- #1
diogenesNY
- 230
- 259
The TV show _Nova_ which is one of the flagship productions of PBS is admittedly a bit uneven, but oftentimes pretty good.
On starting to watch the January 14, 2015 aired episode, entitled _The Big Bang Machine_, which was about CERN and the hunt for the Higgs Boson, I found myself a bit annoyed.I know that popular science programming tends to be a bit oversimplified, and that some of the more subtle distinctions and factual presentations get the comic book treatment, but sometimes this seems to go a bit over and beyond the necessary and even acceptable.
This show just seemed not merely to race past generally accepted models and theories, but rather to go almost out of its way to express explicit misinformation. Notwithstanding the numerous animations of 'cosmic explosions' of all sorts in the first few minutes of the program, we were treated to the following voice over at approximately 4:45 minutes.
"The story begins at the very beginning of time... when the universe came into being in a massive explosion called The Big Bang." This was accompanied by yet another 'explosion' animation that would have warmed the cockles of Hal Needham's heart.
That was pretty much enough for me to dive for the clicker and switch over to a rerun of _Family Guy_.
For those interested in context, the _Nova_ episode can be viewed online:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/big-bang-machine.html
Y'all can make your own jokes or deconstructions of this, as I am sure that they will be better and more insightful than mine.
Again, I know TV science is all about simplification and such in order to express complex ideas quickly to a broad audience, but this almost borders on inadvertent flat-earthism. Facts, shmacts... as long as it looks exciting and holds the attention of the viewers. ...and as the case might be, give rise to several more difficult and strained conversations here on this board.
Whatever.
diogenesNY
On starting to watch the January 14, 2015 aired episode, entitled _The Big Bang Machine_, which was about CERN and the hunt for the Higgs Boson, I found myself a bit annoyed.I know that popular science programming tends to be a bit oversimplified, and that some of the more subtle distinctions and factual presentations get the comic book treatment, but sometimes this seems to go a bit over and beyond the necessary and even acceptable.
This show just seemed not merely to race past generally accepted models and theories, but rather to go almost out of its way to express explicit misinformation. Notwithstanding the numerous animations of 'cosmic explosions' of all sorts in the first few minutes of the program, we were treated to the following voice over at approximately 4:45 minutes.
"The story begins at the very beginning of time... when the universe came into being in a massive explosion called The Big Bang." This was accompanied by yet another 'explosion' animation that would have warmed the cockles of Hal Needham's heart.
That was pretty much enough for me to dive for the clicker and switch over to a rerun of _Family Guy_.
For those interested in context, the _Nova_ episode can be viewed online:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/big-bang-machine.html
Y'all can make your own jokes or deconstructions of this, as I am sure that they will be better and more insightful than mine.
Again, I know TV science is all about simplification and such in order to express complex ideas quickly to a broad audience, but this almost borders on inadvertent flat-earthism. Facts, shmacts... as long as it looks exciting and holds the attention of the viewers. ...and as the case might be, give rise to several more difficult and strained conversations here on this board.
Whatever.
diogenesNY
. I'm also lately very annoyed by 
