Tag: Science fiction | Page 6

Time is running out concept shows clock that is dissolving away into little particles. Black and white wall clock

^{Type
post

News
Date
August 28, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science

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

A Cruel Experiment Plays With Three Lives: Sci-fi Saturday

_{Rational thought offers no contest, in this minimalist film, to the will to survive or at least get revenge in death} _{News
August 28, 2021

17

Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science}

“2-Bullet Solution” at DUST by Matt Mullins and Chris Naylor (July 26, 2021, 3:32 min) 3 Test Subjects, 2 Bullets, 1 Solution Review: It’s a philosophical dilemma of sorts. Three people, two men and a woman, are experimentally trapped in a chamber slowly filling with a fatal gas. They have two minutes, three guns and two bullets. The survivor will be released. This cast list (presumably in order of appearance) gives a sense of utter minimalism, in that they don’t really have names: Stretch – Caitlin HutsonBeard – Andrew DiBartolomeoEdge – Kosey BaskinVoice – Christina RoseHandler – Matt Baxter Discouragingly, no one discusses options like using the bullets to break a lock. The fight scene (over the bullets) seems unrealistic; Read More ›

Smart car (HUD) , Autonomous self-driving mode vehicle on metro city road iot concept with graphic sensor radar signal system and internet sensor connect.

^{Type
post

News
Date
August 21, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Autonomous Vehicles, Science fiction}

Machine World at Its Most Nihilist — Sci-fi Saturday

_{This very short animated cyberpunk thriller portrays a world of autonomous vehicles where faces are very rare} _{News
August 21, 2021

17

Arts & Culture, Science}

“Autonomous” (2020) uploaded at DUST by Joe Sill (June 24, 2021, 4:38 min) Animated. An animated cyberpunk thriller centered around a motorcycle gang of traffickers in a world of autonomous vehicles.Yuri and her brother Nyx face off against the Metro Task Force as they transport an important package to a client. Review: This animated (very) shortfilm sketches drug dealing in Detroit in a world of autonomous vehicles. It’s a mad rush on motorcycles to a pier amid sealed robocars, pursued by cops who are not clearly human. It’s certainly a scary and inhuman world. The story ends, as so many real-life ones do, with a tragic waste of life. But there seems no point to it really. “Autonomous” seems to Read More ›

Crashed Satellite Flying Toward The Earth

^{Type
post

News
Date
August 21, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Science fiction}

A Space Mission to Infinity — Sci-fi Saturday

_{After the space station module crash, the astronaut finds himself befriended by a friendly but mysterious neighbor. Who is he really?} _{News
August 21, 2021

17

Arts & Culture, Science}

“Flotando” (2018), uploaded at DUST by director Frankie De Leonardis (August 20, 2021, 7:55): A Russian astronaut awakes on a space station module after a crash. Space debris has left the module severely damaged and isolated. As the astronaut tries to reconnect to the base strange noises turn his attention to the outside. The knocks become closer until a strange character emerges. He’s come to welcome the astronaut. Puzzled, scared, and believing everything to be a hallucination the astronaut tries to focus on his communication efforts, but the character decides to open the hatch and let himself in. The story is about realizing and accepting with a sci-fi tone and a surreal twist. Review: The film is a touch surreal. Read More ›

Eextraterrestrial aliens spaceship fly above surreal terrain

^{Type
post

News
Date
August 21, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Science fiction}

Data Analyst Offers 15 Reasons Extraterrestrials Aren’t Seen

_{He estimates that there should be 100,000 civilizations in our galaxy} _{News
August 21, 2021

7

Arts & Culture, Science}

Data analyst Yung Lin Ma offers fifteen reasons, including some new to us. He begins by observing, There are about 1 billion stars that can produce an environment similar to the Earth. The environment of the earth does not necessarily have life, and this ratio is lower than 1 in 10,000. The reasoning is that at least in our galaxy, there should be 100,000 civilizations. Then why haven’t we seen even any single one civilization? Yung Lin Ma, “15 Reasons Why We Can’t See Aliens” at Medium (July 14, 2020) So, it’s an active question. Of his fifteen reasons, here are three: 3. Extraterrestrial life does exist, and has visited the earth. It was just a long time ago. Later, Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
August 14, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Chukwudi Iwuji, Death, Extent (film), immortality, Kaitlyn Raymond, Marcus Henderson, Science fiction}

Android Asks, Is Immortality Truly a Benefit? — Sci-fi Saturday

_{He argues that he can never appreciate life if he knows he can never die} _{News
August 14, 2021

