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Lies That Sci-Fi Movies Have Taught Us About Space

Lucy TRAILER 1 (2014) - Luc Besson, Scarlett Johansson Movie

SDGundamX says...

This is the worst kind of sci-fi to me. In fact, I don't even consider movies like this science fiction--they're science fantasy since they're not based on science at all.

Using our brain's capacity more efficiently will allow us to intercept wireless transmissions and read them NSA-style in our heads, grow and change our hair at will, and break every other known law of physics?

Give me a break. I'll pass on this one. Even if it is Sucker Punch redux.

George Lucas Explains The Concept Of The Lightsaber.

siftbot says...

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Lightsaber, Sword, Origin, Science Fiction, Star Wars, Explanation' to 'Lightsaber, Sword, Origin, Science Fiction, Star Wars, Explanation, Birth' - edited by Fusionaut

Prospect - The Best Low Budget SciFi Shortfilm I've Seen

Amanda Palmer: Ukulele Anthem (Live @ Sydney Opera House)

Amanda Palmer: Ukulele Anthem (Live @ Sydney Opera House)

Picking up a Hammer on the Moon

Chairman_woo says...

That's almost exactly what I just said 17-18kg in earth terms. Do you think laid on your back you could easily throw a 17kg object 1.5-2m upwards?

He's not doing a push up he's trying to jump upright. Launching nearly 20kg of weight far enough to get to your feet would take some doing that way I'd say. Just lifting 20kg with the arms alone is an effort never mind throwing it which is effectively what's happening here.

This is part of the reason I defaulted to thinking in terms of rocketry as it's not as simple as just someone trying to lift something, they are trying to propel themselves 1-2m upwards with only a thrust from the arms. Much better to wiggle around/push up to get to your knees so one could bring one's legs muscles to bear (made very difficult by hard to bend suit).

Frankly I think it would be a total pain in the arse getting back upright. If it weren't for the suit you could easily push up to your knees and then straighten your legs but the inflation is going to make that very hard work (but doable after a struggle to one knee as other video footage proves).

The alternative however which sparked this whole argument i.e. lay on your front and push off with your arms. That I think would be considerably harder than you are making out. Throwing a 17kg weight with only your arms over 1m in height is not what I'd call effortless.

My old CRT monitor probably weighs about 20kg, it'd take everything I had to throw that over 1m up into the air. Without the power of your thigh muscles and the rigidity of your spine 20kg is quite a lot really.

How high can you "jump" with only your arms? (like those super push-ups where you clap your hands in between to show off) maybe a foot or two if your really really strong? So with the extra weight of a suit and reduced gravity multiplying the result by 6 under lunar gravity, 6feet is probably just about attainable for someone in peak physical shape. But it's defiantly not what I'd call easy!


Re: conspiracies The only one I really take at all seriously any more is the idea that 2001 (esp the book) was perhaps (very) loosely based on actual events. I have time for it simply because of Arthur C. Clarke himself who was going to give an interview (which he rarely does) on Project Camelot of all things but died about 2 weeks before it happened. If you know anything about project camelot you'll know whatever he had to say was going to be mental but then again he was very old and eccentric and plenty other people involved in the space program have "jumped the shark" so to speak. (Edgar Mitchell talks about aliens on a regualr basis, Buzz Aldrin has spoken about monoliths on Phobos, pilots being followed by "Foofighters" in WW2 etc. etc.)

But it's basically wishful thinking on my part, the story and implications are remarkably plausible for what they are but that is all they are. Combined with the whole Jack Parsons/Alastair Crowley connection to the JPL my creative juices start flowing. However the obvious counter argument i.e. that the world is largely run by genuine lunatics is never far from my mind either (look at the whole "men who stare at goats" thing).

I'll listen to anyone and some I'm even prepared to believe on their own terms but I have to defer to actual evidence where it exists (or does not exist). Consequently while I'll listen to someone like John Leer talking about stuff that would seem outlandish even in a science fiction story, people why claim the moon landing was a hoax tend to get the cold shoulder as it's pretty demonstrably not true/hard to believe.

