Category: Arts & Culture | Page 25

Nebula and stars in deep space, glowing mysterious universe. Elements of this image furnished by NASA

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News
Date
March 6, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
C. S. Lewis, Extraterrestrials (ET), Matt Williams, Science fiction}

Is Real-World Space Travel Just Too Daunting for ET?

_{That’s the Percolation Hypothesis as to why we don’t make contact with aliens. They can’t overcome the laws of physics, any more than we can} _{News
March 6, 2021

7

Arts & Culture}

Last week we looked at another reason that has been advanced, as to why we do not see extraterrestrials except at the movies. Science writer Matt Williams has been looking at the reasons (see the links below.) Last Saturday, we looked at the possibility that Earth is unusual in that it is a rocky planet whose intelligent inhabitants live on the surface. Many rocky planets and moons with icy surfaces may have interior oceans that harbor life.: In that case, intelligent life may not think of space exploration. Another hypothesis that Williams has examined is the Percolation Theory Hypothesis, that there are limits imposed by the laws of physics as to what intelligent life forms can do by way of Read More ›

mysterious exotic exoplanet lit by a bright red star

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News
Date
March 6, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
5-minutes, Sci-Fi Saturday, Science fiction}

Sci-fi Saturday: “This Planet Is Not in Our Co-ordinates”

_{A space courier crew gets a surprise when delivering a mysterious machine to a strange planet} _{News
March 6, 2021

6

Arts & Culture}

“McPherson’s Toys” at DUST by Austin Charlesworth (Jan 23, 2021, 2:59 min): “Two anxious space couriers have to deliver an ominous package to an unfamiliar planet with unexpected results.” Animated. At only 3 min, this one is very short. It will give fast food staff time to prepare your burger. The space couriers find themselves on a planet not expected to be in their co-ordinates. The rest would make a great greeting card. Depending on how you react (the audience is mixed), that may be fun. The animation feels a bit old-fashioned but many viewers will like that. Perfect for nostalgia. Other reviews from the “We are but DUST” files: Sci-fi Saturday: A future where dreams have been privatized Unfortunately, Read More ›

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News
Date
March 3, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Censorship, Law

Tagged
Abigail Shrier, Amazon (company), Anti-trust laws, Cancel culture, Irreversible Damage (book), John West, Monopoly, Seattle viewpoint discrimination law, Theodore Roosevelt}

Does Amazon’s Near-Monopoly Justify Its Use of Censorship?

_{Caitlin Basset looks at the little-known Seattle law that might make Amazon’s censorship much more costly} _{News
March 3, 2021

5

Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Censorship, Law}

Recently, Caitlin Basset told Stream readers about the Seattle law that could give Amazon — currently big on censorship — pause for thought: Last week Amazon spiked a [2018] book critical of transgender policy. The book — When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Movement, by Ryan T. Anderson. Amazon removed it without warning or explanation. “I hope you’ve already bought your copy,” Anderson wrote on Twitter, “cause Amazon just removed my book.” Amazon has breached free speech principles before. In the past two years, they banned products, films and ad campaigns for ideas it deems “objectionable.” Caitlin Bassett, “Could an Obscure Seattle Law Be Big Tech’s Undoing?” at Stream (February 28, 2021) Under an apparent new rule, Amazon Read More ›

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News
Date
February 27, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Dreams, DUST, Dystopia, Science fiction}

Sci-fi Saturday: A Future Where Dreams Have Been Privatized

_{Unfortunately, the dream Carlos wants is to see his missing family again and that's illegal …} _{News
February 27, 2021

7

Arts & Culture}

“I Dream” at DUST by Juan Pablo Arriagada (February 20, 2021, 14.25 min, Spanish with English subtitles) “In the future, dreams have been privatized. Carlos will risk anything to have one last dream to see his missing family.” Severe language and violence warning. It’s an interesting concept: “It was just a matter of time before dreams became privatized and became a basic service. Only rich people can afford to dream. The people who can’t pay for it must work double shifts. Or buy this drug that makes them stay awake. And, by the way, it’s made by the same people that privatized sleep.” Carlos, an ex-cop whose family went missing, can afford one last dream in which he wants to Read More ›

Jupiter's moon Europa in front of the planet Jupiter

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News
Date
February 27, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Carl Sagan, Europa (moon), Extraterrestrials (ET), Matt Williams, Privileged Planet hypothesis}

Is Intelligent Life Found in Oceans Inside Planets and Moons?

