Portraying Geniuses as socially inept and the STEM initiative are oil and water

The idea of portraying smart people as socially inept makes it difficult for the current trend to foment people getting into STEM fields (Science Technology Engineering and Math). The 80's had a lot of positive genius role models in their movies, something happened mid 70's. That something was Apple and the need for the power of computing to reach every home. The movie "War Games" is interesting because it introduced hacking and how a genius was enticing to his girlfriend. It portrays the genius butting heads with reality namely the military and "teaches/is taught a lesson. Where the computer actually finds out that "the only way to win is to not play the game" Watch Real Genius with young Val Kilmer, it was a movie that made a statement that smart people can be socially adept too and again It portrays the genius butting heads with reality namely the military and "teaches/is taught a lesson. I think there are more examples but the idea is that genius was made a role model in movies back then. But people watch movies and forget them, it's series that hold peoples attention for shorter periods hence their longer lasting effects on placing an ideal in children's heads.
Like any science, being good at it involves analysis and practice, so is social adeptness. Real Genius' idea of what Geniuses could be was great, but IMHO it was scrapped and incrementally socially inept people started showing up in shows like 3rd rock from the sun and later even worse ineptness in big bang theory.
Got to ask yourself would your children find the decision to become pursue STEM from watching the big bang theory? No way! Also is there something in having socially inept geniuses in science versus socially adept geniuses? Hmmm? Maybe they are easier to control haha!
Take Elon Musk, he seems to have an even keel and a business attitude at that. Well rounded and strategic, he's my personal hero. What say you ATS?

We haven't seen any great technological break throughs of the scale since delivered through eras of telsa and Einstein. In my view this is largely because of learning of knowledge is now institutionalised through a very corporate type focused education system. Innovation is given strict limits in the type of education system. All the great ideas from Telsa and Einstein and the shoulders of greats they rest themselves on, were done by free thinkers working in their spare time outside of the formal education system.

I grew up in this era. In the sixties and seventies it was actual human beings, the smart guys, who were trotted out in front of the cameras.

It happened a lot with Nasa and the Apollo missions.

Now when you hear of an invention in the MSM, it is a Corporation that takes the applause.

Ask a dozen average people who invented the compact disk. If they know the answer they will say, "Phillips."

This has been an ongoing and deliberate ploy by Corporations and Governments to keep the science guys in the back where they belong. Just look at Canada to see how far in the back room they can be pushed.

No Government wants smart people to be giving press conferences. Too many truths come out.

It is a sad world.

P

I find the Sheldon Cooper character uber hot myself. My teen daughter also holds a small crush on him last I heard.

The big trend going on now is the whole "geek" thing. Huge pairs of fake geek glasses haven't sold as well since the 70's as they do now. Sweater vests and geekiness are the trend so I am not sure what has become unpopular about it. Back in the 80's when I was young in school, "geek" was the last thing you wanted to be. Now hipsters are faking it. If anything, it is way more popular now than it was then.

As with anything, including shows and movies... it evolves into something that younger generations can cling to. Something that is fresh and trendy. What that is now, is vastly different than it was when War Games came out and it will be vastly different once again in another decade.

I think there are a ton of kids that would love to be a scientists specifically BECAUSE of the Big Bang Theory.

a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe

Yeah but I cringe at the thought of a geek costume... I know bussinessmen wear a costume but people can wear anything they please in places like google and in science labs. No real need to identify yourself in a closed group with a costume, that's would be a socially inept thing to do wouldn't it?

a reply to: Emeraldous

Genius, for a start, is not the sole territory of scientists and engineers. Artists, musicians, creative minds of every sort, all of these can be geniuses, because being a genius is nothing to do with what field you work in or contribute to, but how well you do it, coupled with your raw IQ.

As for the stereotypes, it is very true that there is this ideal of the stereotypical geek, and that geek chic apparently makes people think that those who subscribe to those wardrobe choices are probably more intelligent than those who do not. In reality though, genius can reside in the mind of people whose dress codes and comportment range from the conservative to the bizarre, and this is because being a genius does not prevent one from having personal tastes beyond the stereotype attached to that level of intellectual development.

It has a lot to do with the skill/laziness of the script writers.

You get guys who aren't phoning it in, it's less likely you get the "smart people are social idiots" theme. But, unfortunately, and especially in the US, there is a sort of three-sided schism (trichotomy?) between liberal arts, science and athleticism wherein each feels nothing but contempt for the other two. That's probably the same everywhere but it's been elevated to a high art here.

You want a script with someone bright in it written in the US, you get Big Bang. If you want an uber-bright character who kicks ass, you have to go to the UK or Canada. You couldn't get Stargate or Sherlock Holmes done here, all the scientists would have Asperger's, because that's how UCLA and USC screenwriting school teaches them to write that character.

Although maybe Holmes as a total Aspie with Watson constantly bailing him out socially might be funny.

eta: On the other hand, I do have a first cousin who is sort of the living stereotype of this. Gary is on the far side of the Asperger's rainbow tapdancing on the borderland of autism. He is a mathematical genius of the first water. It's like Rain Man on steroids. Gary can't tie his shoes, or remember what clothes go on in the morning, but you can show him a set of equations and it's like you gave him a chocolate. The Navy had Gary at a facility for years, doing maths for them. And he got someone to tie his shoes. Although I think that duty must have been a living hell.

