47: Now I Dream in French

Mar 7, 2017

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This week’s first topic is self-driving cars and how soon they’re likely to be ready, as they say, for prime time. Later, you'll find The Spoiler Slot filled with a discussion of the 2016 movie, Arrival.

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Links and Show Notes:

Merlin admits to almost watching something on TV and encourages John to talk him out of buying a new laptop. John has concerns about dander diamonds, and Merlin briefs John on the mechanics of modern version control.

John cannily revisits his Parameters of the World and, no, he doesn’t need your damned telemetry.

Later, you'll find The Spoiler Slot filled with a spoiler-heavy discussion of the 2016 movie, Arrival. If you haven’t seen the film yet, be sure to bail out before the spoiler horn is deployed at (1:13:13). [Watch it. It’s good.]

Merlin pulls a pretty dramatic turnaround but still has some beefs, while John has very strong opinions about whether one character might be a monster. Merlin has no difficulty choosing the saddest line in the movie.

(Recorded on Tuesday, February 28, 2017)

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We deconstruct and reconstruct the recent release “Arrival,” staring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker, and based on a story by Ted Chiang that we discussed nearly 300 episodes ago. There’s praise for the story’s restraint, quiet tone, beautiful scenes of solitary obelisks in remote cow pastures, and realistic portrayal of its main characters. We also enter a spirited debate about the film’s sci-fi plot mechanism, the way its aliens (and alien language) are portrayed, and the morality of a choice that one character may—or may not—have made.

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