yes, but when will corpse-eating cars be available?
this is off topic, but to my mind, the profession truly missing from science fiction is a non-stereotypical presentation of journalists (as opposed to mobs of people holding microphones and shouting obnoxious questions at Our Heroes). Trials show up quite frequently, and justice is important in most universes. Public transparency? not so much.
@gorehound: if you find out, please let me know! i thought something was wrong with my computer.
It seems like the number of poorly understood steps between diet and age-related disorders remains about the same. But I bet we can expect some new diet-related infomercials.
The only problem is... if you hand out stars to the "interesting/smart/funny" comments... then you never get to hear/read comments from people you don't find quite so interesting, smart or funny. And while I support civilized discussion, I find it hard to believe that this won't somehow filter the types of opinions that end up on top.
we watched science fiction movies in my science classes in grade school.
@Harrison_Bergeron: it's not about the wording of the law, it's about how the courts interpret it. and it looks like this iowa court is interpreting this law as applying to fictional comic book characters. future courts can take this and run with it, if they want to.
this was the first show i've seen in a while that felt like it got this concept.
I enjoyed this review, but I disagree. The story isn't "anti-science" -- it's just that it's a myth, not a report about what's actually going on in our universe. It's a myth for a modern audience of scientists and rational thinkers. Wasn't BSG originally conceptualized as "Adam's Ark"? I think it delivered. Adam, Eve, a leap of faith, and angels. And they made it home.
I think the series creators were aware they were in myth-territory. That's why they deliberately brought the story back home, to the present day, to where we know of myths of gods named Apollo and Athena. It puts the story in context and gives us a mission: don't let the apocalypse happen again.
@twDarkflame: Actually I think it made sense to re-do the classification. But it also messed with millions of people's childhood memories of learning the solar system.
@Duke: And another question... why rank them by the number of people who go see them at all? I get that studios like money, but all the hype over weekend box office numbers means some movies get pulled from theaters before they have a chance. I mean, some of the best smaller movies get the shaft at the box office.
@Erin Snyder: I think it could be more believable if the scenario hadn't been something mundane like a hostage negotiation. Like that's never been thwarted before on television! Practically anyone can manage it.
I mean, there has got to be a situation that can *only* be diffused by an agent with a tailored personality.
@Evlsushi: Even the reviewers on CNN get to be biased. It's a perk of writing opinion pieces, as opposed to reporting news.
I love this site. But I also feel that sometimes the writers come off as so disdainful of people who like topic x they would never deign to speak to someone who liked it. As a result, I don't post comments very often, because I disagree a lot. CNN never does that.
If others feel this way, my worry is that the site as a whole has stopped fostering conversation, which to me is sort of the point.
@Logan5: Fair enough, I admit that it would be difficult to overlook all the evidence that we evolved here. But the reason I would like that ending is because right now the show is dangling a lot of names/parallels to our mythology they really didn't need to make so blatant if they weren't going to be used for some purpose. I would be pissed if it was all just clunky allusion for the sake of clunky allusion.
@MonkeyT: I tried watching Burn Notice on DVD... but actually wasn't all that thrilled with the first couple eps. Does the show pretty much proceed as advertised in the first few episodes or does something change?
I think this is awesome. It gives people a new way to see something that's usually only rendered digitally. Also, those old ball-n-stick models were getting old.
I think the differences in a world without technology between humans, skin jobs, and even the final five (assuming everyone can reproduce/hybridize) are insubstantial. Of course, it remains to be seen if humans from the 12 colonies can resurrect (given the proper tech) but it could easily happen.
I think the writers of BSG have skillfully manipulated and misdirected the audience by using words like 'machine,' and 'earth' -- applied to cylons that aren't really machines and a planet that isn't really earth.
I mean, if you give an artificial intelligence pretty much all the physical/emotional/spiritual/mental characteristics of a human intelligence isn't the difference just an external label? And if the final five were born, not built, is their form of intelligence actually artificial?
I also think it would be pretty cool if it just ended up that the BSG crew/rebel cylon alliance settles on a new home planet that becomes our Earth, completely wipes out resurrection technology, and the implication is that this story eventually, over time, becomes the mythology we know today.
it seems to me like the scientists and the media are hyping this a bit. it is really cool, but it's also totally nonconclusive. i mean -- they have a totally valid scientific hypothesis that's not life that they haven't ruled out yet... volcanic activity.
obviously *the* story coming from scientists studying the solar system is possibility of life on other planets. (water on mars was just earlier this year, remember?) i'm just guessing here, but i think it's about funding. life in outer space is more exciting than just another boring volcano. people are more likely to fork out the bucks to go check it out.
@BCWoods: If you click on the link and read the original article io9 was referring to, it mentions the Planck constant. I don't think I can really describe it as well as they can, but check it out. I think -- I may be wrong -- that it's like, the Planck constant is to the hypothetical 2d universe as this "pixel" would be to our 3d "holographic" universe. Or something. Tell me if you understand it better.
The New Scientist article says this isn't really a theory yet... more like just an idea. But it would be awesome if it turns out to be reasonable and they can start narrowing some of the gaps between gravity and quantum mechanics.
