Independence Day

Independence Day is a classic alien, science fiction movie. It starts on July 2nd when signals being read on earth are interrupted. The military figures out that there are a whole bunch of object set to collide with earth. Then they find out it they are not just objects but spaceships. As the government tries to communicate with the aliens, a scientist figures out that the aliens are going to destroy major points on earth. On July 3rd, major cities around the US are destroyed. The military tries a counter attack in the air but it back fires and they loose the battle. Will Smith kills an alien but then has to abandon his ship. As he drags the alien across the desert he is met by a government group going to Area 51. The government group  goes to Area 51, an alien cover up, where they get a spaceship and examine the alien. On July 4th, the survivors of the US try to fight back the aliens with Will Smiths character, Captain Steven Hiller. After battles and controversy they successfully kill the aliens by spreading a virus through the aliens mother ship. Hiller is the hero.

I like this movie a lot. I think it does a good job of making Independence Day a movie anyone can watch. It has a little romance, action and science fiction. This movie made me think that we can not be the only people out here in space. We are also a young solar system and anyone else who is out there is more advanced than we are. We probably won't know when the aliens will come to find us. We should be ready at any time and hopefully the government is covering up a stolen spaceship when they come.

iRobot

iRobot staring Will Smith is a movie I would definitely recommend to anyone. It follows a classic plot. Will Smith is a homicide detective living in the future. In this future society robots are in every home being used to help out around the house. The robots are trusted by almost anyone and by most they are trusted enough to watch children. Will Smith's character, Del Spooner,  has a rare situation.. He trusted robots until one day he was in a car crash that sent two cars into a river. Spooner and a little girl were stuck in the cars as they were sinking to the bottom. A robot comes in to save them and only saves Spooner because he had a higher chance of survival. Since then, Spooner resents the robotic race because they have no feelings. A murder comes across his desk at work that even furthers his suspicions. A murder where the number one suspect is a robot. The movie goes on to show that the robots are trying to improve the human race by making humans more like robots. This is bad for the humans. Spooner saves the day and kills all the robots.

I really like this movie. I think it makes you think about how much we are dependent on electronics as a society. Almost everyone has a tv in there house, a cell phone in their pocket and a lap top on their desk. When apple comes out with a new iphone or ipad there are lines that can stretch for a mile sometimes. This movie makes me realize that in our search for the new best thing we have to be careful about what that new best thing is. If we keep going at the rate we are, we will have robots in every ones houses by the end of the century.

Ender's Game Meme

SETI

The search for extraterrestrial  intelligence is a popular subject among the science fiction community. Are aliens really out there somewhere?

 Most of america believes there is something out there, in space, besides us. There is so much more space surrounding us it would be a waste if no one else was out there. Also, traveling the millions of miles takes a long, long time. If aliens are trying to get to us then they will have to travel for a while, they could be trying to find us right now? If they are not trying to physically visit us but trying to get our attention with a signal, it will still have to travel a long distance to get here. Maybe we will hear from them soon?

However, there are a lot of skeptics too. If aliens do exist why don't they already know a way to contact us? Aren't aliens smarter than us so they should know a way to get around space already. We are a relatively young planet, if life exists somewhere else it must be older than us. There are not many planets with atmospheres like ours that are can sustain life.

I think that there is some kind of life out in space besides us. There are so many other planets and other solar systems that could have a planet with life. It might just take aliens a while to get to us.

Cosmos

Cosmos was really boring. Carl Sagan's voice is really weird and (as Mr. Inloes said) soothing in a weird sort of way. It made me really tired. I wonder how it stayed on air for long. Even though it wasn't the most entertaining thing on TV I have ever seen Sagan did present some interesting ideas.

I have to admit I never knew about space travel before. So when Sagan talked about how if you travel at the speed of light time goes much slower for you than it does for everyone else. To me, that seems really cool. Its as close to time travel that seems actually possible. The thing that isn't appealing is that you can't go back. If you travel at the speed of light for 5 years for normal people, you can't go back to where you started.

Another thing that interested me was when Sagan talked about the ideas of how to travel at speed of light. The spaceship that moves by making little hydrogen bombs. The spaceships moves like a machine that goes put, put, put. The idea is really interesting. I think it could be really cool if the scientists figured out how to make a spaceship like this with out it blowing up.

