Why Tom loves the movie Contact

I loved the movie Contact because it showed a realistic protrail of how science works. Hollywood usually misrepresents science Here are the three truths about science that were portrayed in the movie:

• Science is a team sport: A team of people with exceptional bonding, ability to communicate, and think together as well as apart create scientific innovations; the "mad scientist" and the "single saviour" are myths. The usual Hollywood movie shows "the lone scientist saves the day". That's so incorrect it borders on criminal.
• Science Takes Time: The movie showed years of searching, one star at a time. Years of failure, but we learn from our failures. And in the end, it wasn't that pursuit that made contact. In reality, it is what we learn from studying our failures that helps us succeed. A good scientist is delighted with the result of an experiment whether it fails or succeeds because a good failure can teach you a lot more than a successful experiment. The usual Hollywood movie shows instant solutions that work on the first try. Real solutions come have years of boring measurement and experiments. The journey is just as thrilling, but Hollywood doesn't portray it that way. Contact portayed this without being boring.
• Science has become political: The reality is that funding is a political issue and Congress and the NSF affect what gets researched based on their agendas. No funding means no research. No matter how important the task, it only gets funding if Congress understands its value (and that's difficult!). However, pure research is difficult to measure for value. Did the invention of the silicon computer chip have value when it was invented? Yes. Did anyone know that the pure mathematical research that made the invention possible have value? Yes, but nobody knew at the time. How can you convince a congressperson (with a lame or no science education) that your project is important?

Movies portray scientists as people that come up with solutions that work on the first try. That's a lot of pressure! Working at Bell Labs really helps me realize that science is a slow and methodical process with many failures.

I think that exposing children to real science prepares them much better for the real world and is more likely to produce a better "next generation" of scientists. Even if they do not become scientists it is important to learn that things take time, that failure is a normal part of growth and living, and things are not as pure as they seem. If we all were prepared for those three realities we would all become better adults... scientists or not!

Tom Limoncelli
Thu Jun 3 11:26:44 EDT 1999