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Wow, Ghostbusters is a movie about a startup. It seems so obvious once it's pointed out, but it never occurred to me before.

scott_s 18y ago
It's also very much a product of the Reagan era: the bad guys are the scientists, academia and the EPA.
- tptacek 18y ago
  Uh, hello? Venkman: "Back off, man! We're scientists!" Also, didn't they give props to a Dem mayor of NYC?
  - scott_s 18y ago
    That's what he says, but they lack the skepticism of actual scientists. I love the movie - and the quote - but Venkman is clearly calling himself a scientist because it's convenient at the moment.
    - mechanical_fish 18y ago
      Wait, how do we know that Venkman isn't a legitimate scientist, again? Because he's insufficiently skeptical about ghosts? But in the universe of Ghostbusters ghosts physically exist! If anything, the part of Ghostbusters that strains my credulity is that in their universe there seem to be scientists who don't believe in ghosts. You'd think that the accumulated evidence would be pretty overwhelming by the 1980s!
      - gravitycop 18y ago
        the part of Ghostbusters that strains my credulity is that in their universe there seem to be scientists who don't believe in ghosts. You'd think that the accumulated evidence would be pretty overwhelming by the 1980s! Accumulated evidence has actually tended to slam into the brick wall of popularity contestance. http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/RiskandSafety.html http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/RiskandSafety.html http://www.google.com/search?q=aaron+wildavsky http://www.google.com/search?q=aaron+wildavsky http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress http://www.google.com/search?q=john+mccarthy+sustainability http://www.google.com/search?q=john+mccarthy+sustainability http://www.juliansimon.com/writings/Ultimate_Resource http://www.juliansimon.com/writings/Ultimate_Resource http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book http://www.google.com/search?q=war+against+the+atom http://www.google.com/search?q=war+against+the+atom http://jamesphogan.com/heretics http://jamesphogan.com/heretics
      - scott_s 18y ago
        I was thinking more of that scene, where his line before that one was "Are you, Alice, menstruating right now?" It's clear he's more interest in her than the study. Again, it makes for a funny movie, but it's also making fun of scientists.
      - jjs 18y ago
        IIRC, the spate of hauntings in the movie was brought on by the imminent return of Gozer the Gozerian (or by the same rare set of conditions that allowed Gozer to return). By the sequel, the Ghostbusters had mostly closed up shop due to the collapse of the haunting bubble.

scott_s 18y ago

It's also very much a product of the Reagan era: the bad guys are the scientists, academia and the EPA.

tptacek 18y ago
Uh, hello? Venkman: "Back off, man! We're scientists!" Also, didn't they give props to a Dem mayor of NYC?
- scott_s 18y ago
  That's what he says, but they lack the skepticism of actual scientists. I love the movie - and the quote - but Venkman is clearly calling himself a scientist because it's convenient at the moment.
  - mechanical_fish 18y ago
    Wait, how do we know that Venkman isn't a legitimate scientist, again? Because he's insufficiently skeptical about ghosts? But in the universe of Ghostbusters ghosts physically exist! If anything, the part of Ghostbusters that strains my credulity is that in their universe there seem to be scientists who don't believe in ghosts. You'd think that the accumulated evidence would be pretty overwhelming by the 1980s!
    - gravitycop 18y ago
      the part of Ghostbusters that strains my credulity is that in their universe there seem to be scientists who don't believe in ghosts. You'd think that the accumulated evidence would be pretty overwhelming by the 1980s! Accumulated evidence has actually tended to slam into the brick wall of popularity contestance. http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/RiskandSafety.html http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/RiskandSafety.html http://www.google.com/search?q=aaron+wildavsky http://www.google.com/search?q=aaron+wildavsky http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress http://www.google.com/search?q=john+mccarthy+sustainability http://www.google.com/search?q=john+mccarthy+sustainability http://www.juliansimon.com/writings/Ultimate_Resource http://www.juliansimon.com/writings/Ultimate_Resource http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book http://www.google.com/search?q=war+against+the+atom http://www.google.com/search?q=war+against+the+atom http://jamesphogan.com/heretics http://jamesphogan.com/heretics
    - scott_s 18y ago
      I was thinking more of that scene, where his line before that one was "Are you, Alice, menstruating right now?" It's clear he's more interest in her than the study. Again, it makes for a funny movie, but it's also making fun of scientists.
    - jjs 18y ago
      IIRC, the spate of hauntings in the movie was brought on by the imminent return of Gozer the Gozerian (or by the same rare set of conditions that allowed Gozer to return). By the sequel, the Ghostbusters had mostly closed up shop due to the collapse of the haunting bubble.