Contact

I really like the movie Contact. It is one of my favorite movies we have watched in class so far. I like that the plot of the story seems almost realistic. The movie uses realistic places and realistic scenarios. I think Jodie Foster does a really good job in this movie too. Her portrayal so far of the determined scientist is impressive. 

So far Contact has not seemed very much like a science fiction movie other than the alien radio signals. The aliens are the only scifi element in the movie. 
I also think the movie accurately portrays the argument between scientists about the exploration of space. Ellie is the side that wants to find extraterrestrial life. She has a job with SETI, which it seems like many scientists don't necessarily respect. Hadden and other scientists the movie mentions represent the other side of the argument. The skeptical side that says looking for E.T. is a waste of time. This side looses a lot of respect for scientists who do look for E.T. I personally think that looking for E.T. is not worth it. The quote from the movie that says "But I guess I'd say if it is just us... seems like an awful waste of space." I think that is true. If it is really just us, the galaxies are just a really big waste of space.

The thing

The thing is an interesting movie. I was not expecting the dog to be the monster/alien thing. I think the setting of Antarctica is more realistic than suburbia. I like the idea that the alien ship crashed there and froze. It makes it seem like an actual possibility in real life. The characters are very interesting. They all have their own personalities but I would not be able to tell you which ones are infected and which ones aren't. I think MacReady is infected because of his clothes being torn up though.

I think it was mean of the scientist to kill all the dogs and ruin all the equipment. I understand why he did it but I don't think it was smart for the long term. He did it because he wanted to contain the aliens. He thought eventually all of the men on the team would become infected and if the infection got outside of the compound they are in it could effect the whole world.

I hope that they beat the monsters/aliens. I also hope that most of the team survives. However, I could see the movie ending with them all dying and the aliens taking over.

Enders game

I think the idea behind Enders game is compelling. It sounds like a good basis for a book. I am not that far into it right now. So far I feel bad for ender. He is a third child which is rare in his world. Every couple is only allowed two children so that the government can have population control. Ender was allowed to be born because his parents created exceptional children. His older sister and bother were both recognized by the military as being good potential military commanders, but they didn't work out. Ender is supposed to be the best of them all and right now it looks like he is. He has gotten his tracker off which is put on a lot of children. The tracker is to see what children are good enough to be military heroes by looking at the traits they have. Ender seems like a good candidate for the military. He is still being watched by the military even though he got his off. Ender got made fun a lot for getting off because he is a third and the other kids assumed he didn't live up to his expectations. Ender dealt with the bullying by retaliating which the military people liked. They liked how ender kept hurting the kid even though the kid wasn't fighting back. Ender did this  to send a message to the others to not mess with him. The military people offered him a position at the school that would train him. However, it would means that he would have to leave his family for a long time. I think this is really sad but I think ender is obviously going into the military. I hope his sister remembers him.

Sandkings

Sandkings was an interesting story. I liked the written piece way better than the movie. The idea of bugs taking over humans is a classic science fiction theme and I thought it was well represented in the sandkings plot. It also presented the idea of humans thinking they know more than they actually do. Kress thought he had total control over the sandkings when really he had no idea of their potential power. As he deprived them of food they started to turn against him. He thought they were just pets when really they were more like a whole others intelligent species. I like how the author present wo from wo and shade as an innocent character in the beginning. She seemed like just a normal store shop owner who had a mysterious new animal. However in the end she really knew all about the sandkings and her partner was a maw himself. The twist at the end made it a much more compelling story. I didn't like the images the story had when the sandkings ate things. When Kress fed the puppy to the sandkings  I was very sad because it was a disturbing picture. I think the author went too far at that point.

The movie was nothing compared to the story. First, it didn't even follow the same plot line the story did. The setting in the movie was suburbia while in the story it was another world. The sandkings came from a lab and in the story they came from a pet shop. Kress had a whole family and in the story he was a loner. There is no comparison.

Jurassic Park Movie

After finishing the book Jurassic park we watched the movie. I had never seen the movie before and had only heard good things so I was pretty excited. The movie was good but it skipped over a lot of parts that were in the book. For example, the baby velociraptor problem was brought up once throughout the whole thing and then was dropped. I was also disappointed at the end when the velociraptors were just out run and not killed. The movie left a lot out and dumbed a lot down.

The Gould article we read had the same ideas. I agree with him in the fact that the book's plot and main ideas were not conveyed well in the movie at all. A lot of the science and revolutionary DNA work highlighted in the book was totally left out of the movie. I think the movie directors should have tried to represent the book more rather than try to make it more appealing to the audience that they were aiming for, which I assume were teenage boys.