_{The Ocean Planets Hypothesis is that intelligent beings may flourish in the interior oceans of the moons of gas giant planets — or within exoplanets — but they are trapped there} _{News
February 27, 2021

6

Arts & Culture, Science}

Readers will recall that last year, we were looking at science writer Matt Williams’s analysis of the various reasons that we do not see extraterrestrials except at the movies. (See the links below.) Last time out in November, we looked at the Transcension Hypothesis: The extraterrestrial intelligences exist—but after a Singularity, they became virtual intelligences, exploring inner space at an undetectably small scale. Williams has reported since then on some additional hypotheses so this week we look at a more conventional approach — the “Ocean Worlds” Hypothesis, that icy planets may have interior oceans that harbor life: To illustrate, there’s the search for life that is going on right now in the Solar System, which is almost entirely focused on Read More ›

Black man in bed suffering from insomnia and sleep disorder

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News
Date
February 27, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture}

Sci-fi Saturday: What If Sleep Were a Distant Memory?

_{In a world going mad and dying from insomnia, a young woman may have a cure} _{News
February 27, 2021

8

Arts & Culture}

“Don’t Forget to Remember” at DUST by Tom Rotenberg (February 23, 2021, 14:50 min) “A young woman must traverse an alternate dimension in order to save the world from a fatal form of insomnia.” (A flashing lights warning is posted. One might add a language warning.) The big challenge in writing about insomnia is not to contribute to it. The harrowing opening scene of this film clears that bar. We are asked to picture a world in which all humans have gone eight months without sleep and will eventually die in consequence. The government rations sleeping pills but that can’t go on indefinitely. The woman who is chosen to save humanity is guided by the outwardly inaudible voices of those Read More ›

Oumuamua is a mildly active comet, and the first interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System.

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News
Date
February 27, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Avi Loeb, Caleb A. Scharf, Caleb Scharf, Information, Oumuamua, Specified Complexity}

Astrobiologist Cautions Against Jumping the Gun in Spotting ET

_{Scientists he says, are cautious with good reason. There are many weird natural phenomena like Oumuamua out there.} _{News
February 27, 2021

4

Arts & Culture, Science}

At Nautilus, astrophysicist (and astrobiologist) Caleb A. Scharf offers some sobering reflections on the diligent search for extraterrestrial intelligences (ET) in recent decades: Despite this effort, there has been no evidence to date of extraterrestrial life. But that lack of evidence is not because the scientific enterprise is uniformly conservative, rigid, and close-minded, as implied by [astronomer Avi] Loeb and uncritically echoed by some columnists. It’s because no discovery or event has risen to the level where it is inexplicable in any other way. Could greater funding and support change that story? Perhaps, but the same could be said for almost any other ambitious scientific enterprise, and the answer cannot be known beforehand. Caleb Scharf, “The Alien-Haunted World” at Nautilus Read More ›

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News
Date
February 27, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Breakthrough Listen, Caleb A. Scharf, Extraterrestrials (ET), Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), Will Lockett}

Astrophysicist Warns: Aliens May Be Boring or Unreachable

_{Researchers are taking the emissions from the vicinity of exoplanet Proxima B seriously. But if it is truly a technological signal, what would follow?} _{News
February 27, 2021

6

Arts & Culture, Science}

Boring? How very un-Star Trek of them! But it’s possible, says Caleb A. Scharf, director of astrobiology at Columbia University (pictured). He worries that, “Perhaps other life in the universe is, in the end, utterly dull.” Why might he think so? He is reflecting on the recent report of what may be a technological signal at roughly 982.002 MHz, coinciding with the direction of Proxima Centauri. If it is, what might the aliens turn out to be like? There’ll be some initial oddities, some curiosities that aren’t quite the things we planned for. A dull carrier wave signal for instance. Over time more evidence will show up, until eventually it’s clear that there are lots of species out there, puttering Read More ›

