5 things TV and mocies get wrong about computers
Being one that was raised by television, I expected real life to resemble at least some of what I saw on TV. Now, at least I know people don't spend the majority of their job's sitting around chewing the fat, or pulling things from behind your back only looks cool in the cartoons, and if wacky occurences constantly happen to you on a weekly basis, you're probably in the looney bin already. Computers and cellphones though, are literally everwhere, to the point where you can't help but make a big point of the technology in your media. But, just like cartoons where explosions only leave youfull of soot, or action movies where a stock sports car can go 200 mph without crashing or the engine exploding, computers are a thing of absolute magic, pulled from the very Holy Grail itself it seems. Here's 5 things TV and movies always get horribly wrong about computers:
5. Internet connection - It doesn't matter if it's the 90's, present, or somewhere off in the future, even some entirely alien race and technology, EVERYONE seems to have perfect connection! Outside of commercials where they show off how fast or powerful a particular device is, never has a main character suffered from non-plot driven internet issues. It would seem that everyone, from Han Solo in the run down Millienium Falcon to Admiral Adama on the obsolete Battlestar Galactica never had an issue with connection to people even several AU away. Mass Effect came up with an awesome scientifically viable means through transmitters that worked off quantum entangled particles. Outside of that, either the internet is an absolutely free concept everywhere, or someone thought the internet could use some super powers.
4. Operating systems - Most of us have seen Penelope's set up on Criminal minds, which is pretty detailed through out the series. Aside from her though, I'm surprised everyone is somehow able to interact without compatability issues, or stranger still, no software crashes or anything! It's almost like these small squareish boxes contain a magical source, in which all the laws of the universe are present... Yeh, sounds like these computers all run on software designed by the guy who made the One Ring.
3. New age mechanic - It would seem fixing one of these doo hickey's requires all sorts on schoolin' and such, which is why super geniuses like Tony Stark can create something 1000x more advanced than what his people has... And then not distribute it. See, everyone in this position let's whoever try to make it, but they go far out of their way to make it difficult, from sharing information that's too over the head, to having created something out of the only known materials on Earth. Just thinking about that, these guys must have some CRAZY insurance plans, hydro bills, and the cost of every spare part? If all these super increible stuff is so powerful, it must create some sort of ware and tear on the hardware, so financing it alone must be a fortune.
2. Bigger words = more complex stuff - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn4WF7z8__4 'Nuff said.
1. Teenagers own beastly set ups that make NASA look like Walmart - It seems in any show that has a teenage technosavant, that they have built something that would make Skynet jealous. Dozens of monitors, at least three keyboards, server blinking in the background, wires going everywhere, oh my, this gentleman is serious! And by serious, I mean a serious fire hazard. The power needed to run the crazy set ups we see rival that of full out department stores at the mall, and each item giving off heat (usually in a dark, tight space like a basement, barn, or bachelor apartment) would melt the man in the room, not just the computers. You never hear massive industrial fans, or what looks like any source of major air conditioning, which, anyone who has worked alongside corporate servers or the like would know, is fundamental to keeping those things working.
