decipher SciFi : the show about how and why

Stream the movie: iTunes | Amazon Get the Blu-ray: Amazon Get the DVD: Amazon Lost in Space What: The Robinson family get… lost in space. Duh. Directed by: Stephen Hopkins Starring: Gary Oldman, William Hurt, Matt LeBlanc, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham, Lacey Chabert, Jack Johnson Recommended and Related Media The Newsroom – Climate Change Interview This Aaron Sorkin show does a pretty decent summary of the real numbers, even if it is dramatized and a little heavy on doom and gloom. Lost in Space (the TV series) Old, campy sci-fi. Stream it on iTunes | Amazon Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds Space opera with human space travel over vast distances. Read it with your eyes iTunes | Amazon Read it with your ears iTunes | Amazon Show Notes Climate Disaster Colbert talks about it a bunch. Chris goes all Pollyanna. The Newsroom Climate episode (embedded above) Traveling From Earth Stargates. Gravity wells. Luck they didn’t wind up inside a sun. Space Colonies Space X! Mars One! Christopher gushes about Elon Musk for thirty minutes. Gifted Children And Rubbish Fathers Will Robinson. Ahmed Mohamed.  Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Ghengis Khan? Elon Musk? Future Tech Cryo sleep. Holographic communications. Vlogging via watch. Video Communications and Holography Goodbyes Farewell my platinum-plated pal. Give my regards to oblivion. Feedback? Please Contact Us contact@decipherscifi.com Amazon and iTunes links include our affiliate codes. If you wouldn’t mind helping us out a tiny bit, go ahead and use them to buy/stream something. Thanks!

Stream the movie: iTunes | Amazon Lawnmower Man, The What: Flowers for Algernon, but evil and with Pierce Brosnan Directed by: Brett Leonard Starring: Jeff Fahey, Pierce Brosnan Recommended and Related Media Community : Lawnmower Maintenance and Postnatal Care The very best possible send-up of the VR craze of the 90s. Stream it on Yahoo Episode info on Community Wiki Daemon by Daniel Suarez A thriller based around the possiblities of AI and augmented reality. Not quite VR, but close enough. Read it with your eyes iTunes | Amazon Read it with your ears iTunes | Amazon Freedom TM The sequel to Daemon, taking the ideas from the first book and letting them run wayyyyyyyy off the deep end. Still fun though. Maybe one day we’ll look back and consider its prescience… but probably not. Read it with your eyes iTunes | Amazon Read it with your ears iTunes | Amazon Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan – First in the Takeshi Kovacs Series Really great, dark, hard-boiled future-noir detective story. Wonderful atmosphere. ANNNND features lots of virtual reality. It’s a normal, useful part of their world and its interesting to see how it is used. Read it with your eyes iTunes | Amazon Read it with your ears iTunes | Amazon And thanks to @astronomyreloaded on Instagram for getting our juices flowing to talk about VR.

Stream the movie: iTunes | Amazon Get the Blu-ray: Amazon Get the DVD: Amazon A Scanner Darkly What: Keanu Reeves deals with issues of identity and paranoia in this adaptation from the Philip K. Dick book. Directed by: Richard Linklater Starring: Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson, Robert Downey Jr. Recommended and Related Media A Scanner Darkly The Philip K. Dick book on which the movie was based. Semi-autobiographical and probably the least sci-fi of Dick’s work. Read it with your eyes iTunes | Amazon Read it with your ears iTunes | Amazon Citizenfour Incredible documentary about Edward Snowden and the government leaks he published through journalist Glenn Greenwald. Get the thing iTunes | Amazon Waking Life Richard Linklater’s first try at feature-length rotoscoping takes on the meaning of life. Get the thing iTunes | Amazon Show Notes The Novel Philip K. Dick sort of wrote this about himself and his experiences with the Berkeley drug culture. “Everything in A Scanner Darkly I, actually saw.” This novel is probably the least scifi of Dick’s work. Rotoscroping Other famous examples of rotoscroping, but Linklater’s are the first to do it 100%. Interesting custom software with layering techniques. Perfect for this film with its less than firm grip on reality. Drug Addiction We are squares and we know roughly nothing about drugs. But it sure seems bad. Especially the drug in the movie: Substance D. LSD experiments like the following: Here is the article about these experiments. Big Brother/Corporate Conspiracy Small conspiracies vs grand conspiracies.