(harp roll, wavery fade to...)

(naval commander who looks like Rip Torn)
Congratulations, Lieutenant. You have been chosen to protect one of America's most prized military contractors. You will be assigned the evening shift for the next five years. This man's life must be protected at all costs. And more, you have to make sure he's in a good mood every morning or he won't be as good at saving the world for democracy.

(roger ramjet looking jg)
So, I'll be guarding someone like a real-life Tony Stark,sir?

Not exactly, son. Meet Gary O'Bedlam, your new assignment. (buzzes the intercom - please send Gary in)

(the door opens, and in shambles a 30 year old guy that looks like a hairy 300 pound pile of suet, rumpled, unbathed, stubbly, greasy headed in a dirty MIT t-shirt with food stains, plaid golf pants. Both shoes are untied. He has BO. He speaks too loudly, just a bit, all the time, in a faint but definite northern Georgia accent)

Gary: General Bob!

Commander Roberts: That's commander, son. Well, lieutenant, introduce yourself to your new assignment.

(Gary walks over far too closely into the jg's personal space, produces a huge grin with teeth that haven't been brushed lately)

Gary: Pull my finger!

(the jg looks puzzled by this, reaches out tentatively, pulls on the offered finger. Gary lets out a huge fart)

Gary: HA HA HA HA HA (goes on a little too long for comfort)

Lt: Sir, I think there must have been a mistake.

a reply to: Emeraldous

I thought surely this must be a thread specifically in reaction to the show Scorpion, which is a step farther than Big Bang in the portraying geniuses as socially inept or even borderline autistic. This show is based on the premise that the 'geniuses' can't relate to the 'normals' and have to employ a 'normal' person as a go-between for them in dealing with the rest of the world. I have to admit I enjoy it though and my wife and I record it every week...

originally posted by: Emeraldous
The idea of portraying smart people as socially inept makes it difficult for the current trend to foment people getting into STEM fields (Science Technology Engineering and Math). The 80's had a lot of positive genius role models in their movies, something happened mid 70's. That something was Apple and the need for the power of computing to reach every home. The movie "War Games" is interesting because it introduced hacking and how a genius was enticing to his girlfriend. It portrays the genius butting heads with reality namely the military and "teaches/is taught a lesson. Where the computer actually finds out that "the only way to win is to not play the game" Watch Real Genius with young Val Kilmer, it was a movie that made a statement that smart people can be socially adept too and again It portrays the genius butting heads with reality namely the military and "teaches/is taught a lesson. I think there are more examples but the idea is that genius was made a role model in movies back then. But people watch movies and forget them, it's series that hold peoples attention for shorter periods hence their longer lasting effects on placing an ideal in children's heads.
Like any science, being good at it involves analysis and practice, so is social adeptness. Real Genius' idea of what Geniuses could be was great, but IMHO it was scrapped and incrementally socially inept people started showing up in shows like 3rd rock from the sun and later even worse ineptness in big bang theory.
Got to ask yourself would your children find the decision to become pursue STEM from watching the big bang theory? No way! Also is there something in having socially inept geniuses in science versus socially adept geniuses? Hmmm? Maybe they are easier to control haha!

Take Elon Musk, he seems to have an even keel and a business attitude at that. Well rounded and strategic, he's my personal hero. What say you ATS?

I kinda get what you are saying about stereotypes in media and pop culture still often showing nerdy STEM folks. I am a former STEM teacher.

If that point of yours is true that this is dissuading kids from getting into it, it would most likely be part of a larger trend in America, the so called "cult of anti-intellectualism." In many other countries, smart, intellectual, artsy, scientific, etc, are seen as good and still respected. Our pop culture has become such that in some ways, people are still seen as nerdy who get into those kinds of things.

But yes, we do need to fight both the cult of anti-intellectualism and "dumb and airy is cool" as well as show kids that STEM not only is one of the best avenues to a viable career but also has all kinds of cool stuff within it.

a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe

Take it from a geek - Nothing sets of more nerd rage than the Big Bang Theory. They aren't actual geeks, and the portrayal is awful. Most of us are more or less normal until you get us out of our normal shells.

And it's been a trend for a long while to not like people who are too smart. I grew up living it. If you were too smart in class, you got hammered by your peers.

And for every positive portrayal of someone intelligent, you also had a movie like Revenge of the Nerds. There is also the pervasive idea that is ongoing that kids should hate school and not look forward to going back every year. It's a subtle cultural thing designed to make people feel like they should naturally hate learning and scholarship.

As for anti-intellectualism, I'm of two minds about that. Are you talking about the subtle encouragement to actively dislike learning that pervades our culture which actually comes from the top down, or are you talking about the idea that if someone who has a dozen letters after their name speaks, I ought to unquestioningly accept what say as gospel because if I don't I'm "anit-intellectual?" I've heard the word used quite a bit the second way, and I call shenanigans on that. Degrees don't make one smarter; they just mean you had the patience to put up with a professor's groupthink for longer than I did.

Maybe movies and tv shows are being dumified so the average person will take an interest in it and at the same time maybe learn or get educated by it. The big bang theory is a good example, it's a comedy but at the same time it has educational snippits in it. You get a laugh, maybe feel smarter and maybe learn something.