sf humor--The Matrix

We often poke fun at what we love, whether it's a friend or a film. In that spirit, enjoy the following. Or complain that they aren't that funny. Either way.

How it should have ended. These folks have done similar endings for other films, most of which are worth watching...

Chappelle's spoof on The Matrix

Go here to watch "The Meatrix" and its sequels. I'm not sure about all that black leather being used in an animal advocacy compaign...

The Matrix Runs on Windows

The MTV awards spoof

Got any more? Post 'em in the comments section....

Epistemology in The Matrix

For a long time philosophers have looked to science fiction as a source of fruitful examples for thinking about life's big issues. And plenty of good science fiction is inspired by philosophical ideas. As Robert J. Sawyer puts it, "I think a better name for most ambitious science fiction is ‘philosophical fiction.’"

The success of The Matrix in 1999 helped to bring this confluence of philosophy and science fiction to the attention of the wider public. I know of at least four books that explore the philosophy of the Matrix trilogy of films.

Chapter 2 of Mark Rowlands's book Sci-Phi: Philosophy from Socrates to Schwarzenegger focuses on the epistemological issues raised by the Wachowski brothers' film. For the uninitiated, an epistemological issue is one that concerns knowledge. What epistemological questions did this film leave with you? Does the film try to answer these questions? How does Rowlands's chapter help you think about all this? Do you disagree with him anywhere?

You just couldn't let me go, could you?

says the Joker to Batman in The Dark Knight. Rather than let the Joker fall to his death, Batman nabs him with a cable and hoists him back up. Why?

In Batman Begins, in his final fight with Ra's al Ghul, Batman famously says "I won't kill you. But I don't have to save you." So why did he save the Joker? Is there a difference between the two situations?

And is there a moral difference between killing someone and refusing to save someone? Either way, somebody's dead--and it could have turned out otherwise, if a difference choice had been made. How we answer this more general question has lots of serious repercussions for how we think about all kinds of moral issues.

See here for an editorial on whether Batman should just kill the Joker already.

Oh, no! Not another [insert expletive here] Ewok!

In class the other day we touched on a longstanding debate among Star Wars fans about the merits (or demerits?) of Return of the Jedi. Here's one guy's opinion from a while back, in a piece entitled "50 Reasons Why Return of the Jedi Sucks." Anyone care to weigh in?

By the way, this post's title is an allusion to an infamous remark by Hugo Dyson in a meeting of the Inklings in Oxford. Reportedly, Tolkien was about to read from his "new hobbit book" and Dyson, who was lying on a couch, groaned "Oh, no! Not another [insert expletive here] elf!"

The Real World?

The Matrix offers us a virtual world full of people who don't realize the nature of their environment. According to at least some physicists, our actual world may be more like the Matrix world in certain respects! See this article in New Scientist. Hat tip to io9. Some of the essays on the Philosophy section of The Matrix website also explore the similarities and differences between the world of the Matrix and "the real world."

Fandomania--Star Wars

When Star Wars came out in 1977, I was about 13. I fell for it, hard. I saw it many times. I read the novelization over and over until I had it practically memorized. And when none of that was enough for me, I eventually did a dramatic reading of the novelization into a tape recorder (along with sound effects and a musical prelude on my clarinet). This is a clear and embarrassing example of what I'm calling "fandomania." It's what happens when fandom gets way out of control. A long time ago in a low tech setting far, far away (California, which sometimes feels like another galaxy), that's the best I could do. But now we can do much, much better.

For example, check out these instances of musical fandomania here and here. Yes, the first one is a lip synch. Doesn't that make it an even clearer case of fandomania?

Okay, it's your turn. Give me your stories of people whose love of Star Wars has gotten out of control. Confess as I have, if you want. Or give us another link.

I'm not talking about Star Wars humor here. We'll do a post on that at some point, I promise. But for the most part we're now looking for people who aren't trying to be funny. So save the Robot Chicken etc. for another day.

What's Coming?

Over at Edge, each year they ask a whole lot of leading thinkers a question about the role of science in our thought and culture. This year's question is: "WHAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING? 'What game-changing scientific ideas and developments do you expect to live to see?'" Follow the link and scroll down to see what people have to say...

Isn't this the very question that a lot of sf tries to answer? It might be interesting to compare what scientists and sf writers are saying...

Re-beginnings?

I created this blog a while back, but haven't posted a thing. I did list some nifty links on the sidebar, however.

Since I'm teaching Philosophy and Science Fiction this semester, it seems like a good time for a resurgence of activity here. Until I'm too bogged down in grading to do any blogging...