50 best movie robots
Seemingly taking a cue from Futuristmovies.com’s rating system, the London Times has created a list of the 50 best movie robots, rated by plausibility, coolness, dangerousness, and comedic value.
Add comment August 1st, 2007
Supernova in our backyard?
Astronomers have discovered the brightest supernova ever seen, and there is a star “near” Earth thought to be a candidate for a similar explosion.
This would have its positives and negatives:
- On the positive side, it would be possible to read a book at night by the light of the dying star.
- On the negative, the proximity of the blast — 7,500 light years — could make Earth vulnerable to a gamma ray blast that could severely damage the atmosphere and biosphere, even inducing an ice age. Fortunately, the odds of the blast being pointed directly at Earth are low.
Cosmiclog notes that two movies have covered supernovas:
There was a “Supernova” movie starring James Spader and Angela Bassett, as well as a “Supernova” made-for-TV movie with Tia Carrere and Luke Perry — but neither made much of a scientific or a critical splash.
Add comment May 15th, 2007
The never-arriving future
Writing in Salon, Simon Reynolds laments the science fiction futures that never arrived, and offers a term: “neostalgia”–”nostalgia for the future.” (That malady is, incidentally, an occupational hazard of the futurist.)
Add comment May 15th, 2007
Enhancement: enhancing senses
Scientists have successfully given mice full color vision by inserting a human gene into mouse embryos, the WP reports.
Mice normally see in yellows, blues, and grays, and it was not known if the modified mice would be able to use the new gene, or if their brains would have to gradually adjust to the change over generations. Tests revealed that the gene was effective in the first generation.
This is important in the question of making this kind of macro change in creatures. If an animal — or person — is given a new feature or ability, such as tail, or infrared vision, will it be useless because their brains are designed to handle it? This study suggests more plasticity in the brain’s ability to adapt.
The article notes more immediate implications:
The work also points to the possibility of curing some of the millions of colorblind Americans — and even enhancing the vision of healthy people, allowing them to experience a richer palette than is possible with standard-issue eyes.
A scientist suggests that people might be given fourth color receptor — human have three — and thus be able to see a whole new world of color. One can iimagine ready adoption of vision enhancements by soldiers, including the ability to see colors invisible to normal people, and also to see in the dark without mechanical enhancements.
Add comment March 24th, 2007
Upcoming: I’mmmm going to start up the sun
Sunshine, about a mission to “trigger a device to save the dying sun,” will be released April 6th.
This sounds even less promising than The Core, which at least involved terra firma, but it was made by Danny Boyle and the team responsible for the excellent 28 Days Later.
Note: while the sun will die, it is not expected to do so for several billion years. If it were dying now, there is very little chance we could do anything about it: even if we set off every nuclear weapon we had, that would be a trivial disturbance compared to the sun’s ordinary energies.
Add comment February 11th, 2007
Apocalypse in 7 not-so-easy steps
Open the Future has devised an 7-level “apocalypse scale,” grading the threat to humanity and the planet of 7 levels of disaster.
Given the popularity of mega-disasters in movies, we can consider which of the levels have been depicted — or at least threatened — on screen.
LEVEL — SCALE
0 — Regional catastrophe
Movies depicting:
- 28 Days Later
1 — Human die-back
Movies depicting:
- The Day after Tomorrow
- The Postman
- The Road Warrior
- Terminator
2 — Civilizational extinction
Movies depicting:
- Deep Impact
- 12 Monkeys — due to a madman aiming for a 3A
- Planet of the Apes
- The Matrix
3A — Human extinction–engineered
Movies depicting:
- On the Beach — the apparently imminent fate of humanity after a nuclear war
- Children of Men — global sterility of unknown cause
- Independence Day — or so the aliens intend
3B — Human extinction–natural
Movies depicting:
- none known
4 — Biosphere extinction
Movies depicting:
- none known
5 — Planetary extinction
Movies depicting:
- Armageddon — “nothing will survive” unless the giant asteroid is deflected, though a Texas-sized asteroid might be more like a level 4
X — Planetary elimination
Movies depicting:
- Star Wars — Alderaan at the hands of the Death Star
3 comments January 24th, 2007
Review: “Children of Men”
FORECAST SUMMARY
Movie set in: 2027
Event / Likelihood
Universal sterility — low
Global flu pandemic — high
RATINGS
Overall rating: 6.8 (9th of 124 movies)
Futurism rating: 6
The movie is thoughtful but devotes most of its energy to the issues of today rather than the ramifications of its central premise.
Entertainment rating: 8
Tense and uncompromising, and serious about everything it depicts, Children of Men is a well-made movie.
Plausibility rating: 7
There are ways something like this could occur, and the effects might be much like those shown.
Approach to the future
Backdrop for storytelling that takes it cues from our own time.
TOPICS DEPICTED
Universal sterility
No children have been born since 2009, and an 18-year-old Argentine holds the title of “world’s youngest person.”
The cause is unknown–biotechnology is mentioned as a possibility–but the effects have been dire: without new generations to give life meaning, most societies have collapsed, and only Britain seems to have remained intact.
Such an event is unlikely but possible, and the possibility is rising as the reach of technologies grows. The three most likely routes are chemicals, biotechology, and nanotechnology.
We use thousands of chemicals, and introduce more every day, and the precise effects of each one of them are unknown. Some are suspected of being dangerous to health, including reproductive health, and have spread to every corner of the planet. In the developed world, the remains of pharmaceuticals are now extremely widespread in drinking water.
Biotechnology is spreading, with only partial regulation, and most humans now consume genetically engineered food products. While it seems unlikely that they would have drastic effects, the potential for accidents will grow if pharming–using agriculture to produce drugs–becomes widespread.
A newly emerging threat is nanotechnology. Nanotechnological materials are being produced on a mass scale and used in many consumer products, with very little understanding of their interaction with human health or the environment.
Some suggest that we should heed the fate of frogs: the are in decline around the planet, and we don’t know why. If we’ve done something to them, we might be doing it to ourselves as well.
Flu pandemic
A flu pandemic strikes in 2008, though its scale is not clear.
This is nearly inevitable.
A pandemic flu, such as avian flu, could strike at any time. Effects could be relatively mild, but some forecast death tolls of 80 million or even higher.
Such a calamity would shake the global system and could destabilize some fragilie societies.
Add comment January 17th, 2007
DVD release: “Ever Since the World Ended”
A 2001 apocalypse movie, Ever Since the World Ended, is being released on DVD tomorrow.
Says the NYT, “This mock-documentary imagines the possible outcome after a strange and virulent virus sweeps the world, killing the vast majority of the Earth’s population and reducing the city of San Francisco to only 186 people.”
The movie seems to cover some of the ground between the excellent day-after of 28 Days Later and the blurry long-term aftermath of 12 Monkeys.
Add comment January 9th, 2007
X-Men: cow power
Evolution creates sudden, radical jumps in the X-Men movies (and in the new TV show “Heroes”).
It’s not exactly super-healing or the ability to control the weather, but scientists have identified a mutation that conferred a highly valuable power on certain European and East African mutant humans: the ability to digest milk in adulthood.
The mutation would have been highly valuable in survival, and so seems to have spread rapidly in only a few thousand years.
Add comment December 24th, 2006
Upcoming: “Children of Men”
Children of Men will be released December 25th.
Set in 2027, it depicts a future “without hope”: no women have been able to have babies for two decades, a plot reminicent of last year’s Aeon Flux.
As of 2002, it was scheduled for release in 2003, suggesting trouble, but it seems to be getting some decent reviews.
Add comment December 19th, 2006