Science Fiction (feat. Helen de Cruz)

Overthink

Ellie Anderson, Ph.D. and David Peña-Guzmán, Ph.D.

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Education

4.7 • 549 Ratings

🗓️ 4 January 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Would you willingly plug yourself into an experience-simulating machine such as The Matrix? What would happen to society if robots suddenly became conscious? What would you do if, for some reason, you encountered an utterly alien life form? Many of us first ponder big philosophical questions such as these through exposure to science fiction stories in books or movies. In episode 42, Ellie and David explore the power of sci-fi. After considering the origins of this genre, they interview Dr. Helen De Cruz, an expert on the philosophy of science fiction, about how our brains process sci-fi stories differently than other speculative narratives, including philosophical thought experiments!

Works Discussed

Helen De Cruz, Johan De Smedt, and Eric Schwitzgebel, Philosophy Through Science Fiction Stories: Exploring the Boundaries of the Possible
Johan De Smedt and Helen De Cruz. "The Epistemic Value of Speculative Fiction"
Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation
The Matrix Decoded: Le Nouvel Observateur Interview With Jean Baudrillard, 2004
Ted Chiang, "Story of Your Life"
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
Zhuangzi, The Inner Chapters
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The Matrix (film)
Zenon, Girl of the Twenty-First Century (film)
Arrival (film)
Dune (film)
I, Robot (film)
Robert Nozick, “The Experience Machine"
Ruth Garrett Millikan, “On Swampkinds"

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm David Pena Guzman.
0:08.6	And I'm Ellie Anderson.
0:10.2	Welcome to Overthink.
0:12.0	The podcast were two friends, who are also professors,
0:15.0	put philosophy in dialogue with the everyday.
0:18.6	Because big ideas are within everyone's reach.
0:30.5	David, the fourth installment of the Matrix movies has recently come out.
0:37.3	Yes. Okay, you make it sound like you're a Matrix, Dan. I don't even think you like the Matrix movies has recently come out. Yes.
0:38.6	Okay, you make it sound like you're a Matrix, Dan.
0:40.3	I don't even think you like The Matrix, do you?
0:42.4	What?
0:42.9	Okay, so I haven't seen the fourth Matrix, but I was very into the Matrix when it came out,
0:49.4	one through three.
0:50.9	Oh, okay.
0:51.5	I stand corrected.
0:52.5	Yeah, no, I did really like them. And I have to say the first one
0:56.9	stands the test of time pretty well in a way that the second one and the third one that are
1:02.3	mostly fancy explosions and special effects do not. Okay. I haven't seen the second and third one,
1:08.8	to be honest. Philosophers love the Matrix because it's really known as one of the most philosophical films that plays on the difference between reality and illusion, waking and dreaming. There are political philosophy resonances to it and ethical ones. And I, yeah, I mean, I saw it.
1:28.3	I kind of forgot it.
1:29.8	Well, you know, the first time that I felt like I finally aged out of my students' age group is when I asked my students if they had seen the matrix and not a single one of them said yes. Yeah. Well, even the matrix is even a little bit out of my age range. Ew, Ellie. I'm only a couple years younger than you, but yeah, I feel like it wasn't really part of the zeit guys. I mean, so the first one came out in, like 2000, 2001, something like this? 1999.
2:01.0	Oh, okay.
	...

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