery from a deserving American. Even if he is legitamate the crusade is so pervasive that he must suffer the suspicion. i do find him boring. On the Nova take off show I see always they have not an interest in science but a interest in identity politics. That is they want to showcase ethnics and women in science pursuits . So the real agenda is not interesting people/kids in science but the same old identity politics everywhere in the country. Another example of science being falsely claimed as the priority. just like in evolution

  19. Benjamin Franklin says

    Re #33

    Tyson-
    B.A. Physics, Harvard College
    M.A. Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin
    Ph.D Astrophysics, Columbia University

    Byers – you’re the idiot who writes crap for the Presidential Prayer Team, and Promise Keepers.

    You can kiss Neil Tyson’s black ass!

  20. Damian says

    Byers, you are such a plonker, and you are also lucky that I don’t call you something much worse.

    Even if what you have said was true — and I doubt it as Neill deGrasse Tyson is more than qualified to appear on science shows on TV, and he is also an engaging character — positive discrimination has a fairly good track record of affecting change (moving the Overton window) in societies, as well as encouraging minorities, or previously underrepresented groups, to take an active interest in a particular area that they had not previously thought possible, for any number of reasons.

    I realize that you would prefer that Ken Ham was appearing in NOVA shows, so that he could explain how certain findings fit in with the fall, but if I’m honest, most sane people find all of that to be just a little ridiculous, if not outright hilarious, so you are going to have to go elsewhere to find out how stars that are 15 million light years away fit in with a 6000 year old earth, I’m afraid.

  21. clinteas says

    Mr Byers alledgedly writes books.From the style of his contributions on this blog I suspect there is a ghostwriter or two involved.

  22. says

    I’m glad some folks know about Geek Monthly. My friend Marcus is a senior editor there. I’ll suggest an interview with PZ.

    Marcus is also the author of the hysterically nerdy books: Caster’s Blog: A Geek Love Story and Walkin’ on Sunshine, a quantum physics sex farce. Check him out!

  23. Longtime Lurker says

    “In short this guy is a quota and a robbery from a deserving American. Even if he is legitamate the crusade is so pervasive that he must suffer the suspicion.”

    Yeah, a guy who can’t even spell “Legitimate”, even though he has access to spell-check is calling Neil Degrasse Tyson a charity case. You’re lucky you’re not here with me, I’d deck you!

    “That is they want to showcase ethnics and women in science pursuits.”

    Right… minorities have never been prominent in the sciences, Einstein!

    Mr Byers, I have met Neil Degrasse Tyson, and you, sir, are no Neil Degrasse Tyson.