Does our field have a charming figure who popularizes Computer Science the same way that Carl Sagan, Michio Kaku, and Neil deGrasse Tyson popularize physics? If so, who? If not, why?
It’s hard to make a media program with wide appeal about computer science because it’s abstract and behind the scenes. No one wants the Carl Sagan of plumbing. With physics you can actually show the object being discussed, which matches better to TV format. It also answers big questions like where the universe came from and what will happen to it. These are questions people with any level of intelligence or familiarity of the field are interested in. I think people are more interested in the applications of computer science, such as what’s happening on Twitter or Facebook, than the science itself. The hard part is, how can you relate computer science to something that the general population cares about?
hmm GEB was a charming book which popularized CS, you could say. uh .. The guy in Mr Robot? ...
Well, I guess if you had to ask, the answer's no. Well, Cosmos (the Sagan one, haven't seen anything from those other 2) was about a lot more than just physics. And it was a story of many centuries and countries, about many people who are household names. CS has a relatively short history, with most of the developments fairly if not extremely abstract and not easy to explain in a popular form. >layers of slightly out-of-focus binary digits flow across the screen< I'm not sure how much of it people want to know. But still, most things are fascinating when presented well.
Well, there are a few but they’re either to busy writing code or being a to be a CEO/CTO to be a celebrity spokesperson for the computer science community.
We do have a few already if you want to count Elon Musk, The Woz, and the late Mr. Jobs
There of course is the likes of Linus torvalds, Dennis Ritchie, John Carmack, etc... but they really are just busy doing their thing.
Really I think it boils down to comp sci not yet having a media outlet like the show “cosmos” was for Astro-physics getting the mainstream public’s attention.
We just need a prime time must see tv show, with a charming host.
The problem is Comp Sci isn’t very exciting for those who aren’t already comp scientists.
I think you have to split the question into two parts, where one is [literally] computer science and the other is computing technology. There are scads of options in the second pool, but I think the first is what you're aiming for. No one sticks out, but that's because the actual science & engineering behind applied computing technology is ... esoteric. Additionally, it's hard to find any one thing enough fanatics agree is cool & interesting in order to drive broad popular opinion.