Stream the movie: iTunes | Amazon Get the Blu-ray: Amazon Get the DVD: Amazon Galaxy Quest What: A really loving tribute to Star Trek and Star Trek fandom. The alumni cast of a space opera television series have to play their roles as the real thing when an alien race needs their help. Directed by: Dean Parisot Starring: Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Richman, Sam Rockwell, Tony Shalhoub, Enrico Calentoni Recommended and Related Media Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator Incredibly fun group living-room game. You and a number of friends can each take a bridge position on a tablet or smartphone and pretend you’re on the bridge of the Enterprise while one person plays captain and coordinates everything. Get the thing on iTunes | Android Star Trek: The Next Generation The best thing ever on tv? Captain Jean-Luc Picard! Stream it on iTunes | Amazon Moon The movie, starring Sam Rockwell, that we talked about in episode 3! Stream it on iTunes | Amazon Show Notes Star Trek Christopher is a big fan. Has a revelation regarding this on the show. Star Trek Fandom Christopher might be a trekkie. The movie is a loving tribute. Star Trek cast reactions to Galaxy Quest. Aliens in the movie Tend to be humanoid. Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element. Abundance, working together. Literalism in language like small human children. Silly Star Trek Tropes The movie uses them for great meta comedy. Transporter. Omega 13 device. Most important crew members go down to explore new worlds. Artemis is Really Really Awesome Here is a good example of the frivolity you could expect (skip to3:38 for gameplay): Goodbyes Never give up! Never surrender! Feedback? Please Contact Us contact@decipherscifi.com Amazon and iTunes links include our affiliate codes. If you wouldn’t mind helping us out a tiny bit, go ahead and use them to buy/stream something. Thanks!

Stream the movie: iTunes | Amazon Get the Blu-ray: Amazon Get the DVD: Amazon Starship Troopers What: Paul Verhoven makes a scathing satire of the science fiction classic. Space marines kill bugs. Directed by: Paul Verhoven Starring: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey, Nieil Patrick Harriss Featuring guest co-host History nerd Joe Ruppel Recommended and Related Media Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein The book on which this satire is based. Read it with your eyes iTunes | Amazon Read it with your ears iTunes | Amazon The Commonwealth Saga by Peter F. Hamilton A book series recommended by Colbert, featuring interstellar war. Read it with your eyes iTunes | Amazon Read it with your ears iTunes Book One | iTunes Book Two | Amazon Book One | Amazon Book Two World War II Propaganda Cartoon Collections Racism, jingoism, and xenophobia! Yay!Buy war bonds! Walt Disney: On the Front Lines Amazon Looney Tunes Assorted Propaganda Cartoons Youtube Show Notes The Movie is a Satire of the Book Heinlein wrote what amounted to military propaganda.

Stream the movie: iTunes | Amazon Get the Blu-ray: Amazon Get the DVD: Amazon I Robot What: Will Smith saves humanity and Shia Labeouf from robots. Directed by: Alex Proyas Starring: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Alan Tudyk, Shia Labeouf Recommended and Related Media Google Deep Dreaming Google’s crazy image processing neural networks make crazy, crazy acid trip images. Read the original blog post Make your own here I, Robot The collection of short stories by Asimov that started the whole thing. Read it with your eyes iTunes | Amazon Read it with your ears iTunes | Amazon Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom A good look at how AI could develop and affect humanity from the perspective of a professional in the field.Can be a bit dry but covers the material really well. Read it with your eyes from iTunes | Amazon Read it with your ears from iTunes | Amazon Our Final Invention by James Barrat A volume mostly on the dangers of AI. A little more sensational than Superintelligence, but a more enjoyable read and still does a good job. Read with your eyes from iTunes | Amazon

Stream the movie: iTunes | Amazon Get the Blu-ray: Amazon Get the DVD: Amazon Ex Machina What: Dorky guy is called in to play Turing test with a truly impressive android. Directed by Alex Garland Starring: Domnhall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Alicia Vikander, Sonoya Mizuno Recommended and Related Media Embodiment and the Inner Life: Cognition and Consciousness in the Space of Possible Minds We really don’t know anything about this except that it was an easter egg in the film. :shrug: Read it with your eyes from Amazon Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom A good look at how AI could develop and affect humanity from the perspective of a professional in the field.Can be a bit dry but covers the material really well. Read it with your eyes from iTunes | Amazon Read it with your ears from iTunes | Amazon Our Final Invention by James Barrat A volume mostly on the dangers of AI. A little more sensational than Superintelligence, but a more enjoyable read and still does a good job. Read with your eyes from iTunes | Amazon Read with your ears from iTunes | Amazon Show Notes

Stream the movie: iTunes | Amazon Get the Blu-ray: Amazon Get the DVD: Amazon Moon What: Sam Rockwell deals with isolation on a helium-3 mining base. Directed by Duncan Jones Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey Recommended and Related Media Michel Siffre Dude subjected himself to the torture of long-term underground isolation. For science! What an incredibly interesting story and character. Read about him on Wikipedia The Island Michael Bay basically gives the world two movies in one. Full of neat science fiction discussion material and EXPLOSIONS! Stream it on iTunes | Amazon 2001: A Space Odyssey Masterpiece of science fiction, and film more generally, by Stanley Kubrick. The most epic sci-fi film ever? Of course you’ve seen it, but watch it again! Stream it on iTunes | Amazon Show Notes Movies with strict limitations in cast and location Love these! Moon is a good one, seriously only one human actor present. Other pleasing examples include Buried with Ryan Reynolds, The Man From Earth, 12 Angry Men is the greatest. Isolation Humans need other humans. Our own introversion. Solitary confinement is torture. Having the light at the end of the tunnel. Gerty Love the robot design. Practical to the extreme. He has a cupholder! The name means nothing. LOVE the smiley interface. Hal 9000 references. Space Business Multinational mega corporation with government ties. Bottom line is all that matters. The economics of evil and helium-3 mining. Exploitative labor practices. Helium 3 science. Feedback? Please Contact Us contact@decipherscifi.com Amazon and iTunes links include our affiliate codes. If you wouldn’t mind helping us out a tiny bit, go ahead and use them to buy/stream something. Thanks!