I realise that's kind of backwards but willing suspension of disbelief is a lot easier when there's really no tangible evidence either way. (why I suspect huge incomprehensible delusions like those espoused by many religions get so much traction. It's easier to believe the big lie than the small one)

Jolly entertaining though regardless

MichaelL said:

No need to go through the whole Newtons things... easier to keep it all in kg since that's how we think anyway. So on the moon, astronaut + suit = 100/6 = 17 kg. Only about 40 lbs... So an astronaut should have no problem doing a pushup there.

As I said, probably more to due with the awkward, pressurized suits.

However, the jumping part... well, that's a puzzle to me why they aren't able to jump higher since I don't see any mechanical disadvantage. It's one of the arguments for the 'fake moon landing' thing.

However, if the moon surface were 'spongy' then it would be like trying to jump out of a barrel of mud.

Re: conspiracy thing... Alternative 3 claims that Apollo astronauts went to the moon, but discovered the bases that had already been there and were threatened/sworn to silence. Curiously, Neil Armstrong became a public recluse after his career as an astronaut, rarely giving interviews or talking about his experience.

However, if you believe the 'we never went to the moon at all' version, the claim is that NASA hired Stanley Kubrick to film the fake moon landing thing based on his realistic looking 2001.

Snowden Scolds US Policy

poolcleaner says...

You and Iron Man can go fuck yourselves. Civil War! jk, I just like science fiction. I get it, SHIELD is just doing its job and they can't tell us the real reasons why.

The Rising Tide is evil and sounds a lot like a Hydra conspiracy. Cthulhu = cephalopod = rising out of the ocean = cephalopod = Hydra

Snowden works for Hydra! Or is he a double agent?

VoodooV said:

Yeah you don't get to ignore a trial simply because you don't think it will be fair. Every criminal ever would be justified in fleeing the law in such a case.

I noticed you didn't answer my question.

We don't abide fleeing the law in any other situation, How come this is different?

We don't live in a country where we pick and choose the laws we want to follow.

Besides, turning himself in is win win. Snowden is virtually guaranteed that he will only die of old age because if anything happens to him, the US will be blamed.

His case is stronger if he turns himself in and argues his case. Fleeing hurts him.

Also, I hate to break it to you. Snowden's fleeing didn't create the public outcry you expected. The jury is in on this. Thanks to GPS and smartphones and other apps that use personal information. The public really doesn't have a lot of problem with being eavesdropped on. Most people already knew it was happening Congratulations, you created numerous internet memes but no actual change.

Attitudes on privacy are changing. Sorry you didn't get the memo.

Siskel and Ebert defend Star Wars

Stormsinger says...

I didn't like it because I'd been a huge science fiction fan for almost a decade by that time. I was simply used to a better class of story. My distaste for Lucas came along later, as he earned it.

Enzoblue said:

As someone who saw Star Wars when it first came out, (I was 12), it completely blew me away. I still remember the feeling. That's what films should be like. I can't imagine anyone not liking it for what it was. I can imagine people not liking it because it's sci-fi,, because they have no desire to let go of reality for 2hrs, because they have no capacity for wonder, or because Lucas now sucks and so retroactively sucked, or because they want to be different.

'Enders Game' Writer's Ridiculous Racist Rant Against Obama

bcglorf says...

Here is Card's preface before any of the Quotes TYT laid out:
"So as a science fiction writer and a student of history, allow me to spin a plausible scenario about how, like Augustus Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolph Hitler, and Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama could become lifetime dictator without any serious internal opposition."

It is absolutely clear that he does NOT state this is a prediction of the future he expects. Meanwhile Cenk painstakingly sets up that the quotes are Card's rallying cry against what he expects to happen in the next few years. That's lying.

Card's statements prior to that were nothing any more severe than what all manner of people decried Bush and Cheney for and worse. Plenty of people talked at length about 'what if' Bush doesn't step down, or Cheney doesn't step down. I think it horrifically unfair to now leap down Card's throat for the same.

Procrastinatron said:

I'm not defending TYT's actions here, and I don't exactly take TYT seriously. Like Chingalera said, they're tabloidistic and unprofessional.

But again, to claim that the latter part of the article was a "purely fictional account" simplifies it excessively.

What Card did in the article was essentially the same as racists tend to do when they say, "I'm not a racist, but..."