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News
Date
February 21, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Casey Luskin, Consciousness, Elon Musk, Martin Rees, Matrix (film), Michael Egnor, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Nick Bostrom, Sabine Hossenfelder, Simulation hypothesis}

Theoretical Physicist Argues, the Sim Universe Is Pseudoscience

_{It’s a lot of fun in science fiction and some scitech celebs buy in. But Sabine Hossenfelder and others explain why it’s fiction} _{News
February 21, 2021

6

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Science}

Theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder does not like the notion that we are living in a giant computer sim. Elon Musk likes it (“Elon Musk says there’s a ‘one in billions’ chance reality is not a simulation”) and so does Neil deGrasse Tyson (“Neil deGrasse Tyson says it’s ‘very likely’ the universe is a simulation”). Philosopher of science Nick Bostrom advanced that view in a seminal 2003 paper in Philosophical Quarterly. Former Astronomer Royal Martin Rees is sympathetic to it. Some call it the Planetarium hypothesis, when it is cited as a reason we do not see intelligent extraterrestrials. One source offers “15 irrefutable reasons” why, like Neo in The Matrix (1999), we might be living in a universe that is Read More ›

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News
Date
February 20, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Social Media

Tagged
addiction, Brain implant, loneliness, Science fiction}

Sci-Fi Saturday: When Virtual Friends Are a Real Addiction

_{This animated short begins with the thirtieth birthday party of a rather glum young man} _{News
February 20, 2021

6

Arts & Culture, Social Media}

“Best Friend” at DUST by Nicholas Olivieri, Shen Yi, Juliana De Lucca, Varun Nair, David Feliu (Feb 16, 2021, 5:31) “In a near future, a lonely man is addicted to a product called Best Friend which offers him perfect virtual friends.” As is hinted in the title (so this is not a spoiler), we suddenly learn — via an effective plot maneuver — that all of the partying friends are virtual realities. I had already begun to wonder about the animated objects cheering along with the crowd but then maybe in the future our kitchenware will have enthusiasms … But no. It’s all in his head, as long as he keeps replenishing the supply of a chemical cocktail to a Read More ›

Glowing yellow implant inside human head. Uses: medical, alien, future tech where monitoring and transmission of biotelemetry is involved.

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News
Date
February 20, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Medicine and Health

Tagged
Brain implant, loneliness, Science fiction}

Sci-Fi Saturday: Watch What You Wish For. There IS a Tomorrow!

_{Carl, a lonely guy, is determined to proceed through the warning and try the Luvsik procedure, to make him fall in love at first sight} _{News
February 20, 2021

6

Arts & Culture, Medicine and Health}

“Luvsik” at DUST by Norman Bertolino (February 29, 2021,5:00) “A man has a medical procedure done to experience love for the first time.” This short short starts out with a parody promo video for an off-standard medical treatment. It’s just the sort of promo that should — but alas, often doesn’t — send prospective patients fleeing back to their cars, then the freeway. So we know that, if Carl is unfazed, he is pretty serious about finding love. It’s also a clever way of providing the science basis for the story. No spoilers but Carl, the guy who wants the brain implant to cause him to fall in love at first sight, is told that in every case where the Read More ›

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News
Date
February 13, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Medicine and Health

Tagged
Extraterrestrials (ET), Science fiction}

Sci-Fi Saturday: We Have Met the Aliens and They Are Comb Jellies

_{The alien life form, when it appears, is very well imagined} _{News
February 13, 2021