17

Arts & Culture, Science}

“Extent” (2018) at DUST by Paul Michael Draper (August 9, 2021, 12:43 min) Time stands still as two old friends attempt to grapple with a question that defines their very existence. If you could live forever, would you? Review: Edward, the greatest inventor has invented many things, including his friend Alexander. But he comes to think everything is futile because he faces oblivion at death. Meanwhile, android Alexander wants Edward to enable him to “cherish moments” and to be able to long for a “tomorrow that may never come” — which, in the context, means he wants mortality. Alexander reflects, “I think about what my forever may be, It haunts me” and later “Pleasure and pain are no longer relevant Read More ›

Close up portrait of nuclear post-apocalypse survivor, living underground mutant or creature, skilled stalker wearing rags and armored full-face gas mask or air breathing apparatus, toned shoot

^{Type
post

News
Date
August 14, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Science fiction}

Merv Is the Last Man in a Ruined World — Sci-fi Saturday

_{He’s been alone so long that the thought of another human being panics him} _{News
August 14, 2021

16

Arts & Culture, Science}

“Merv” (2013) by Steven Woller and Matt Inns (August 11, 2021 at DUST, 13:05 min) After the end of the world, Merv’s life in the lonely wastes is comfortably boring until an unexpected signal heralds the coming of a stranger. Review: This New Zealand-based film company provides a haunting evocation of a totally ruined urban landscape — just an enormous pile of rubble peopled by a surviving hermit. When he catches sight of another human, he pelts like mad for his underground den. Then, arming himself, sets out to confront the stranger. Steven Woller, also one of the producers, does a good job as Merv, who has been alone so long that it seems like the only natural state for Read More ›

cute model of the Earth, Sun and Moon with googly eyes on the chalkboard, a donut, a globe and a cookie on the chalkboard

^{Type
post

News
Date
August 6, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Religion

Tagged
Science fiction}

When God Gets Distracted — Sci-fi Saturday

_{A clever animated short offers a take on why there is so much violence and chaos in the world} _{News
August 6, 2021

16

Arts & Culture, Religion}

“Tales from the Multiverse” uploaded at DUST by director Magnus Igland Møller (August 6, 2021, 6:36 min, animated) “God is a single parent and amateur programmer. He’s working on project ‘Earth’ but never seems to get a break from the kids. One day though, he finally gets a breakthrough.” Review: This film debuted in 2020 (IMDB). It’s a clever riff on why we live in a crazy world. God can’t really concentrate on the computer program he is using to simulate (create Earth) because he is breaking up fights between his kids. He tries out Adam and Eve, a round Earth and a flat Earth, and dinosaurs living alongside Stone Age people. But his absence, even when he seems to Read More ›

the giant robot launching rocket punch destroy the city,illustration painting

^{Type
post

News
Date
August 6, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Science fiction}

Real vs. Digital Humans Locked in All-Out War — Sci-fi Saturday

_{The reals are attacking the digitals and the digitals invade Toronto in the 24th century in an attempt to power them down} _{News
August 6, 2021

17

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Philosophy of Mind}

“E-X-T” by director Adrian Bobb (Uploaded at DUST August 2, 2021, 7:38 min) “200 years after humanity has abandoned the real world for a digital one, the system’s most talented security agent is forced out of retirement to recruit and lead a team of talented warriors to eliminate a threat from a world no one has seen for centuries. The real world.” Further: “In the snow-covered ruins of 24th century Toronto, AEGIS, a humanoid war machine, leads a team of five similar yet unique machines into the EXT, the new real-world to retake an enemy-occupied server installation vital to the survival of their digital homeland. During an attempt to ambush a large pack of enemy-controlled war-drones, AEGIS recalls an interrogation Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
July 3, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Philosophy, Religion, Science

Tagged
Nothingness (as concept), Science fiction}

What Happens If Earth Passes Through a Black Hole—Sci-fi Saturday

_{This story isn’t exactly about passage through a black hole: It is a meditation on nothingness that crashes headfirst into nihilism} _{News
July 3, 2021

14

Arts & Culture, Philosophy, Religion, Science}

“Until There Was Nothing” at DUST by Paul Trillo (August 25, 2020, 5:36 min) “A philosophical video and art exploration of the Earth’s passage through a black hole.” Review: This film is actually a philosophical meditation on nothingness — the concept of non-entity, as every concept of mathematics, physics, natural law, and order vanishes. Gravity reverses itself at odd moments for no particular reason. Terrifying. Whether the filmmakers intended this or not, it is really a meditation on the way the fundamental constants of the universe work. And what would happen if they didn’t. For more, see the Kalam Constant, a philosophical proof of the existence of God. — A note re our new feature below: We sort reviewed films Read More ›

Black hole somewere in space. Science fiction. Dramatic space background. Elements of this image were furnished by NASA

^{Type
post

News
Date
July 3, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Science fiction}

