|
Psycho
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Augi
Scientific jokes - Spoiler: - The sun is dying! Why!
- We mined all fissile materials to make a bomb to reignite it!
The bomb can't be some ordinary nuclear weapon like we make (regardless of size). It would have to be weapon designed to magically initiate fission of the helium in the sun back into hydrogen... fairy dust and unicorn horns in a flux capacitor might accomplish that.
- It would actually take someone quite a while to freeze to death in space as there is no air to take the heat away. You have to radiate it and let the vacuum affect those vibrating molecules
I can enjoy the hydroponics, that is possible. I know the real reason they would have holodecks... it might not be the same reason I want one, but hell. |
I agree with willravel. You just need to see the movie. You also though should listen to the commentary by Brain Cox on the DVD. It answers a lot of questions (and also points out a lot of scientific mistakes that he admits he didn't catch or that were made for other reasons).
Actually, here's a interview he did with Popular Mechanics:
Quote:
Why is the future of the sun—and mankind—in jeopardy in the movie?
The sun is dying, and we’re going to try to do something about it. [Screenwriter] Alex [Garland] and [director] Danny [Boyle] contacted me and said, “We’ve got a film, and this is what happens. Can you think of any way in which that might occur?” My first reaction was, “Well, no. It’s going to die in five billion years, and that’s it.” But I asked a lot of friends at CERN—there’s a good collection of brains there—and we managed to come up with a wild scenario involving new particles, which we expect we might discover at CERN.
What’s the wild scenario?
One theory is that there are particles called Q-balls, which would’ve been created in the big bang and would be drifting around. If they drifted into the heart of a star, and if they were more stable than the matter the star is made of, then they could start eating the star from the inside out.
Scary.
Well, it’s almost certain that if these things are there, they wouldn’t go into the sun because the sun’s not dense enough to [hold] them. But if you get a really dense star, it could possibly cause a problem. We imagined that this Q-ball object is beginning to damage the core of the sun.
It’s theoretically possible?
Just about, yeah. It was very soon after I came on board that I convinced everybody that if the sun had gone out, there was nothing you could do—you’re not going to be able to relight the sun. But if a cancerous little thing had drifted in there and was causing trouble, then you could imagine removing it.
OK, so this Q-ball is damaging the sun from the inside out. How do the characters in the movie try to fix the situation?
This is the bit where it gets even more stretched (laughs). What they are trying to do is drive a bomb into the sun. Every bit of fissile material on Earth—every bit of uranium, every bit of explosive material—has been used, so this is their last chance to do it.
How are scientists portrayed in the film?
I think Alex wanted the movie to be a celebration of science, a film in which, unusually, nature is the thing that’s caused the problem, and the only way we’re going to survive is for scientists and engineers to do something about it. Science is usually the bad guy in science-fiction films, like Frankenstein. But here, the physicist, played by Cillian Murphy, is the hero of the film. It’s pure man-against-nature, but in the sense that nature is the thing that’s threatening. Which I actually believe to be true: The universe is a very dangerous place, and if we don’t find out about it and learn how to do things like travel in space, then eventually we’re going to have a problem, like an asteroid strike or something like that. Probably not the sun dying, but it’s a nice metaphor.
So you feel that we need to actively be learning more and exploring more?
Absolutely. There’s a hell of a lot about the universe that we don’t understand. Only by doing research and learning about the universe do you even give yourself a chance of protecting yourself against these unknown things that could happen. There tends to be a sense today that if we didn’t mess around with the planets, if we just kept our heads down and burned less oil, then we’d all be fine. But I don’t think that’s true.
What are scientists saying about the film?
We have debates in the scientific community about Sunshine. If you look at it and say, “Yeah, but the sun is not going to die for five billion years,” then you’re probably going to get upset with it. If you look at it as a film that tries to get under the skin of scientists, then you’ll really enjoy it.
As scientific advisor, did you get to work with the actors as well?
I worked really closely with Cillian Murphy, and he came to CERN for quite a while and spent time there, learning about physicists. I also gave talks to the rest of the cast about what it would be like to come face to face with the sun, because they have to visualize it. The heart of the film is people’s reaction to the sun as it gets bigger and bigger every day. Danny always calls it “the source of creation,” which is a nice name for it—it gives life to the Earth. It is unimaginably powerful. I told the cast that you could fit a million Earths inside it.
Did you get to spend time on the set as well?
Yeah. In particular, Cillian would say that he would like me around on certain days so he could talk about his reactions to things. There’s a great scene where his character really does come face to face with the sun. He ends up standing between the bomb, which represents man’s power, and the sun, and it’s really beautiful. He has to act what he would feel as someone who has studied nature all his life, and is presented with this wonderful view.
|
|