6

Arts & Culture, Medicine and Health}

Or something. Here’s “Seedling” at DUST, an Irish entry by Michael Donnelly V and Stevie Russell (October 22, 2020, 08:14 min) “Amidst a huge storm, a couple experience an encounter with an alien species.” The opening scene, showing a complete failure of technology (electricity, radio, telephone, car) and the resulting emotional collapse of the female lead, is a stark reminder of how dependent we are on technology today. A thousand years ago, no one would have noticed that anything was wrong, apart from a rather violent storm (which some might attribute to witchcraft, others to sin). The alien life form, when it appears, is very well imagined. It is not remotely what we might have expected (although there are life Read More ›

A black cat plays with a robotic vacuum cleaner that cleans the floor.pet playing with robot vacuum cleaner

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News
Date
February 13, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
Cats, Common sense, Robots, Science fiction}

Sci-fi Saturday: The Disabled Robot Vet Gets a Job Grooming Cats

_{Definitely worth your five minutes, in part in order to see what cartoonists can do in sci-fi with animated stills.} _{News
February 13, 2021

6

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

“A Robot is a Robot” at DUST by Danish cartoonists Emil Friis Ernst and Nilas Røpke Driessen (February 2, 2021, 05:49 min) tells a tale: “A disabled robot war veteran finds its home among humans in the tender care of an old lady, and her hair salon for cats.” The story is told, intriguingly, as a series of cartoon stills and animated stills, beginning with the robot veteran begging on the sidewalk, whereupon the old lady takes him in. The robot floats on a single wheel and has a body like a metal tea cozy — a nice change from the more “android” type. She employs the robot to groom cats, who seem to appreciate his work, until he encounters Read More ›

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Denyse O'Leary
Date
February 6, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Science fiction}

Sci-fi Saturday: A Girl With Kinetic Powers Faces a Choice

_{Should she help relatives with activities she knows to be wrong?} _{Denyse O'Leary
February 6, 2021

6

Arts & Culture}

“Kinetic” at DUST by Kylie Eaton (February 4, 2021, 05:05 min) “When Aunt Drea solicits her help with criminal activities, young Jess’s emotions spin out of control, releasing powers she’d rather keep hidden.” This “short” short film is well executed. The rural ambience is quite realistic. But “Kinetic” breaks a fundamental rule of sci-fi. For sci-fi to be a classification in art or literature, the key requirement is that the powers or circumstances must have a basis in science. None is offered here except the assertion that the girl inherited the powers from her mother and grandmother. That’s a viable idea in tales of the supernatural but not in science fiction. We have not established how the kinetic powers came Read More ›

High-Ranking Military Man holds a Briefing to a Team of Government Agents and Politicians, Shows Satellite Surveillance Footage.

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Heather Zeiger
Date
February 6, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Military

Tagged
China, Featured, United States, Wired}

Sci-fi Saturday Books: Will World War III Be the U.S. vs. China?

_{One thing that is certain is that it will be a cyber war} _{Heather Zeiger
February 6, 2021

7

Arts & Culture, Military}

Wired Magazine devoted its entire February 2021 issue to the first four chapters of a book depicting a near-future dystopia in which the U.S. goes to war with China. You can read the first part of the book here. The authors of 2034: A Novel of the New World War have military backgrounds and were inspired by Cold War literature that speculated on the worst-case scenario if the U.S. and Russia had gone to war. The reason for the Wired editors’ interest is that 2034 is no ordinary thriller. Admiral James Stavridis comes with a wealth of experience in how such a conflict might play out. He is a retired four-star U.S. naval officer who has received numerous medals and Read More ›

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News
Date
February 6, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Asteroids, Science fiction, Time}

Sci-fi Saturday: An Asteroid Lingers Near Earth and Devours Time

_{Or, at any rate, it devours our perception of time, as one man discovers} _{News
February 6, 2021

5

Arts & Culture}

“Flyby,” a short sci-fi film at DUST by Jesse Mittelstadt (January 28, 2021 13:22 min) “When a passing asteroid begins to affect how people perceive time, one man struggles to keep up with a life that is quickly disappearing into the future.” Note: Language and mature scenes warning. When watching the opening sequence of “Flyby,” it’s hard not to think of space cigarillo Oumuamua, for which Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb made the case that it was an extraterrestrial lightsail. Loeb has recently published a book on these and similar reflections, Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (January 26, 2021). Back to the film, which takes quite a different tack, of course, addressing altered perceptions Read More ›

