Did the American education system did such a poor job at promoting STEM that "Millennials" were less interested in becoming astronauts?

[Endy0816]

An older series, Babylon 5 was probably best one like that. War and diplomacy with multiple factions, human and alien. Still holds up well today. Read that a reboot is in the works.

Did love Alpha Centauri. Great game.

Edited October 27, 2021 by Endy0816

[dimreepr]

5 hours ago, Endy0816 said:

An older series, Babylon 5 was probably best one like that. War and diplomacy with multiple factions, human and alien. Still holds up well today.

Indeed 

[CmdrShepSpectre2183]

It seems like there is an effort to get the next generation interested or even excited for space.

 

 

Is this an effort to get the next generation interested?

Or is this part of wider pop culture becoming interested in space again? There was a lot of astronaut stuff that came out last year.

 

What has led to this explosion in interest? SpaceX and the astronaut movies of the early 2010s, "Gravity", "Interstellar", and "The Martian" leading to renewed interest? Earth becoming depressing that many of us now look to the stars as a place to "escape"?

 

 

[Peterkin]

On 10/27/2021 at 3:39 AM, Endy0816 said:

An older series, Babylon 5 was probably best one like that.

That was my second choice, after DS9. Lots of parallels between the two, but B5 was the more complex and layered. Still, I much prefer the non-war episodes of B5 and the Klingon-free episodes of DS9. 

Buzz Lightyear gets to go to infinity and beyond? Cool.

[beecee]

I would love to see a blockbuster type movie made on the progress of atomic science of the 20th 21st centuries, from the likes of Rhuterford, Bequeral, Roentgen, Curie, Szillard, Meitner to the Bohr's Einstein's and company...the discovery of radioactivity, X-Rays, the Fission bomb etc It would be based on probably the best book I have ever read..."The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes.

2 hours ago, CmdrShepSpectre2183 said:

What has led to this explosion in interest? SpaceX and the astronaut movies of the early 2010s, "Gravity", "Interstellar", and "The Martian" leading to renewed interest? Earth becoming depressing that many of us now look to the stars as a place to "escape"?

Just have finished watching all of "For All Mankind"...quite enjoyed it, as with Interstellar and Gravity. Still nothing (at least for me) has reached the greatest sci/fi movie of all time, "2001: A Space Oddysey" and the pretty good sequel, 2010: The Year we made Contact" 

7 minutes ago, beecee said:

I would love to see a blockbuster type movie made on the progress of atomic science of the 20th 21st centuries, from the likes of Rhuterford, Bequeral, Roentgen, Curie, Szillard, Meitner to the Bohr's Einstein's and company...the discovery of radioactivity, X-Rays, the Fission bomb etc It would be based on probably the best book I have ever read..."The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes.

There actually has been one made, entitled "Day One" It was in B/W pretty good, but I believe something still more substantial should be made.

Edited November 15, 2021 by beecee

[Peterkin]

The first SF movie I ever saw was War of the Worlds, in Technicolor, in a the old Victory theater that had a large screen.  It scared the bejeebers out of me. Came back the next weekend for It Came from Outer Space (ditto). For $0.35, you got a B&W movie, a cartoon, a bunch of ads for candy you couldn't afford and big, flashy feature. Where else would we spend Saturday afternoon? It didn't have to be SF, but it very often was in the 50's, and it didn't have to be realistic to become a lifetime habit. I'm not sure that can happen for young people now: they're so inundated with electronic images and sensory input, I don't know whether any one thing can claim their attention, let alone leave an impression.  

[beecee]

3 hours ago, Peterkin said:

The first SF movie I ever saw was War of the Worlds, in Technicolor, in a the old Victory theater that had a large screen.  It scared the bejeebers out of me. Came back the next weekend for It Came from Outer Space (ditto). For $0.35, you got a B&W movie, a cartoon, a bunch of ads for candy you couldn't afford and big, flashy feature. Where else would we spend Saturday afternoon? It didn't have to be SF, but it very often was in the 50's, and it didn't have to be realistic to become a lifetime habit. I'm not sure that can happen for young people now: they're so inundated with electronic images and sensory input, I don't know whether any one thing can claim their attention, let alone leave an impression.  

Gene Kelly as the scientist in the starring role...better than the recent remake imho. The first real movie to scare the daylights out of me, was "The Thing" from another world...I was around 7 or 8 years old. James Arness was the thing, his first (questionable) acting role.

We too had the saturday arvo movie ritual, 11 pence admission, (before decimalisation)  News of the World, a serial in 15 minute increments ( my favourite Superman with George Reeves) 2 movies and a cartoon...start at 1300hrs, finish at 1645hrs or 1700hrs.....trying to catch some sheila's eye, rolling Jaffas down the aisle, letting off stink bombs (on the odd occasion) and getting thrown out once or twice!!🤣 In between watching the odd good movie...ahhh, memories. The Blob was another with Steve McQueen that I enjoyed, but being older, didn't do the job on me that The Thing did. 

 

Edited November 15, 2021 by beecee

[swansont]

12 hours ago, CmdrShepSpectre2183 said:

What has led to this explosion in interest?

US television saw > 500 new shows + miniseries in 2020 (and 2019, so it's apparently not an anomaly)

Just over 1% is hardly an explosion. It would be strange of that genre wasn't explored to this minimal extent, with all the shows being made. 

 

[joigus]

It seems that only @Ken Fabian mentioned comedy.

Here's an (allegedly) underrated classic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(TV_series)

[CmdrShepSpectre2183]

Congrats to them but I find it sad that NASA doesn't have one single astronaut that has been born in the 90s yet!