A Choice Between Saving One’s Child and Oneself — Sci-fi Saturday

_{Is life always so simple? Well, we shall see} _{News
July 3, 2021

15

Arts & Culture}

“Zoe” at DUST by Derek Abel, 2019 and uploaded to DUST, June 21, 2021, 4:58 min) ZOE and her FATHER have lived in space all their lives. The space station they call home is about to explode. Their only chance of survival is an old escape pod but there’s only room for one. Review: The film is very well done technically and the actors are veterans. Zoe is played by Zahlee Moore and her dad by Luke Reeves. That said, the ending seemed too saccharine, too soft. No real sacrifice was required. Not like “The Wreck of the Hesperus,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) which gives a much better sense of what would probably really happen. In “The Wreck… “: Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
June 26, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Social Media

Tagged
Science fiction}

Killing People for “Likes” on an Alien Planet: Sci-fi Saturday

_{If only this crisp tale didn’t sound so much like the social media we actually know} _{News
June 26, 2021

15

Arts & Culture, Social Media}

“Happy Hunting” at DUST by Jess Wolinsky and Jordan M. Hahn (June 22, 2021 at DUST, 2020 at IMDB, 8:06 min) Content warning: Suicide depiction Happy Hunting is a story of Tyler (also known as @66Shadow), an influencer who will do anything to gain followers. In his quest for fame, he now finds himself live-streaming on the nearby planet Proxima Centauri B, where researchers infected with a cosmetic abnormality are hunted for sport, to break @SgtSurge’s kill record. Tyler hunts with precise skill, allowing him to track and kill three victims despite their pleas for mercy, all while hamming it up for his drone companion, who live-streams his every move. He is then attacked by a potential fourth victim, catching Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
June 26, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Science fiction}

When You Are the Only Human Left— Sci-Fi Saturday

_{Are you the only human left alive or are you the only one who is not alive?} _{News
June 26, 2021

14

Arts & Culture}

“Martha” at DUST by Alexandra Blue (May 27, 2021, 16:19 min) “Martha wakes up one morning and gets ready, listening to music, brushing her teeth and cramming in breakfast like any other day. But this is no ordinary day. When she leaves the house she shares with her mother, she realizes that everyone has disappeared, and she is the last person on Earth.” Review: The film begins deceptively peacefully with an untidy teen, on her own briefly while Mom is on (apparently) a business trip. Then, abruptly, she discovers a near-impossibility: A car crashed into a tree with no one in site and the key still in the ignition. Good turn of the plot, that. No King Kongs. No Godzillas. Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
June 19, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Environment

Tagged
Science fiction}

Landing Back on Earth as the Sole Inhabitant — Sci-fi Saturday

_{Unless we count the cat} _{News
June 19, 2021

13

Arts & Culture, Environment}

“Origin” at DUST by David Parrella (Jun 17, 2021), 12:24 min) An astronaut from an interstellar colony returns to Earth to determine why they lost contact. Review: The production values here are good but the plot is quite confusing. The heroic sacrifice never results in information as to the cause of the loss of contact. Trying not to introduce spoilers here but: Any outfit that could found an interstellar colony should be onto glitches like the one on which the story’s crisis turns. Also, as one commenter put it, “too many plotholes.” For example, why does the car even start and where does the gasoline come from? How did the cat survive? If the cat survived, why isn’t everything else Read More ›

Science fiction illustration of a battle cruiser spaceship travelling faster than the speed of light in hyperspace, 3d digitally rendered illustration

^{Type
post

News
Date
June 12, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science

Tagged
Science fiction, Time travel paradoxes}

What If a Loved One Aged Much Faster Than You? – Sci-fi Saturday

_{It’s one of the implications of faster-than-light travel} _{News
June 12, 2021

13

Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science}

“ARK” at DUST by Nelson Cruz (June 8, 2021, 8:19 min) “Captain Mira Bernhard is finally home after a lengthy mission to the new planet, GAIA – humanity’s last hope. But what’s only been a 5-year trip for her, has been 45-year wait for her husband.” Review: ARK debuted in 2020. Time, we are told, is running out for Earth. The radio announcer, informing the audience of Bernhard’s ship’s arrival, also announces that this will be the final week of broadcasts. We are told that Bernhard’s husband Peter (played by Patrick Gorman) does not know what to expect. But, of course, he really does. And he faces a big decision: Should he just free her (Sheila Cutchlow) to return to Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
June 12, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Ethics, Law

Tagged
Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), Memory, Science fiction}

Could You Be Reconstructed From Your Memories? – Sci-fi Saturday

_{If you were, would destroying the digitized “you” be murder?} _{News
June 12, 2021

14

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Ethics, Law}

“The Final Moments of Karl Brant” at DUST by Neil Ellice and Matthew Wilson (June 10, 2021 at DUST, 15:46 min) “Set in the near future where experimental technology allows two detectives to bring a murder victim back to life in a digital state in order to question him about his final moments.” Review: This is an “oldie” from 2013, recently uploaded to DUST. Entrepreneur Karl Brant and academic neuroscientist Bennett Ferryman were partners in a promising new high tech venture in which Brant suddenly perishes, leaving Ferryman now the sole owner — and under interrogation down at the local cop shop: “Am I a suspect?” “Not if you give us a good reason why you shouldn’t be.” Not too Read More ›

