Tuesday, March 22, 2011

If We Just Technobabble the Technobabble...

  Suspension of disbelief is an important and powerful thing to have to enjoy certain movies or TV shows. Crazy physics or wonky engineering don't bother me terribly much. Techonobabble, as popularized by Star Trek and seen almost every nowadays, can be an effective means to solve some crazy situation with equally crazy actions with logic that is so impenetrable that it sounds legitimate. However, when I notice these things in my field of study and interest my suspension of disbelief often goes right out the window.
  This isn't the 1980s anymore, the computer is not some black magic box that is both unknowable in its workings yet so simple a few key presses can do seemingly anything. Why do movies and television shows continue to treat it like such like such an abstract concept? It seems like they don't want to alienate those with limited computer knowledge by remaining safely within the confines set by old technology such as text displays or nonexistent mouse use, people slam on the keyboard and stuff gets done. This is what I see and feel when this happens.
Uploading a computer virus to the alien mothership in Independence Day
  Near the end of Independence Day, Jeff Goldblum's character uploads a virus from his Mac to the alien ship, crippling its defenses. Overlooking the fact that they used the printer serial port to somehow wirelessly upload the virus to the ship, the sheer headache that would be needed to fix all compatibility issues (language, platform, endian, would it even use bits?, etc.) between the two systems would be astronomical yet is created and implemented quickly. Fired up and sent (with the uploading virus bar) just in time to save the day.
  I guess calling out CSI for taking liberties with technology is a bit old hat but the sheer hamfistedness of this clip astounds me. The same thing happens with cybercrime committed on TV or in movies, be it War Games, Hackers, or Firewall; throw together a few technical sounding terms to the point it sounds menacing or helpful, you have your story or solution. Also, I wish we had the technology to turn a blurry six pixel image of a face into a high definition portrait.
  I'm guessing why bad computer technology bothers me so much is because I'm so close to the subject. If I were an engineer or a physicist other parts of television would bother me more than goofy computer lingo strung together.
Posted by Carl Blum at 12:54 AM
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3 comments:

  1. DanMarch 22, 2011 at 9:06 PM

    I saw that clip a little while ago and it literally made me lol.

    As a physics student, physics and engineering mistakes in movies really bother me, but things like that scene in Independence Day drive me insane.

    Also any problem in Star Trek can be solved by either venting drive plasma or reversing polarity on something.

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  2. CarlosMarch 23, 2011 at 1:15 PM

    I agree with you Carl sometimes I just cannot watch certain things because they are so horribly inaccurate. Other times event though it seems improbable I can still just sit back and try to believe *cough* Iron Man *cough*.

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  3. Jen SchneiderApril 10, 2011 at 2:40 PM

    I'm reminded (a little bit) of the chapter "Don't Be So Literal" in our textbook. I guess I'm always a little surprised by how scientists and engineers are surprised when the S&E in tv/film isn't accurate. Accuracy, or science communication, for that matter, is rarely the point.

    Doesn't mean we can't push for things to be more accurate, or that pop culture doesn't matter (it does). I think it just means that we should think through whether it matters that computing is oversimplified in a particular show or film and, if so, how it matters.

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