Physicists Robert Nemiroff and Teresa Wilson have written an article on their research searching for time travelers on the internet. This could turn out to be the scientific paper of the year! But, sadly, no evidence of time travelers was found. Slate summarizes the study here: In a paper pre-published on arXiv, a pair of […]
Archive | Science Fiction/Fantasy
Review of Peter Jackson’s Second Hobbit Movie – The Desolation of Smaug
I was thinking of writing a review of Peter Jackson’s second Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug. But this review by Ethan Gilsdorf makes most of the same points I would have made. Overall, I agree with Gilsdorf that the Jackson’s second Hobbit movie isn’t nearly as good as the first, which I reviewed here. […]
Radagast the Brown on “The Climate of Middle Earth”
Here at the Volokh Conspiracy, we try to keep readers informed about important new academic research. So it’s essential that we link to this new paper by Radagast the Brown on “The Climate of Middle Earth.” Far from being “Radagast the Bird-tamer! Radagast the Simple! Radagast the Fool!,” as Saruman described him, or being diverted […]
Review of the Catching Fire Movie
My wife and I recently saw the film version of Catching Fire, the second in the series of movies based on Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games book trilogy. Overall, I thought the movie was very impressive, as good or better than the first film in the series, which I reviewed here. The plot of Catching Fire […]
Duke Leto Atreides on Political Ignorance
By Ilya Somin on October 7, 2013 10:45 am in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
I recently noticed that several of Frank Herbert’s Dune books are among the books that purchasers of my new book on political ignorance buy at the same time on Amazon. That brings to mind the following interesting quote on political ignorance by Duke Leto Atreides in Chapter 7 of Dune: “My propaganda corps is one […]
Time to Stop Using “Hobbit” as an Insult
Two years ago, John McCain derided “Tea Party hobbits.” Now Tulane University assistant dean Jim Letten is using the same insult against conservative “guerrilla journalist” James O’Keefe: Former U.S. attorney and assistant Tulane University Dean Jim Letten unleashed a barrage of verbal abuse at conservative “guerrilla journalist” James O’ Keefe and his film crew in […]
A Brief Review of World War Z
I saw the movie version of World War Z last night. Although it was mostly for entertainment, I was also conducting in-depth academic research for my article on political ignorance and the undead, my planned contribution to Economics of the Undead: Blood Brains and Benjamins, edited by Glen Whitman and James Dow! The article builds […]
The Plight of Star Wars’ Droids
Erik Sofge has an interesting Slate article about the oppression to which droids are subjected in the Stars Wars universe: George Lucas doesn’t care about metal people. No other explanation makes sense. In a kid-targeted sci-fi setting that’s notably inclusive, with as many friendly alien characters as villainous ones, the human rights situation for robots […]
Matthew Yglesias on Superman and Opportunity Costs
Matthew Yglesias has a fun Slate piece on what Superman should do with his powers: I don’t want to offer spoilers for the new Superman movie, Man of Steel but suffice it to say that for a while in the film Superman is kind of bouncing around sporadically rescuing people from random accidents. And it’s […]
A Star Trek Round-Up
Patrick Allen Foster of the Pub Editor blog has an interesting round-up of commentary generated by Matthew Yglesias’ recent Slate article on Star Trek, including my own post on the subject.
Review of Star Trek: Into Darkness
My wife and I recently watched Star Trek: Into Darkness, the second in the series of J.J. Abrams-directed”reboot” Star Trek movies that began in 2009. On the plus side, the film had some impressive action scenes and special effects. It also had more and somewhat better character development than its predecessor. Long-time fans of the […]
Matthew Yglesias on Star Trek
At Slate, Matthew Yglesias has an interesting article reviewing all of the Star Trek and many of the movies from the original 1960s series to the present. He especially focuses on the series’ ideology and politics, and its “utopian” vision of the future. Despite coming at the issue from a very different perspective, I actually […]
The Zombie Defense
In the proud tradition of the Twinkie Defense and the Chewbacca Defense, we now have the Zombie Defense: A young transient who said he was trying to shake zombies off a stolen semi-trailer truck he was driving caused a major freeway incident in southern California that sent four people to the hospital and tied up […]
Scotland Considers Law Recognizing Wedding Ceremonies Performed by Jedi Knights
By Ilya Somin on March 22, 2013 2:21 am in Gay Marriage, Religion, Religion and the Law, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Scotland is considering a new law that would grant official recognition to wedding ceremonies performed by practitioners of the new “Jedi” religion: The Force is strong with the Jedi in Scotland. A bill under consideration in Scotland would grant those who have literally made “Star Wars” a religion the power to perform marriage ceremonies. The […]
US Surveillance Drones Aid French Airstrikes in Mali
By Kenneth Anderson on March 4, 2013 1:01 pm in National Security, Robotics, Science Fiction/Fantasy, War and Armed Conflict
The Wall Street Journal national security reporting team has a new article in today’s Journal on how US surveillance drones are providing intelligence and targeting information to French forces in Mali, which then use the information to direct French (manned) airstrikes. The drone surveillance marks, according to the article, a widened role for the US […]