Card was essentially saying, "I'm not saying that Obama is equivalent to Stalin, but Obama is equivalent to Stalin."

Now, Card says that the events described in his thought experiment were "unlikely," but they still erred on the side of insanity, and when he puts that in an article he's going to have to expect opposition. You can't just say whatever you want and then expect it to go unopposed simply because you loosely framed it as a "silly thought experiment" beforehand.

Everything Wrong With a Single Frame of 'Gladiator'

LooiXIV says...

God this guy is a blow hard...IT'S A MOVIE NOT A DOCUMENTARY! When I watch science fiction (Star Wars and Star Trek). I'm not getting annoyed by all of the inaccuracies that would be clear science or engineering problems. These kinds of video's annoy the hell out of me, since they ruin movies that are genuinely good!

Gravity extended agoraphobic trailer

lucky760 says...

That looks fucking. incredible.

Reality-based science fiction is the best.

And I always have high regard for space-based cinema where the action lacks sound. That always makes the action so much more intense (and awesome) to me.

47 Ronin

newtboy says...

I'm not sure if you actually disagree or just misunderstand. I have no issue with fantasy, except when it's put in place of reality. I enjoyed LOTR and Hobbit, and I even want to see Pacific Rim (although I must admit I'm embarrassed about it). When fantasy replaces history, history is lost.
When you tell a story that's historical in nature, I (and many others) feel you have an obligation to your audience to teach them the actual history, not to bastardize and fictionalize it with fantasy and Neo. I'm sorry if you feel that way of thinking makes me a jerk, it wasn't what I was going for. I feel it makes me an adult that is unapologetic about being interested in amazing history more than flashy fantasy.
My point about Lincoln has been ignored or misunderstood...would you have liked to see him fight a confederate dragon? Would that have added to, or detracted from the compelling adult story being told? Was Lincoln Vampire Hunter as good a movie as Lincoln in any way? Did the addition of Vampires help you understand the person or time period, or would it have confused you about the historical facts if you knew nothing about the subject(s)?
I understand 300 was not meant to be historical, but it has the same issues with adding fantasy and drama to a well known, historical story. This is a big pet peeve of mine, as I feel most people have a tenuous grasp of history at best, and are not served by being told about historical events in a clearly non-historical, unreal, dramatized, and fantasized manner. It is especially egregious when there is no historical version to point to (in English at least, there is Chushingura in Japanese) when discussing the subject. I read mostly science fiction, and I read both 300 and The Gates of Fire, and while I loved 300, I wish the latter had been made first. I have read many versions of 47 Ronin, and none of them had a dragon or any unrealistic fantasy. Any of them would have made a great action packed adult movie with many lessons to teach rather than just a fun few hours watching Neo save the Asians. To me, adding the fantasy is tantamount to saying the story isn't compelling enough without embellishment, and this one certainly is. To me, it's the same as exaggeration, it's like admitting reality isn't good (or bad) enough to make the point in your argument. Pure fantasy is exempt from this issue.
P.S. sorry for the essay.

00Scud00 said:

And disagreement is cool with me, I often disagree with people who like musicals but I can do so without being a jerk about it, I'm just not into them. An active imagination is often considered a sign of intelligence and higher thinking. I'm pretty sure creative minds like Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, just to name a few, are not lacking in the intelligence or comprehension departments. Gene Roddenberry could be responsible for god knows how many people going into the sciences, inspired to make the future, he imagined a reality.
Lincoln was great movie and I'd be all for seeing a movie based on the 47 Ronin that was more historically accurate, but that doesn't mean I can't also enjoy movies like Pacific Rim. As for 300, the movie was actually based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, which I doubt was ever intended to be a factual account of the event anyhow. Movies like this one are, for better or worse a product of market forces and the society we live in.

Space Shuttle Thermal Tile Demonstration

Trekkies

poolcleaner says...

If you only watch a couple minutes of this video, the man at 1:12:46 leads you to this quote:

"Star Trek I think has had a lot of impact on the future. I mean we have cellular flip phones; they have nuclear powered uh rocket engines already that I'm sure will take us to Mars. And basically all science fiction now is true."



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