I thought about the same question before, or in particular the social prestige of computer scientists. My best shot is: because you cannot make cool TV shows about computer scientists.
There are lots of shows in which specific professions come across as cool - doctors, cops, lawyers (of all things)... on the other hand, whenever a computer scientist is portrayed in a show or a movie, what you get is the stereotypical nerd. And there are some good shows, too - but they're mostly funny shows, not cool as in "I want to be like that".
And what's better suited to shape the youth's role models than the media they consume? And I don't blame the networks or screenwriters or anything - I've tried to come up with a good concept for a show myself and couldn't do it.
Yet I've always found it puzzling that the person who simply buys the latest iPhone is considered hip, while the people who actually build and program them are looked down on...
My best shot is: because you cannot make cool TV shows about computer scientists
It's not that you CAN'T make shows like this, it's that producers/writers project their own stereotypes into figuring out what shows will work or not. Thus, the cycle continues. It's sad when hackers can't even imagine ways to make it look cool though..
Japanese Dramas can be cheesy by American standards but I liked this one as an example:
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Bloody_Monday
After a biological terrorist attack kills off the population of a Russian town; Japan's Public Safety Special Third unit, code name THIRD-i, believes that the terrorist organization responsible plans to unleash the same virus known as Bloody X into Tokyo. Subsequently, THIRD-i recruits the help of genius hacker Takagi Fujimaru to find out what happened in the Russia. However, as Fujimaru becomes involved, he soon finds out that he is in over his head and that the terrorist groups influence reaches not only his school but even the police. Fujimaru must now rely on his skill as a hacker to unravel the organizations sinister plot and find out the truth behind "Bloody Monday."
This is exactly what I was thinking, while reading through the comments, the phrase "Neeerds!" kept playing in my head from the Revenge of the Nerds movie. The American culture has not been favorable to intellectuals socially, at least in my life time, 36 years. I believe most people tend to gravitate to what is socially acceptable. Also there is a sense I get from the political media, that intellectuals are to be demonized. Intellectuals generally seem to speak of complex problems, with complex solutions. Which are a hard sell in a form that seems to live off the 30 second sound clip, not to mention any ideological conflicts. And then there is the part where being an intellectual is hard work, it takes dedication, sometimes a complete lifestyle to gain, and maintain. Something that you'd have to put down the remote control, get off the sofa and go get. Its an up hill battle, TV, which is the most powerful form of dispersing to the people, what their culture is and thus, what they should be doing, to maintain their social status, is easy to do, more so than learning about a topic. Also the people making it, want to do what ever it takes, to make sure you keep watching instead. Then the people through ratings, tell the producers what they want to watch. So it is rather easy for this process to spiral out of control. The race to the bottom if you will. The internet has changed things a bit, it brought fame and glory to some smart people, the innovators and the builders, but I would still wager the vast majority is still tied up in social networking. Recently getting a twitter account I've noticed whats on TV tonight, seems to trend quite often.
Doctors, cops, and lawyers interact with other people in interesting ways. Scientists and engineers generally interact with machines in interesting way. Much more difficult to make a story about that.
Except science and engineering is as much about people as it is about machine. Look at the most succcessful scientists and engineers: a lot of what they accomplished they owe to the other people who collaborated and worked with them. The amount of politics and interaction that goes in the higher levels of these professions is also something that can't be ignored.
There are lots of shows in which specific professions come across as cool - doctors, cops, lawyers (of all things)... on the other hand, whenever a computer scientist is portrayed in a show or a movie, what you get is the stereotypical nerd. And there are some good shows, too - but they're mostly funny shows, not cool as in "I want to be like that".
And what's better suited to shape the youth's role models than the media they consume? And I don't blame the networks or screenwriters or anything - I've tried to come up with a good concept for a show myself and couldn't do it.
Yet I've always found it puzzling that the person who simply buys the latest iPhone is considered hip, while the people who actually build and program them are looked down on...