[extropy-chat] Future friendly movies

Mon Aug 8 17:40:12 UTC 2005

Correct on every count. And I don't even like sex in SF at all, it is distracting. However films have to appeal to a vast cross section of taste, including the lowest common denominator, to become successful enough to make it worth the investment and interest of all those responsible for production & release. And that often means scantily clad spacecraft sirens being chased by aliens and engineers, all the rest of the silly cliches. 'Spaceballs' got it exactly right, it was an underrated comedy. 
Of course there are high quality SF films but they float in a sea of mediocrity or light entertainment-- depending on whether the viewer is a truck driver or a scientist.

2004's Sundance winning film _Primer_ ranks my top time travel movie, 
mainly because of its believability. It's quite an amazing film, but 
really showcases more of the human condition in greed (not positive). 
It's also not a movie for kids.

However, beyond presenting a vehicle for abstract non-linear thinking, 
I don't think a time travel movie would make science sexy again. I 
could be proven wrong though.

Time travel movies seem to suffer from too many paradoxes that are 
resolved in half-baked crackpot theories on "how the universe works out 
what happens when you kill your grandma before you were born" rather 
than any hard science. I can think of numerous scenes (i.e. _Timecop_) 
where special effects explain these paradoxes rather than explanation 
or understanding. Perhaps a time travel flick could be pulled off in a 
scientific and sexy fashion (never say never), but I think scifi should 
stick to ideas or science. Throwing around junk science flotsam is not 
very good for today's youth.

I would second _Fallen Angels_ as an excellent example of something to 
make science sexy again for the youth. The premise is pretty damn fun 
by itself.

On Aug 7, 2005, at 2:15 AM, Al Brooks wrote:

> Does anyone here like time travel films? This is a
> plot I wrote down: a Jewish scientist's daughter
> travels from the year 2097 to the year 1945, to sleep
> with Hitler.
> If the film were well done it would be guaranteed a
> success, as the notoriety of such a plot would draw a
> large audience.
>
>
>> My current favorites for transhumanist movies are
>> The First Immortal
>> and Down and Out in Magic Kingdom.
>> But any good story with a human angle and set in a
>> rear-singularity
>> world with uploading technology would do. A series
>> would perhaps be
>> even better than a movie in terms of impact.
>> G.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 8/6/05, Mike Lorrey wrote:
>>> I concur. Such movies should also, besides
>> portraying science and
>>> transhumanism positively, show the true dark
>> underbelly of luddism. One
>>> movie I think actually did this quite well was
>> "AI", which portrayed
>>> the AI boy sympathetically and humanity and its
>> fears of AI negatively.
>>>
>>> I have long thought that the Larry Niven/Jerry
>> Pournelle novel "Fallen
>>> Angels" would make a good transhumanist movie.
>> Neal Stephenson's
>>> "Cryptonomicon" would do well also.
>>>
>>> --- Giu1i0 Pri5c0 
wrote:
>>>
>>>> I have long been persuaded that the best way to
>> promote a positive
>>>> and
>>>> hopeful attitude toward future developments in
>> science and technology
>>>> is
>>>> through movies. Apparently the idea has been
>> taken up by the US
>>>> establishment.
>>>>
>>>
>>
> Slashdot> 1413200&from=rss>:
>>>>
>>>> *According to the New York Times, the Pentagon
>> is funding classes in
>>>> screenplay writing for 15
>>>>
>>>
>>
> scientists> ex=1280808000&en=b35c2085878bcf51&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>.
>>>> The idea is to encourage kids to go into science
>> and engineering
>>>> through
>>>> mainstream media and thereby presumably bolster
>> long-term US national
>>>>
>>>> security. While it sounds like a lot of fun for
>> the researchers
>>>> involved,
>>>> and anything that stems the spiral of the US
>> into a culture of
>>>> anti-intellectualism is a good thing in my book.
>> Will glamorizing
>>>> science in
>>>> the movies make kids pay better attention in
>> chemistry class?
>>>> *In the New York Times
>>>>
>>>
>>
> article> ex=1280808000&en=b35c2085878bcf51&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>the
>>>> idea is using movies to make science sexy again
>> so that American kids
>>>> chose technical careers and replenish a pool of
>> US experts on
>>>> technologies
>>>> for national security. Professional scientists
>> and science
>>>> communicators are
>>>> asked to contribute to film making as they are
>> the ones who can
>>>> develop
>>>> realistic future scenarios: "to reconcile the
>> cinematic suspension of
>>>>
>>>> disbelief with the scientific method and with
>> their basic purpose of
>>>> bringing accuracy to the screen".Teaching
>> screenwriting to scientists
>>>> was
>>>> the brainstorm of Martin Gundersen, a professor
>> of electrical
>>>> engineering at
>>>> the University of Southern California and
>> sometime Hollywood
>>>> technical
>>>> adviser. Recently, he was asked to review
>> screenplays by the Sloan
>>>> Foundation, which awards prizes for scientific
>> accuracy, and found
>>>> most to
>>>> be "pretty dismal," as he put it."My thought
>> was, since scientists
>>>> have to
>>>> write so much, for technical journals and
>> papers, why not consider
>>>> them as a
>>>> creative source?" Dr. Gundersen said.
>>>> I believe the same concepts can be used to
>> promote a friendlier
>>>> attitude
>>>> toward radical, "transhumanist" scientific
>> advances and their
>>>> deployment in
>>>> society through technological (and legal)
>> developments. We need
>>>> movies set
>>>> in believable and "accurate" future scenarios
>> and with a positive or
>>>> at
>>>> least non-threatening view of future
>> technologies such as radical
>>>> life
>>>> extension, Mind Machine Interfaces (MMI), and
>> eventually mind
>>>> uploading.
>>>> I think Matrix was a horrible movie as it had a
>> very dark atmosphere
>>>> and
>>>> made viewers actually scared of the future.
>> There are many excellent
>>>> science
>>>> fiction novels that could be turned to good
>> pro-science,
>>>> "transhumanist"
>>>> movies. I am sure we can help the movie industry
>> with ideas and
>>>> scenarios.
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--
Adam K. Olson
Student Designer, Comm Tech Lab
http://commtechlab.msu.edu

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