Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagStar Wars

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Human Skull Desertification Climate Change Drought Death Arid Land Environmental Crisis

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review Part 17

I’m ambivalent about Han Solo’s death

People were in love with the original characters for decades, and Disney honestly thought they could move that devotion to three random characters by first destroying all of Han’s development, then killing him as fast as possible.

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abstract illustration of the cosmos on the theme of the origin of life in the universe with stars, comets and nebulae

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review Part 15

Looking back at this a decade later, it’s amazing how rushed all of this is

The film seems to have a general idea what it wants to do, but it’s so impatient it can’t even be bothered to show Rey learning, let alone struggling, to use her powers.

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Statue of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates in Athens, Greece.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review Part 12

It’s a philosophical position to assume that a story’s goal should be to portray events as realistic

The fact is genres carry a philosophical worldview; they can’t help it

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blue sunrise, view of earth from space

Star Wars – The Force Awakens: Review Part 11

Maz is basically saying that the light and the darkness are always rising up in different forms

The Force offers power, and, to maintain that power in a non-destructive manner, one must learn virtues and not give in to temptation.

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Screws, bolts and nuts on metal background
Screws, bolts and nuts on metal background

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review Part 10

Flying a ship and fixing a ship are two different skills

Flying a ship and fixing a ship are two different skills. They were able to patch the ship up well enough, but they couldn’t take care of the problem with the hyperdrive by themselves, which is why they went to Lando in the first place.

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science fiction wallpaper. Beauty of deep space. Colorful graphics for background, like water waves, clouds, night sky, universe, galaxy, Planets,

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review, Part 9

Three films’ worth of character development has been undone

Han tells Leia directly that he is in this for the money, not the revolution, which is not something a typical sleazy character would say.

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Cosmic Eye. Macro Photo of a Hazel Eye in Space

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review Part 5

Science fiction often has various characters describing different social or philosophical positions

There are plenty of flawless or powerful characters in storytelling. Sherlock Holmes has flaws, but he is powerful in the respect that his intellect is unparalleled, and his character has defined a genre of storytelling.

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Glowing huge nebula with young stars. Space background

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review Part 2

During the title crawl, the writers’ entire goal was to reset the board so they could essentially tell the same story all over again

The whole reason the sixth movie was called Return of the Jedi was because it was assumed that Luke would train more Jedi, and this is an audience expectation, and the title crawl is surgically destroying such expectations.

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Galactic Space Elements of this image furnished by NASA

The Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Part 3

This movie isn't the best in the trilogy, but it should be doing better than it is at the box office

Previously, we talked about how Rocket Raccoon was injured during a fight with Adam Warlock, and this event sent the Guardians on a quest to save their friend. They manage to fix Rocket, and along the way, the viewer learns about the raccoon’s past. However, now that Rocket has healed from his injuries, Peter, Gamora, and Groot must save Nebula, Mantis, and Drax from the High Evolutionary, since they snuck onto his ship. The High Evolutionary demands that Peter trade Rocket for the three stowaways and sends Peter his coordinates. Peter hatches a plan with the remaining Guardians and some of his fellow Ravagers from the previous films. Meanwhile, Mantis, Nebula, and Drax discover there are children in cages inside Read More ›

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F/A-18A Hornet

Thomas Furness and the Invention of Virtual Reality

The United States military had a major impact of the development of  virtual reality. How did virtual reality even come to be invented? Robert J. Marks and Dr. Thomas Furness discuss tactile displays, sensors, and the history of virtual reality. Show Notes Additional Resources

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Portrait of bored sleepless young man sitting on the couch watching TV at night

Sci-fi Culture: There’s Life Here on Planet Covid!

But you have to look hard. Here’s some help

With major releases postponed, we sci-fi fans tirelessly check our email and bookmarked sci-fi news sites for any good news. If you’re one of those, have no fear! I’ve compiled a short list of what’s been going on in the community over the past few weeks. Expect to see more updates like these as long as needed.

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