Abstract :
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Portmanteau words like ‘infotainment’ and
‘edutainment’ well reveal how great can be the value of media in
spreading information and education. Science will not inspire, if
not for media; it will become a pastime for bookworms merely.
So, to liberate us from a ‘frog-in-the-well’ existence, we must
communicate and we must know. I can see media as digging
tunnels through innumerable wells and creating a network
through which information can be exchanged and scientific
knowledge shared- globalization and global villages can be
viewed that way. Science can be used to enlighten the masses, not
as staple of pedantic lectures but liberated of jargon and
intellectual elitism. Science is firmly grounded in laws but still
amazes. It also intimidates. Text book science certainly does. Not
so with popular science. It is contemporary realization that
science has to deal with literature; it cannot afford to lord over
an isolated realm. It will have to get folk appeal- be butt of jokes
and at the heart of humour. To be ‘happening’ and form an
interesting part of ‘noosphere’ it has to even get parodied. It may
also venture into speculation and evoke wonder rather than harp
on realism all the time. Information has to be blended with
entertainment to become palatable as infotainment. Science has
to enter speculation and learn its lessons from science fiction to
keep up its popularity and even relevance. Putting its finger on
the nerve of contemporary populace, science has to be
egalitarian, not elitist. At the same time, popular science has to be
guarded from overt theatricality and sensationalism. So, the line
dividing science fiction from futuristic writing has to be carefully
drawn.
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