Session 4 Reality Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Winter 2013 Dr Agatha Taormina 1 Perception Virtual reality Time travel Parallel universes Alternate history Session Overview Reality ID: 783170
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A Brief Survey of Science FictionSession 4: Reality
Osher Lifelong Learning InstituteWinter 2013Dr. Agatha Taormina
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Slide2PerceptionVirtual realityTime travelParallel universesAlternate history
Session Overview: Reality
Slide3Can we trust our perception?Optical illusionsEyewitness accountsIs the outside world an actual reality or an intellectual construct?Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
Plato’s Theory of FormsPerception
Slide4Who am I?What is real?Can history be changed?Thematic concerns
Slide5Psychoactive DrugsMind controlManipulation of memoryDreamingExtrasensory perception
Altering Perception
Slide6Can alter PerceptionMoodConsciousnessCognitionBehavior
Can be usedTherapeuticallyAnestheticsAnalgesicsTreatment for psychiatric disordersRecreationallyFor ritualistic purposes
Psychoactive Drugs
Slide7Drugs to control the populaceSoma in Brave New WorldDrugs to expand the mind or escape realitySubstance D in A Scanner Darkly
by Philip K. DickDrugs as an aid to space navigationMelange (spice) in the Dune universeDrug Use in Science Fiction
Slide8Behavioral modificationReinforcement can be positive or negativeLudovico Technique from A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Mind Control
Slide9Erasing memoryAltering memoryMemory
Slide10Memory lossMajor types of amnesiaRetrograde: the inability to retrieve information that was acquired before a particular date, usually the date of an accident or operation
Anterograde: the inability to transfer new information from short term to long term memoryAmnesia
Slide11Planted memoryFalse memoryExamplesErasing memory: Men in BlackPlanting memories
Total RecallDollhouseProblems with Memory
Slide12Lucid dreamingTerm coined by Frederik van Eeden, Dutch psychiatrist and writer in 1913Dreamer is aware he is dreaming
Dreamer might be able to control or manipulate the dream imageryExample: InceptionDreaming
Slide13DrugsA Scanner Darkly (1977) by Philip K. DickMind ControlA Clockwork Orange (1962)
by Anthony BurgessManipulation of MemoryAll My Sins Remembered (1977) by Joe HaldemanDreamingThe Lathe of Heaven (1971) by Ursula K. Le Guin
What to Read: Perceptions
Slide14ClairvoyanceTelepathyEmpathyPrecognitionExamples The Vulcan Mind MeldDeanna
Troi, an empathetic Betazed from Star Trek: The Next GenerationThe Pre-cogs from Minority ReportExtra-Sensory Perception
Slide15Pseudo-science that studies paranormal phenomenaRejected by scientific communityNo evidence baseNo theory explaining ESPNo experimental techniques that can provide reliable positive results
Survey of members of the National Academy of Sciences96% skeptical4% believe in psi powers10% believe in encouraging research Parapsychology
Slide16Extrapolated from examples of communication among groups of social insects such as ants and beesCan be formed by telepathy among a group of individuals
Group Mind
Slide17Is more often a hive mind in which individuals operate under the control of one consciousnessExample: the Borg
Slide18ESPThe Demolished Man (1953) by Alfred BesterGroup MindMore Than Human (1953) by Theodore Sturgeon
What to Read: ESP
Slide19Virtual realitySimulation that immerses the user in a computer-generated worldImplies that the user can interact with this simulated environment
Example: Tron
Slide20Primarily visualSometimes adds soundHaptic systems provide users with force feedback of tactile informationExamples
Simulations for pilot trainingSimulations for surgeryCurrent State of VR
Slide21Can we differentiate between reality and virtual reality?How sure are we that our own world is the real one?ExamplesThe holodeck from
Star Trek: the Next GenerationThe MatrixThematic Concerns
Slide22Ender’s Game (1985) by Orson Scott CardReady Player One (2011) by Ernest Cline
What to Read: Virtual Reality
Slide23Sleep/Dreams“Rip Van Winkle” (1819) by Washington Irving A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles DickensSuspended animation
CryogenicsEarly Time Travel Devices
Slide24Peer into space with the Hubble telescopeFaster-than-light travelEinstein's theory: demonstrates that travel at or near the speed of light could theoretically allow a human to travel into the futureTravel into the past would violate causalityIf time travel were possible, wouldn’t we encounter tourists from the future?
