[Steve Jordan]

Things might be different in Australia, but in the U.S., fewer and fewer young people are going into science and engineering studies in school, and only about 5% of students earn science or engineering degrees. There is a serious malaise about the sciences in the U.S., and I think it can be traced back to an attitude, propagated by the American media, that scientists are either geeks that never get laid, or people that ultimately only screw up the things they try to do, and create plagues, killer zombies, and runaway technology that will destroy us all.

I'm not saying all American SF is negative, but the overwhelming majority of it is (or it's juvenile, or both), and it doesn't leave too many young people of a mind to save or cure anything. They just want to get their moms to drive them to the mall in their SUVs.

Here's a question: How many positive SF movies of the last 10 years can you name? By positive, I mean a depiction of a bright, friendly, warm, welcoming future, or a world that will be better tomorrow. Those are the movies that inspire people to follow the sciences and enjoy SF. I'm afraid the list is woefully short.