Q&BA/Dot Con 2012: "The Sci of SciFi"

On February 26, 2012 I did a special episode of my Q&BA live video chat as part of the Dot Con 2012 online convention. The topic of the chat was The Science of Science Fiction, and I answered viewers' questions live about that.

Dot Con 2012: http://dotconfest.com/

Q&BA archive: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/bad...

• Category

  Science & Technology

[ProgHead777 .]

Neil deGrasse Tyson made a good point about how long it took life to arise on Earth. It's really not fair to start the clock at the actual formation of the earth since for the first 600,000 years or so, the surface of the earth was completely inhospitable for life. It was essentially molten rock. Life evolved about 200,000 or so years after the surface cooled enough for solid rock to form and liquid water to sit on top of it. That's MUCH less than a billion years.

[ii121]

Tarkovski's Solaris is amazing you bastard.

That said, it's sci fi as an art film way more than sci fi as anything related to science.

[pat b]

You mean Earth II.

[jesuswatchesyouwank]

I am so glad to hear that one other person in the world knows of Robert Sheckley. He was amazing, he died near-penniless in 2005, I actually sent his family money to help cover medical expenses. I knew I like Phil's humor for a reason... Read the book "Options" and it'll change your life. Oh yeah, fuck hypnotoad.

[spudd86]

Ok you explain fusion in the same number of words better then. You have 2 sentences go.

[Hypntotoad]

When you can explain hydrogen fusion without getting it wrong on a fundamental level , you might be able to call yourself a STUDENT of physics.I have verifiable proof that you cannot, and you come across as a moron to me.You want to be a fag, it's not sweat off my *, but pushing it as an agenda to young students of science is deplorably and disgusting.. The fact that you call you self an astrophysicist is a BAD joke,indicative of the general condition of our nation, and it's choice to lie a lie

[Smidge204]

A botched wormhole experiment ("hyperspace gateway") blew up the moon in the Cowboy Bebop anime series. :D Minor plot / setting point, though.

[ugod987]

Excellent