 

There is an Arab one! Apparently countries like the UAE and China have done a better job at getting young people interested in science and technology.

Or was it all by design? The American government wanted Millennials and Gen Z to be "dumbed down"?

There seems to be an effort by the American government to get the next generation of American youth excited to become astronauts.

 

 

[iNow]

Time to switch up your thread topics cmdr 

 

 

[CharonY]

18 minutes ago, CmdrShepSpectre2183 said:

There is an Arab one! Apparently countries like the UAE and China have done a better job at getting young people interested in science and technology.

Or was it all by design? The American government wanted Millennials and Gen Z to be "dumbed down"?

There seems to be an effort by the American government to get the next generation of American youth excited to become astronauts.

!

Moderator Note

Please keep all the very similar topics contained to this thread.

 

[swansont]

10 hours ago, CmdrShepSpectre2183 said:

Congrats to them but I find it sad that NASA doesn't have one single astronaut that has been born in the 90s yet!

The youngest astronaut in this year's class is 32

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Astronaut_Corps

Astronaut candidates have ranged between the ages of 26 and 46, with the average age being 34. 

So your observation becomes "we don't have any younger than average astronaut candidates" and it's all much ado about nothing. The reason is that people need time to gain the requisite experience and education, and you're focusing on people who haven't had time to do that yet, and conjuring up a conspiracy.

 

 

 

[CmdrShepSpectre2183]

Back in the early 2010s it seemed like much of society lost interest in space and the future.

Reality TV was all the rage.

 

Passionate sci fi fans throughout the internet were vocal about the decline of sci fi.

https://practicalfreespirit.com/2011/09/06/to-infinity-and-beyond/

https://www.impossiblepodcasts.com/2012/02/rayguns-and-rocket-ships-can-books-save.html

https://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012/06/mind-meld-has-space-opera-lost-its-luster/

https://ricochet.com/226027/archives/the-death-of-the-space-opera/

https://gizmodo.com/why-we-need-more-space-adventures-5837047

 

Around the same time a speech by Neil Degrasse Tyson was circulating throughout the internet proclaiming that we stopped dreaming.

But how much of this is due to society becoming too comfortable and/or greedy?

A large part of society struggled after the 2008 crisis and still are to this day but there also seemed a be a large part of society that were perfectly comfortable with the status quo. The Suburban Class.

Big house in a safe suburban neighborhood, a nice family, vacations to places like Disney World or the Bahamas each year, etc. Life on Earth is good enough already, so why dream and expend energy working towards a "Star Trek" like future?

That is the reality show demographic!

Edited March 23, 2022 by CmdrShepSpectre2183

[beecee]

3 hours ago, CmdrShepSpectre2183 said:

Back in the early 2010s it seemed like much of society lost interest in space and the future.

Reality TV was all the rage.

 

Passionate sci fi fans throughout the internet were vocal about the decline of sci fi.

https://practicalfreespirit.com/2011/09/06/to-infinity-and-beyond/

https://www.impossiblepodcasts.com/2012/02/rayguns-and-rocket-ships-can-books-save.html

https://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012/06/mind-meld-has-space-opera-lost-its-luster/

https://ricochet.com/226027/archives/the-death-of-the-space-opera/

https://gizmodo.com/why-we-need-more-space-adventures-5837047

 

Around the same time a speech by Neil Degrasse Tyson was circulating throughout the internet proclaiming that we stopped dreaming.

But how much of this is due to society becoming too comfortable and/or greedy?

A large part of society struggled after the 2008 crisis and still are to this day but there also seemed a be a large part of society that were perfectly comfortable with the status quo. The Suburban Class.

Big house in a safe suburban neighborhood, a nice family, vacations to places like Disney World or the Bahamas each year, etc. Life on Earth is good enough already, so why dream and expend energy working towards a "Star Trek" like future?

That is the reality show demographic!

You are 100% correct re the reality TV shows crap..It still to a large extent is still popular in Australia....reality tv!! what a load of crap!!!

I have plenty of time for the likes of Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Lawrence Krauss, and while "pop science" shows have plenty of criticism for their sometimes less then accurate or over simplification of certain accounts, and the expressing of complicated science into science that can be digestible by lay people, it at least is educational to some extent (and in my opinion, much more) and if it sparks the interest of only a small number of youngens, there is every chance we may have an Einstein among that number.

If I was to recommend a few docos worth watching, it would be three I have mentioned before and while somewhat dated in time, are still relevant.

Love and Bananas: An Elephant Story.  Black Fish.  Chasing Ice.

If anyone has not seen these and has a passing interest in nature, the environment, and protection of animals, then all I believe can be seen on one or other of the streaming services.

 

[dimreepr]

7 hours ago, CmdrShepSpectre2183 said:

Around the same time a speech by Neil Degrasse Tyson was circulating throughout the internet proclaiming that we stopped dreaming.

But how much of this is due to society becoming too comfortable and/or greedy?

Comfort yes, because we will do anything to stay comfortable, with what we have now, the problem is, we're constantly bombarded with 24hr bad news, that's threatening to their future comfort; they haven't got time to dream.

Greedy is a different question...

[CharonY]

!

Moderator Note

Similar topics merged.

 

[iNow]

Merged? Would've been better Moved... to the Trash Can

[swansont]

10 hours ago, CmdrShepSpectre2183 said:

Back in the early 2010s it seemed like much of society lost interest in space and the future.

Reality TV was all the rage.

!

Moderator Note

This has gotten very old. Demonstrate it with actual data, rather than assertion and anecdote.