The actors in the movie, I thought, represented the characters from the book very well. The best one I think was Laura Dern who played Ellie. I thought Timmy and Dr. Grant were portrayed very well also. The looks and attitudes of the characters in the book matched the actor's portrayals very well.

2001 references

2001 is a confusing movie. It was made in 1968 and it was a futuristic fantasy. I don't really understand it yet and from what I have read it is largely misunderstood. However, it is considered one of the best movies of all time.

From watching the first part of it though I have already recognized several references to this movie. I never knew that the writers were referencing 2001 and that there were so many instances of references to it.

1. The Simpsons episode where homer befriends a robot figure very, very similar to HAL and then destroys it by taking out its memory devices.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb68WLANxQ4

2.Wall-E is often said to be based off of 2001. The computer figure AUTO seems very similar to HAL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3A7vIcLL1M

3. The Zoo lander computer scene is most definitely based off of the ape scene with the black block.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2uHBhKTSe0

4.Community, a NBC tv show, did an homage to 2001 also in one of their episodes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQOt7l0iLFM

Jurassic Park Book Discussion

Before I started the book I had an idea about what it would be like. To be honest, i thought it was going to be pretty boring and very science-y. I wasn't too excited. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The book is very interesting and keeps the readers attention. I especially like how the author writes each chapter from a different characters point of view.

 The main man in the novel is Dr. grant, a famous paleontologist with a very logical point of view. He makes most of his decisions based on his gut and his previous knowledge of dinosaurs. My favorite character is Timmy. He is the grandson of Hammond, the owner of the island, and is invited to see the island and show what the kids point of view is. He is obsessed with dinosaurs and provides a lot of insight into the lives of the dinosaurs. He is, in my opinion, one of the smartest people in the novel, even though he is one of the youngest.


The novel is definately  a book everyone should read. The plot keeps the reader interested and wanting to read more. The dangerous dinosaur island provides an alternative world for the reader to dive into and see what it would be like if dinosaurs where to come back from extinction

GATTACA

I think this movie is very interesting so far. The idea of genetically engineered children being prodominat in the future is a likely topic. The most interesting thing I found is how the movie overcame the ethical boundries genetic engineering has. The population usually thinks messing around with nature or how God has made things is not okay, but in the movie instead of saying genetically engineering, the doctors/scientists say its making a better life for the child. They say this because technically they are getting rid of the bad qualities normal, non-genetically tested individuals pass on to their children. However, the children are still different than how nature intended and have lives that arent always better.


These genetically engineered people are said to have better lives and be superior to the normal race of their parents. The threat of disease and death are replaced with the idea that they are superior and they must live up to the expectations the doctors give them when they are born. For example, the real Jerome has a hard time coping with his 2nd place medal for swimming. In addtion, now that he broke his back, he cannot reach his goals that were given to him before he was born becasuse he is handicaped.

The idea that we can change our children to rid them of disease and give them a longer and better life seem nice. However, I think it is a bad idea to change the values of society to praise a new generation of genetically enhanced people who are superior to every one else. I think it sounds worse than talking about messing around with the genetics of unborn children.

Cloning

I am doing my future technological research project on cloning and I think what I have found so far is very interesting. First of all, cloning has a negative connotation for most people because when they think of clone they think of a massive army of clones used for war. However, cloning can be used for really good things, not just the ability to have more of yourself to help. Cloning researchers are more interested in cloning to help enhance the society we live in.


The most important use for cloning that researchers are focusing on is to help save lives. For example, if your kidneys were failing and you needed a transplant a doctor could just take a sample of cells from your current kidneys and grow a new pair. This way you avoid taking someone else's body part which can cause some psychological distress and there is no waiting list so you can get what you need as soon as possible.

Most researchers in England are focusing more on cloning for economical purposes than biological purposes. A new trend within farmer/scientists in Western Europe is to clone their sheep or cows so that they can produce their products faster and get the best animal all the time. This is much more controversial because people are starting to get worried about eating the cloned animal or a product of a cloned animal for fear of sickness. However, as research has proved, cloned animals are no different than the animals that they got cloned from. If cloning livestock become popular, it could have great benefits to society. A faster out put of high demand dairy products and meats will make the cost go down and have a better quality (because you would only clone animals of the higher quality.)

