On Pretty Much Pop, a philosopher, an actor, and a sci-fi writer (often with entertainment industry guests) talk about media and how we consume it: TV, film, music, novels, games, comics, comedy, theater, podcasts, and more. Most of what (other) people like is pretty weird when you think about it, so thinking about it is what we do.
Time looping, where a character is doomed to repeat the same day (or hour, or longer period) is a sci-fi trope dating back more than a century, but really entered American consciousness with the 1993 Bill Murray film Groundhog Day. Since then, and especially in the last five years, there have been numerous iterations of this idea in various genres from racial police-shooting Continue Reading …
Pretty Much Pop #68: Raised by Wolves: Biblical Sci-Fi
What happens when a male android loves a female android VERY much, and they nurse human embryos together on a distant planet after fleeing from war-torn Earth? Why the female android flies and makes a bunch of people explode with her eyes, that's what happens! ...In the first episode of this bonkers HBO Max series by Aaron Guzikowski (with notable assistance from Ridley Scott Continue Reading …
Pretty Much Pop #56: Black + Nerd = BLERD w/ Anthony LeBlanc
The Interim Executive Producer of The Second City joins Mark, Erica, and Brian to discuss the scope of black nerd-dom: what nerdy properties provide to those who feel “othered,” using sci-fi to talk about race, Black Panther and other heroes, afrofuturism, black anime fans, Star Trek, Key & Peele, Get Out vs. Us, and more. A few articles you might enjoy: “Blerd Defined” Continue Reading …
Pretty Much Pop #42: Star Trek Lives Long and Prospers (Intermittently)
The world-wide Tribble infestation and Star Trek: Picard dropping make this an apt time to address our most philosophical sci-fi franchise. 44 years of thought experiments (with photon torpedoes!) about what it is to be human should have taught us something, and Brian, Erica, and Mark along with Drew Jackson (Erica’s husband) reflect on what makes a Star Trek story, world Continue Reading …
Pretty Much Pop #27: For the Love of Star Wars
Mark, Erica, and Brian grasp the low-hanging fruit in pop culture to talk about Star Wars: The unique place that these films have in the brains of people of a certain age, how we grappled with the prequels, and why we feel the need to fill in and argue about the details. We primarily focus on the two most recent emanations of this beast, The Mandalorian and Rise of Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 12: #BadAI
Twelfth in an ongoing series about the places where science and religion meet. The previous episode is here; the next episode is here. In 1989, Star Trek: The Next Generation, the second major iteration of the durable televised Star Trek science fiction franchise, introduced a terrifying new villain called the Borg. An unhallowed melding of a humanlike life form with Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #14 “The Last Question” by Isaac Asimov
From Ponce de León to Woody Allen (and likely every self-reflective person who has lived), entropy has been at the root of human anxiety. Is there a way to hold off or reverse the inevitable? A testament to this primary apprehension is “The Last Question” by Isaac Asimov, a short story we discussed a few years back (after which the resultant sound files had their very own Continue Reading …
Not School Fiction Group: Isaac Asimov’s “The Last Question” (Phi-Fi #15)
Featuring Nathan Hanks, Daniel, Cezary, Laura, and Mary, in conversation on the short story by Isaac Asimov, "The Last Question." Entropy, artificial selves, comfort in circularity, and banning dragons as guests, all in this conversation. You can also hear Asimov read the story himself. Recorded on 8/16/2015. Continue Reading …
Historical File 12-1
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” - Romans 12:1 It’s not news that The Matrix is littered with biblical references. It’s also not news that the second and third movies are terrible. But, there is a Matrix supplement that is the best Continue Reading …
How Not to Make a Movie in the Multiverse
There are many great, mind-bending science fiction films that, for whatever reason, are worth watching over and over, if only to suss out what actually happened. Coherence, the most ironically titled movie to come along in a while, is not one of them. Fans of science fiction, and science fiction films especially, could probably name dozens. The first that come to my mind Continue Reading …
Episode 91: Transhumanism (Plus More on Brin)
Continuing discussion of David Brin's novel Existence (without him) and adding Nick Bostrom's essay "Why I Want to Be a Posthuman When I Grow Up" (2006). Are our present human capabilities sufficient for meeting the challenges our civilization will face? Should we devote our technology to artificially enhancing our abilities, or would that be a crime against nature, a Continue Reading …
Episode 91: Transhumanism (Plus More on Brin)
Continuing discussion of David Brin's novel Existence (without him) and adding Nick Bostrom's essay "Why I Want to Be a Posthuman When I Grow Up" (2006). Are our present human capabilities sufficient for meeting the challenges our civilization will face? Should we devote our technology to artificially enhancing our abilities, or would that be a crime against nature, a Continue Reading …
Episode 90: Sci-Fi and Philosophy with Guest David Brin
Discussing David Brin's novel Existence (2012) with the author. What's the point of thinking? Brin sees the future as a pressing threat, and Existence speculates that the reason we don't see evidence of life on other planets is that no species survives its technological adolescence. The solution? We need to be smarter than our parents and work to give our kids the tools to Continue Reading …
Topic for #90: Science Fiction and Philosophy with Guest David Brin
Listen to Mark's Precognition framing our discussion now. We talked on the evening of Tuesday 2/25 with David Brin, one of our most philosophical science fiction authors, whose most recent novel Existence (2012) certainly has a philosophical sounding name. But no, it's not about ontology, about Being, or about existentialism, but about our continued existence as a species on Continue Reading …
Better Philosophy through Science Fiction?
For your weekend podcast-listening pleasure, a friend of the podcast pointed me to the most recent episode of the Rationally Speaking podcast in which the hosts take up science fiction and chew on what kinds of philosophical insight might garnered from such speculative fiction. (Beware those who, like Seth, abhor the thought experiment!) In the words of the podcasters Continue Reading …