Actual Time Travel
Slide25Novella by H.G. Wells (1885) provided the crucial science fiction mechanism for time travelHypothetical machine generally described with technobabble for credibility
The Time Machine
Slide26One might travel back to the past but is unable to change itOne might travel back to the past in an attempt to change the futureOne might travel back to the past with strict orders not to disrupt the timelineOne might travel back to the past but be unable to meet his past self
One might travel back to the past, but be unable to bring any person or artifact back to the future with himOne might travel to the future and learn about something that must be changed in the pastCommon Conventions
Slide27The Forever Gate from “The City on the Edge of Forever” from Star TrekThe de Lorean from Back to the Future
Examples
Slide28the effects on characters of varying rates of the passage of timefaster than light travel slows down the passage of time for the person doing the traveling the event horizon of a black hole slows down time so much that for all practical purposes time stops
Time Dilation
Slide29Person is forced to continually repeat the same time periodPerson may or may not be aware that he is caught in a time loopExample: Groundhog Day
Time Loops
Slide30Person materializes at various points in timeMay or may not be able to control the journeyExample: Doctor Who
Wandering Through Time
Slide31The Time Machine (1885) by H.G. WellsThe End of Eternity (1955) by Isaac Asimov Time and Again (1970) by Jack FinneyTimescape
(1980) by Gregory BenfordThe Doomsday series by Connie Willis“Fire Watch” (1983)Doomsday Book (1993) To Say Nothing of the Dog (1999)
Blackout/All Clear
(2011)
11/22/63
(2011) by Stephen King
What to Read: Time Travel
Slide32Time DilationTime for the Stars (1956) by Robert A. HeinleinThe Forever War (1974) by Joe Haldeman
Gateway (1977) by Frederik PohlTime LoopsReplay (1987) by Ken GrimwoodWandering through timeThe Time Traveler’s Wife
(2003) by Audrey
Niffenegger
What to Read: More Time Travel
Slide33Term coined by philosopher William James, 1895Refers to a hypothetical infinite set of multiple possible universesForms the scientific basis for stories of parallel universes
The Multiverse
Slide34Branch of physics that deals with phenomena on atomic and subatomic scalesOften explores the dual wave-and particle- like behavior of very small bits of matterQuantum Mechanics
Slide35Interpretation of quantum mechanics postulated by Hugh Everett in 1956Notes that in quantum mechanics certain observations cannot be predicted absolutely but can only be rated by probabilityMany Worlds posits that each of these probabilities corresponds to a different universe
Many-Worlds
Slide36Described by MIT cosmologist Max Tegmark in 2003Level 1: An infinite universe that, by the laws of probability, must contain another copy of Earth somewhereLevel 2:
Other distant regions of space with different physical parameters, but the same basic lawsLevel 3: Other universes where each possibility that can exist does exist, as described by the many worlds interpretation (MWI) of quantum physicsLevel 4: Entirely distinct universes that may not even be connected to ours in any meaningful way and very likely have entirely different fundamental physical laws
Levels of Parallel Universes
Slide37Voyages to the underworldPortal fantasiesAlice’s Adventures in WonderlandThe Chronicles of Narnia
Visits to other Places
Slide38Parallel universesDivergent universesAlternate realities
Slide39Rooted in theories of quantum physicsOccupying the same space and time as our own reality but on a different plane of existence. Some theorists conjecture that any exercise of choice splits reality along a variety of divergent timelines
Parallel universes
Slide40an opposing set of physical laws or moral codes or social conventionsa lack of previous knowledge of the existence of the other universean inability to communicate with or pass easily to the other universe
Common conventions
Slide41The Gods Themselves (1972) by Isaac AsimovThe Apprentice Adept Series (1980-90) by Piers AnthonyThe Neanderthal Parallax (2002-3) trilogy by Robert J. SawyerThe City & the City
(2009) by China Mieville 1Q84 (trans. 2011) by Haruki Murakami
What to Read: Parallel Universes
Slide42Poses the question “What if?” Extrapolates the answerAlternate history stories point to a moment of divergence and extrapolate the alternate universe
Alternate History
Slide43Bring the Jubilee (1953) by Ward MooreThe Man in the High Castle (1962) by Philip K. DickThe Best Alternative History Stories of the 20
th Century (2001) ed. Harry Turtledove and Martin Harry GreenbergWhat to Read: Alternate History
Slide44Live Long and Prosper!