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From: eugene@pioneer.arpa (Eugene Miya N.)
Newsgroups: sci.misc,rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Watch for THE RING OF TRUTH on PBS
Message-ID: <3176@ames.arpa>
Date: Wed, 21-Oct-87 12:48:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: ames.3176
Posted: Wed Oct 21 12:48:17 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Oct-87 04:27:23 EDT
References: <21372@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Sender: usenet@ames.arpa
Reply-To: eugene@pioneer.UUCP (Eugene Miya N.)
Distribution: na
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Lines: 36
Keywords: PBS, BBC, ITV
Xref: mnetor sci.misc:591 rec.arts.tv:4187

In article <21372@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> tedrick@ernie.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Tom Tedrick) writes:
>I saw the first episode last night, and it was superb.
>It got a bad review in the local paper, but I doubt that
>the reviewer is a scientist ... I guess the reviewer didn't
>appreciate the subtlety of some of the points that were made.

I plan to watch it again, but I was a bit disappointed.  Oh, I enjoyed
PM's comments about the role of observation (something sorely lacking
in the field of computer sicence)!  I enjoyed watching things in the
Exploratorium where we hold ACM/SIGGRAPH meetings!  But the sequence
about Galileo, well, while neat, left me a bit cold.  The problem isn't
PM and this series (I don't think it's BBC).  The problem is science
education.

I've seen Jacob Bronowski, Carl Sagan, James Burke (got his phone # from
Lynn White), and others talk about Galileo and some of the other topics
Morrison talked about and will talk about, but we the readers of this
list are the converted.  I wonder about that reviewer and what it is in
science education we do and what the public expects which turns people
off to science.  We don't have enough scientists (and engineers) in
this country.  [We have an overabundance of lawyers.] How many times
will we have to rehash the above?  We need to move on, because that's
what most of us (myself included) got into science for (those new ideas,
we know the old ones from reading books, thank God for Nova).  I just
wonder about the `harm' we are doing to our kids to prevent more
scientists.  I see fewer and fewer each year with that certain "fire in
their eyes," but it is neat to see it.

From the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers:

--eugene miya
  NASA Ames Research Center
  eugene@ames-aurora.ARPA
  "You trust the `reply' command with all those different mailers out there?"
  "Send mail, avoid follow-ups.  If enough, I'll summarize."
  {hplabs,hao,ihnp4,decwrl,allegra,tektronix}!ames!aurora!eugene