^{Type
post

Caitlin Cory
Date
June 5, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Albert Einstein, Dimensions, Science fiction}

A Wrinkle In Time: Reading Science Fiction At An Early Age

_{An early introduction to science fiction will be a boon to any child's imagination} _{Caitlin Cory
June 5, 2021

4

Arts & Culture, Science}

When I was young, my father was constantly pressing new books into my hands. The first in remembrance was C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The second to stand out was Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time. It was a funny choice, really. My father’s theology does not match L’Engle’s universalism, nor are his preferred subjects math and science. At the time, I was unable to wrap my mind around concepts of dimension and time introduced by L’Engle, but the novel became a fast favorite that I have returned to in my adulthood. A Wrinkle In Time was most recently brought back into popular view when an adaptation imagined by director Ava DuVernay was released in theaters Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
June 5, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Science fiction}

“Are We Alone?” Asks a New Sci-Fi Short. But Then Why?

_{In “Laniakea,” we are introduced to a civilization’s – museum? Or what is it? An intriguing Sci-fi Saturday} _{News
June 5, 2021

13

Arts & Culture}

“Laniakea” at DUST by Dima Taran (November 13, 2020, 5:48 min, animated) “The action takes place in the future, when superluminal speeds allow for travel to any point in the universe. People are hoping to find extraterrestrial life, but as of yet no one has succeeding in finding anything. One day, a lonely man finds a message in a monolith that has been drifting in space. It helps him to find a portal that leads to the home planet of those who made the monolith. He finds a giant structure, a building. But …This place is breathing on its own. Where has everyone gone?” Review: Good graphics and animation, in the service of a sobering point. The aliens could have Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
June 5, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Science fiction, Time travel}

If It’s Real, It Must Be Endured. – Sci-Fi Saturday

_{“It’s Okay?”, using futurist technology, takes a woman back through her time with someone she loves.} _{News
June 5, 2021

13

Arts & Culture}

“It’s Okay” at DUST by Justin Giddings and Ryan Welsh (June 3, 2021, 8:47 min) In this Black Mirror-esque tale, a couple revisit key moments of their past, only for their memories to take an unexpected turn. … Cam and Alex are a simple couple living an un-extraordinary life, when strange things suddenly start happening to them. Will they uncover the truth before they lose one other? Review: This is a remarkably well done short film. The directors are in control of their plot. If you don’t entirely understand what is happening at first, you will later. And that’s no easy task when the very proposition of the story involves bending time. The human mind is structured to understand time Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
May 29, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Philosophy, Science

Tagged
Barack Obama, Drake Equation, Extraterrestrials (ET), Frank Drake, Matt Williams, Sabine Hossenfelder, Science fiction, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), Steven Novella}

Sixty Billion Stars. And No Aliens? What Now?

_{Are we approaching a crisis of faith in ET?} _{News
May 29, 2021

5

Arts & Culture, Philosophy, Science}

At Universe Today, Matt Williams asks if it is time to update the Drake Equation, by which you could settle — in your own mind — how likely the aliens are. It began to be developed nearly sixty years ago at a conference at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia. And everyone took for granted that we would be hearing from the aliens soon. That was the basis of Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) — keeping the hope alive. Rather than being an actual means for quantifying the number of intelligent species in our galaxy, the purpose of the equation was meant to frame the discussion on SETI. In addition to encapsulating the challenges facing scientists, Read More ›

3d rendered medically accurate illustration of a grey alien holding the earth

^{Type
post

News
Date
May 29, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Environment, Law

Tagged
Science fiction}

When the Human Race Is Down to Its Final Offer … Sci-fi Saturday

_{The downbeat human lawyer and the alien corporate lawyer in Final Offer achieve artful comedy by the too-little used technique of witty dialogue, NOT gags} _{News
May 29, 2021

13

Arts & Culture, Environment, Law}

“Final Offer” at DUST by Mark Slutsky (July 19, 2018, 11:23 min) “A down-on-his-luck lawyer awakes in a doorless room to find he’s been selected to negotiate on behalf of the human race.” Review: Henry, a lawyer accustomed to late night barhopping, wakes up in a strange boardroom: “Henry, you have been selected to represent your species in what is almost surely the biggest trade agreement in the history of your planet.” “My planet?” Well, it’s science fiction. The corporate lawyer (Anna Hopkins) announces that her client — an alien the very sight of which causes our hero (Aaron Abrams) to retch — wishes to “acquire” Earth’s oceans. Or appropriate them if a few minutes of negotiations don’t work for Read More ›