This week's discussion covers some specific, spoiler-y details from Solo: A Star Wars Story. Proceed accordingly. Last week we took a look at how Solo: A Star Wars Story interrogates the role of spaceships and interstellar travel in the Galactic Empire. The abstract concept of transportation (as opposed to specific transportation technology) is not an obvious theme for science fiction, but artificially intelligent robots are. What it does with ships, Solo also does for droids, taking a ubiquitous feature of the … [Read more...] about Science in Review: A Droid in Every Garage
science in review
Science in Review: Just Gotta Get Right Outta Here
This reflection on the themes of Solo: A Star Wars Story tries to avoid spoilers, but as always feel free to wait until you've seen the movie if you want to know nothing about it when watching. "Fast ship? You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?" "It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs." With those lines, Han Solo and ultimately George Lucas stirred up a controversy still brewing 40 years later. Han's boast sounds impressive, but when you find out a parsec is a unit of distance, not … [Read more...] about Science in Review: Just Gotta Get Right Outta Here
Science in Review: Thor, Thanos and Theology
The following is a reflection on superhero storytelling inspired by Avengers: Infinity War. I have done my best to avoid spoilers, but if you know nothing about the film's story and want to keep it that way until you see it, you may wish to save this for later. What does it look like to have a theology but not a religion? The answer may now be showing at a theater near you. Avengers: Infinity War, the 19th and latest installment in Marvel's ambitious serial storytelling project, advances the metaphysical aspirations … [Read more...] about Science in Review: Thor, Thanos and Theology
Science in Review: Dig the Future of Natural History
"This isn't science!" Apparently that was a common refrain at the science bowl my son participated in last week. The event is normally held at the Carnegie Science Center, a typical modern hands-on institution heavy on technology like robotics and interactive computer exhibits and also physics demonstrations and experiments. This year the science bowl was at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the kind of scientific institution built a century ago to study and display fossils, field specimens of living organisms, … [Read more...] about Science in Review: Dig the Future of Natural History
Science in Review: Decision-Making A Long Time Ago and in a Future Not Far Away
I introduced my reflections on the AI and Christianity essay series by J. Nathan Matias et al with a quote from Star Wars, so it is fitting (if thoroughly unplanned) to return to a galaxy far, far away to conclude my thoughts on the topic. The following will have some spoilers for The Last Jedi, but after I saw it I realized its themes were too relevant to pass up. While there is no AI per se in the film, the story is all about decisions, who gets to make them, and how they get made. In that sense, it overlaps strongly … [Read more...] about Science in Review: Decision-Making A Long Time Ago and in a Future Not Far Away