In my last Double X blog post, I wrote about the Rock Stars of Science campaign. Dr. Isis has a different take:
The point of the campaign is to show people that science is hip, and cool, and sexy, and [insert other adjective here], but in each shot the scientists are fawning over the musicians. The message this photo campaign sends is, “Yeah, being a scientist cool but, if I could be, I would really want to be [insert rock star name here].” Thus, people looking at this campaign aspire to also be rockstars. Not scientists.
And (via Isis), Bora scooped GQ back in 2006:
In this day of mass communications, it is logical to use modern technology to further your aims, so popularization of science should do the same. Turning some scientists into radio personalities, talk-show hosts, TV stars, movie stars and Internet stars (MySpace and blogs, for instance) should be a part of a multi-prong strategy to spread the scientific reasoning and rationality, as well as excitement for knowledge about the natural world.
What do you think? Could scientists become as famous as rockstars (and get featured in US Weekly – “Scientists! They’re Just Like Us!”)? Will this help change the perception of scientists as boring and science as a high-status but low-income career path? And frankly, do we actually need more scientists when there’s few decent jobs for the PhDs that we already have?
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If science becomes popular and cool, it could open up new jobs. Of course it could open up jobs in academia, but just think what new companies could form, what new funding would come out, if the population really thought science was as cool as… say… football… or Paris Hilton.
Having scientists become as famous as a contemporary rock star may not be all that hard, because rock stars are not as famous as they used to be. (I can’t think of any musicians who started in the last 10 years who are anywhere close to the rock star status of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, U2, etc.)
But how many scientists would want to be like rock stars? Many musicians just want to make art that excites them and don’t necessarily want the intense scrutiny that comes from international fame. Many scientists just want to answer questions that excite them and wouldn’t want that level of attention.
As for whether we need more scientists, emphatically yes. Whether we need more people with doctorates is a totally separate question, and I’m not sure of the answer. Don’t confuse careers with credentials.
Go go scientists