The biggest problem cloning has today is peoples reaction to cloning. The ethics of cloning seem too scientific and futuristic for people right now. However, in the future it can be a whole other story...

Jurassic park

I have never seen or read Jurrasic Park before this class. The only thing I know about Jurrasic park is that it includes dinasours.

My first impression of the book is that I like it so far. The first chapter was easy to read and the plot already has me thinking about what omes next. I am interested to see what they are doing on the other island with the raptors. I would like to know if the narrorator will be the main character throughout the book because I don't know how much information she will be able to get about the other island since she is not apart of it. The other island is very mysterious and I picture it as the island on the tv show Lost. I think the people who came to the clinic are very sketchy too because the wouldn't tell her what really happen to the guy who got attacked and they took the camera.

 The introduction to the book brought up a lot of good points about the effects of new technologies on a population. If they are not regulated they can be used by any one for good or bad. I thought the best point the author brought up was when he talked about how these new technologies can be used for frivolous things which is not how we are going to advance our society. For example, take the iPhone. It is a great invention with a lot of perks like a touch screen, vocal commands and GPS etc. However, having something that is so easily acceptable is making us less aware of the things around us like how we can use the GPS and not have to know where we are or what streets we are passing.

Frankenstien

Frankenstein is a classic science fiction story however the concept we have of Frankenstein today is much different than the original story that came out years ago. The origninal story by Mary Shelly actually never called the monster Frankenstein. On the other hand, today we know the green monster that was pieced together and brought back from the dead only as Frankenstien.

There are many more differences between the book and the frankenstein story we know today. For example, the doctor that creates Frankenstien in the book is portrayed more normal than the crazy doctor that we think he is. Also, in the novel the monster was portrayed with more of a tabula rasa than in the movies where the monster is seen as slow.

The Frankenstien we know today is a big green monster with bolts in his head and has no capability of speech. Somehow this monster came from the childlike man that the doctor created in Mary Shelly's book years ago.

Science fiction themes, motifs and aspects

I have been watching science fiction moves/tv shows for a while and haven't even known. So here are  some of my favorites and what makes them sci fi.

1. The star wars movies - my dad loves star wars and showed it to me when I was little. I loved princess Leia and the light sabers. What makes this science fiction is first the existence of aliens and life outside of our galaxy. For example, Yoda and Chewbacca are fictional alien like creatures who can communicate with humans like Luke. Another aspect of science fiction within star wars is the advanced technology that seem necessary to life within the fictional world. For example, space ships and light sabers.

2. Wall-E- a classic movie for little kids, I would never quess it was science fiction. Things that stand out to me now obit I didn't realize before is the end of the world on planet earth, the advanced technology and its set in the future. Wall-E stars with the showing of an Earth ruined by the exsessive garbage thrown away by the population,Mathis is a motif in science fiction that uses the scenario of the end of the world as we know it. All the humans moved to space which is another aspect of science fiction, the advanced technology of the spaceship.

3. Planet of the apes- I didnt like this the first time I saw it but it is a great example of science fiction. First, it has the mutated monkeys who were affected by a human made stimulant. Next, it has the ending of the human race because the apes have taken over the world. Finally, It has a different political system which helps show how different the world is now since the monkeys took over.

Life and science fiction

Earnest Hemingway said "in order to write about life first you must live it." The earlier writters of science fiction like H.G. Wells started writing within the genre of science fiction because of the new technologies and scary circumstances that came with the wars that were happening at that time. For example, H.G. Wells wrote about a second world war before it happend in The Shape of Things to Come which included a variety of future technologies like missiles and War heads.

The cold war had a great impact on writers living within this time because of the invention of weapons like the atom bomb that could wipe out city in less than a minute. Therefore, science fiction writers made the "what ifs" that we're going through the populations head into stories. For example, insects becoming mutants because of the radiation and taking over the world or the end of the world because everything  on earth had been bombed.

In addition to the uncertainty of the effects of bombs, the space race inspired many of the motifs that still exist in science fiction today like aliens. When the fictional man on the moon became real writters and the population could not stop thinking about whats to come next. This lead to many stories written about alien invasions, moon colonies and galaxies far far away.

Writters are influenced by their life all the time but I think science fiction writters, more than others, draw their inspiration from the events happening around them because of the technology centered age we are in and the looming fear of what it could turn into. For example, movies like iRobot, 2001 and Star Trek.