Stream the movie: iTunes | Amazon Get the Blu-ray: Amazon Get the DVD: Amazon Demoliton Man What: In Demolition Man Wesley Snipes, irl criminal, fights Sylvester Stallone in the future while wearing hammer pants and gaudy earrings. Directed by Marco Brambilla Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock Recommended and Related Media Futurama A really satisfying and intelligent series that is also really funny. Has cryogenic freezing, so it is related! A few emotionally resonant episodes make Christopher cry. Stream it on iTunes Get the boxed set on Amazon The Lost Fleet book series A Sci-Fi book series that we loved – thought of it because it too showcases a frozen badass being defrosted and used to beat the “bad guys.” Read the book with your eyes iTunes | Amazon Read the book with your ears iTunes | Amazon Rambo (2008) Awwwwwwwesome Sylvester Stallone killing spree. What a great time this movie was. Stream it on iTunes | Amazon Get the Blu-Ray on Amazon Get the DVD on Amazon Show Notes Criminal Rehabilitation Rehab or punishment? Synaptic suggestion for true rehabilitation? The time needed for the rehab process in the film. Cryogenic freezing. Stallone says he was awake, probably wasn’t. Better than prison. What if evil dictators had this technology? Implantable Skills Huge benefits. Whoah, I know kung fu.

Stream the movie! iTunes | Amazon Get the DVD! Amazon Titan A.E. What: Matt Damon is the chosen one in a space adventure to save humanity. Directed by Donald Bluth Starring: Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore Recommended and Related Media Paperman Stream it on iTunes | Amazon Paperman and the Future of 2D Animation Dragon’s Lair Download on iTunes | Google Play The Land Before Time Stream It | DVD/BluRay Show Notes Quotes Cale: “Everyday I wake up and it’s still the present. The same grimy, boring present. I don’t think this “future” thing of yours exists. “ How mundane the miracles of technology seem once they become ubiquitous. Wikipedia. Butt-washing machines. Korso: “That the human race is outta gas. It’s circling the drain. It’s finished! The only thing that matters is grabbing whatcha can before somebody else beats ya to it.” The desperation of desperate people in desperate times. FYGM, rational self-interest. Sci-fi’s common dichotomy between high and low life with high tech. Director Donald Bluth directed. also made Dragon’s Lair, Space Ace video games. And the movies An American Tale and The Land Before Time. Fox Animation Studios closed after Titan did badly in theaters. CG/2D Space is beautiful in CG. Christopher loves the 2d hand-drawn cell animation on top of CG environments. 2.5d, perhaps. 90s The music of the 90s. 90s fashion. Mat Damon’s hair. Powerman 5000. Spaceship repair montage. Alien Creatures Cochroach chef was almost Jar Jar Binks. Straight-up murder in a cartoon surprised us. Alien kangaroo person’s hundred-jointed legs are of questionable utility. Energy beings made less than enough sense. Low Human Population Humanity was down to 10,000 people millennia ago, that was close. Now here they are spread out across space. Space racism. Titan Device Like Norwegian Seed Vault, but in space. Sort of. Adam and Eve. New Earth or Planet Bob. Joss Whedon. Goodbyes I will see you again. I promise. Feedback? Please Contact Us contact@decipherscifi.com Amazon and iTunes links include our affiliate codes. If you wouldn’t mind helping us out a tiny bit, go ahead and use them to buy/stream something. Thanks!

Episode Zero! Introducing Decipher SciFi! What is the show? Decipher SciFi features the conversations about technology and the future that come after watching a good science fiction movie. This is not a review show, nor will you see much criticism or snark. It is a rationally optimistic look, through film, at where society and technology are and where they are headed. Who are we? I am Christopher Peterson, a dad and general-purpose nerd. Introvert. Former culinary professional. Interested in computing, linguistics, economics, psychology, tech, and lots of other things. I work as a Linux Sysadmin in between the geeky personal projects that consume all of my attention. I am Lee Colbert, also a nerd and a fan of general intellectual curiosity. I tend towards science, technology, and psychology but find a large number of fields interesting. I’m also a Linux Admin supporting scientific and high performance computing. Subscribe! You’ll want to hit one of the buttons below to keep up when we release our next episodes! Image at the top from Flickr user Futurilla