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674. Escape from the Multicurse: Arrival
🕑 Added 2024-01-12 14:00:16 +0000 UTC
Our three co-hosts are stuck in the multiverse and need to get back to their home universe. Clearly, the only way to do that is to explore our cultural obsession with multiverses, alternate timelines and parallel worlds, and tie it all into a conversation about post-modern art, pop culture, and the lessons these stories teach us. Also, each episode, one of them is an asshole who will probably sabotage the whole thing.
This week we discuss 2016’s Arrival.
Features:
Michael Swaim: https://twitter.com/SWAIM_CORP
Adam Ganser: https://twitter.com/therealganz
Abe Epperson: https://twitter.com/AbeTheMighty
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Comments
Antipaganda
A really enjoyable butthole. Like, my mind was expanded by this butthole. A butthole is circular, by the way. Eh? Eh? Coincidence?
Antipaganda
I accept your reality substitution, and accept its necessity because otherwise you'd have to talk about individual episodes of Sliders to keep the podcast going. Hmmm, wait, that'd actually be hilarious.
Small Beans
The show covers multiverses, time loops, time travel stories. Basically anything with "alternates." But it's me, the asshole, and I regret nothing and never will. -Abe Epperson, the greatest podcast decider in the world
Antipaganda
Ok, so the asshole who is whoever chose the movie because it's very carefully the opposite of a multiverse movie
Brandon Spoelstra
Abe came into this one all horned up. No notes.
Zoë Behrmann
Recommend for a multicurse episode. Source Code! The movie itself is pretty mid but the existential multiverse questions are ripe for the picking!
Searcher
Would future history be more accurate than past history?
Candyce Ward
No reference to the Tralfamadorians? Even if they only have future recollection of their own life, I would think knowledge of the future beyond could be passed backwards through the generations. Recorded history could work in both directions.
Clare Ireland
Have you guys read the novella this movie is based on? If not, I'd highly recommend. In my opinion, Ted Chiang is one of the best sci fi writers around today, and most of his works are really short, so they're pretty easy to knock out. One of the big themes of all his works is looking at how people deal with different types of inevitability from a psychological, emotional, and existential perspective. In some works, including this one, the inevitability in question is hard determinism. (So, yes, personally I think this is a fully deterministic universe.) In others, the types of inevitability in question are things like death or the end of the world (the heat death of the universe, the end of operating system support for sentient AI, etc.) Good stuff. :D
Spencer Saunders
Great episode! One thing I would push back on is with the discussion of people who are outside of linear time: the idea that they have no need to do anything because they can just sit and see how it all will/would go, it'll only go that way if they go and do the things, otherwise it would just be them sitting watching themselves sit watching themselves sit watching themselves shit watching themselves sit watching themselves sit maybe that was addressed, I spaced out a few times because this is all very fun to think about. Would love to hear Adam talk philosophy more!
Ryan (Kanserus Bone Saw) Bowdish
A Secret Window porn parody? Yes please.
Small Beans
secret butthole
Ryan (Kanserus Bone Saw) Bowdish
Interesting you guys settled on no asshole...it seemed quite obviously to be Adam this time around, despite his good arguments lol
Burrito
Louise: So you know I’m going to do something before I do it? Costello: Yes. Louise: What if I do something different? Costello: Then I don’t know that.
Burrito
Listen: Louise Banks has come unstuck in time.
