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How MTV's “16 and Pregnant” May Have Reduced Teen Pregnancy

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Re: How MTV's “16 and Pregnant” May Have Reduced Teen Pregnancy

#41

Post by cryptoz »

hkmurakami wrote: post #23
cryptoz wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily. As a society, we spend a lot more on Hollywood storytelling than we do on space exploration. And certainly more than a mission to Mars would cost.

iirc (from the talk) a mission to Mars will cost a few trillion dollars (I forgot the exact figure, but somewhere between $1T and $10T). That's a lot more than Hollywood storytelling.

Really? I've never heard a figure that high. I think the estimates currently are about $50B, spread out over 10 years or so.

Re: How MTV's “16 and Pregnant” May Have Reduced Teen Pregnancy

#42

Post by mjevans »

hkmurakami wrote: post #15
TheGRS wrote: post #2

I had heard about this a few years ago and I find it fascinating. Entertainment being used for good! Its interesting how effective this particular show has been, so I have to wonder how effective those heavy-handed episodes of Family Matters or Home Improvement were. I'm sure there are many examples of a TV show heavily impacting stuff that we encounter in our everyday lives, but I also would recommend reading The Po…

I once sat in a talk by a NASA Ames director (?) about his belief that even the tremendous cost for a manned mission to Mars would be "worth it" for the inspiration it would provide to the youth of the country to pursue STEM fields. But then I thought -- wait, wouldn't it be much cheaper if we could harness the same kind of inspiration through Hollywood storytelling?

You're looking at the costs vs benefits in isolation. We'd get far more than just a trip to mars.

Many of the technologies and research in to a wide range of medical fields (including long term isolation/social pressures) that are developed as a result of that endeavor would continue to pay dividends for generations after the trip.

However I am very much in favor of sending robots up first; build a place to actually go to and live in, then stock it with a lower order ecosystem, and THEN send anything we forgot with the human payload.

Re: How MTV's “16 and Pregnant” May Have Reduced Teen Pregnancy

#44

Post by endgame »

mziel wrote: post #36
hkmurakami wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once sat in a talk by a NASA Ames director (?) about his belief that even the tremendous cost for a manned mission to Mars would be "worth it" for the inspiration it would provide to the youth of the country to pursue STEM fields. But then I thought -- wait, wouldn't it be much cheaper if we could harness the same kind of inspiration through Hollywood storytelling?

I think this is happening to a degree. I know of a guy, whose younger brother started reading up on physics after Big Hero 6. Also didn't older tech-related movies on hackers inspire some of us?

Given the way the "Hackers at 20" article resonated, I'd say the answer is "YES": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10220853

Re: How MTV's “16 and Pregnant” May Have Reduced Teen Pregnancy

#45

Post by tlrobinson »

hkmurakami wrote: post #15
TheGRS wrote: post #2

I had heard about this a few years ago and I find it fascinating. Entertainment being used for good! Its interesting how effective this particular show has been, so I have to wonder how effective those heavy-handed episodes of Family Matters or Home Improvement were. I'm sure there are many examples of a TV show heavily impacting stuff that we encounter in our everyday lives, but I also would recommend reading The Po…

I once sat in a talk by a NASA Ames director (?) about his belief that even the tremendous cost for a manned mission to Mars would be "worth it" for the inspiration it would provide to the youth of the country to pursue STEM fields. But then I thought -- wait, wouldn't it be much cheaper if we could harness the same kind of inspiration through Hollywood storytelling?

Is this an allusion to the faked moon landing conspiracy theories...?

Re: How MTV's “16 and Pregnant” May Have Reduced Teen Pregnancy

#47

Post by drdeca »

im2w1l wrote: post #46

Why is reducing teen pregnancy good?

Assuming that you accept the principles:

a)babies are people

b)it is bad for people who are unable to care for themselves to be without care

c)teenagers would often be unable to care for their babies

one reaches the conclusion that, if teenagers were to have babies, often they would be unable to care for them, and this would be bad.

Therefore, reducing the rate of teenagers having babies is good (because it is preventing a bad thing, and not at the cost of another bad thing)

Generally, teenagers are not mature enough to raise children by themselves, or, they are at least less well suited than someone a bit older would be.

Re: How MTV's “16 and Pregnant” May Have Reduced Teen Pregnancy

#48

Post by pixl97 »

sokoloff wrote: post #34
nommm-nommm wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Teens being denied access to proper and accurate sex education isn't their own doing.

I have significant shared frustration with that situation, but feel that even in those cases, the teens bear a non-zero amount of responsibility, which is larger than the baby. Most teens can read and most have access to google.

>Most teens can read and most have access to google.

I can read and I have access to google, and for some reason I'm not a rocket scientist or a nuclear physicist. There is a reason that in most cases we don't consider (at least below 18) teens adults. They make bad decisions. We also know from study that teens make a higher number of bad decisions when the adults and culture around them feed them bad information.

Google is almost useless for things like this, your family and culture affect you far more.

Re: How MTV's “16 and Pregnant” May Have Reduced Teen Pregnancy

#49

Post by alohahacker »

mziel wrote: post #36
hkmurakami wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once sat in a talk by a NASA Ames director (?) about his belief that even the tremendous cost for a manned mission to Mars would be "worth it" for the inspiration it would provide to the youth of the country to pursue STEM fields. But then I thought -- wait, wouldn't it be much cheaper if we could harness the same kind of inspiration through Hollywood storytelling?

I think this is happening to a degree. I know of a guy, whose younger brother started reading up on physics after Big Hero 6. Also didn't older tech-related movies on hackers inspire some of us?

i remember watching sneakers and feeling inspired at a young age!
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