UFO, alien spaceship in orbit of planet Earth, extraterrestrials from outer space in flying saucer

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News
Date
January 30, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Extraterrestrials (ET)}

Will China Find Alien Life First? A Chinese Astronomer Says Yes

_{Whether either American or Chinese astronomers find anything, it will certainly be an interesting race} _{News
January 30, 2021

2

Arts & Culture, Science}

One Chinese astronomer, Tong-Jie Zhang, is working on it: In China, Zhang was tirelessly lobbying Chinese authorities to access FAST for his own research. Only recently was he granted the ability to use the telescope through the National Astronomical Observatories’ association. Initially, Zhang and his students had to conduct their observations at FAST while the telescope observed other targets, not allowing him to choose the areas he wanted. But after collaborating with Werthimer and students from the SETI Research Center on a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal, Chinese officials eventually allowed Zhang a window of time with the telescope to shortlist specific solar systems that he and his collaborators believe can most likely harbor intelligent life. Over the next Read More ›

Safety equipment, Life buoy or rescue buoy floating on sea to rescue people from drowning man.

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News
Date
January 30, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Science fiction}

Sci-fi Saturday: Rescuing Lost People

_{Animated, in French, with English subtitles, but don't let that deter you} _{News
January 30, 2021

4

Arts & Culture}

Here’s a very new (January 26, 2021), very short (5:41 min) animated video from Valérie Bousquie, Joséphine Meis, Côme Roy, Antoine Vignon, and Benjamin Warnitz. In a wild an inhabited desert, a team of rangers is in charge of rescuing people who got lost there. The film is in French with English subtitles (and the promo copy could have used an English-speaking editor). It’s not clear why it is science fiction and I found the story a little hard to understand. But the professional relationships sound pretty real and make it worth the watch. Note: Someone reviewed the film at Filmnosis, commenting, “Staged in a desert, a lot of work has been dedicated to environment and character design, polished framing, Read More ›

KI abstraktes Gesicht. Neuronales Netzwerk & maschinelles lernen. Verarbeiten von riesigen Datenmengen. IoT, DeepFake, Virtueller Assistent. 3d Illustration Hintergrund

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News
Date
January 26, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
Actors, Deepfakes, Eric Holloway, Robert J. Marks}

Can Deepfakes Substitute for Actors?

_{Would you care if the actor is a real person or not?} _{News
January 26, 2021

4

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

When our Walter Bradley Center director, Robert J. Marks, was discussing with Eric Holloway the events that really made a difference in AI, one very interesting issue that came up was the use of deepfakes to substitute for actors in films. Robert J. Marks: Eric, how is Disney using deep fakes in entertainment? Eric Holloway: Well, Disney is using deep fakes and entertainment as a way to capitalize on not having to hire lots of really expensive actors. So you can have a few expensive actors, they do their thing, and then you copy their body movements and face. And now you can just hire a bunch of cheap actors and stick the expensive actors faces on them. Or you Read More ›

Walking difficulties. Aged bearded man leaning on his walking stick while thinking about his helplessness

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News
Date
January 23, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Robots, Science fiction, This Time Away (short film)}

Sci-fi Saturday: A Robot Helps an Old Fellow Rediscover Life

_{The robot is very well done and how he gets a name is charming} _{News
January 23, 2021

4

Arts & Culture}

The short sci-fi film, “This Time Away” (13:23) is by Magali Barbe Nigel is an elderly man living as a recluse, haunted by his past and memory of the family he once had, until an unexpected visitor arrives and disrupts his lonely routine. No spoiler, the visitor is a robot, abandoned by children in his back yard. The relationships seem a bit unrealistic. Lots of people abandon their elderly relatives, of course. But we are being asked to believe that a robot was the big solution. In this case, it feels like magic. Well, watch it and see what you think. The robot is done really nicely. Worth watching. Other reviews from the “We are but DUST” files: Sci-fi Saturday: Read More ›