I feel like people take these way too seriously, like some of these comments sound like it’s personal. Its just a movie/book series if some one wants to poke some fun then just let em.
I think the problem is more that Tyson is "uMm AcHtUaLlY"ing in a way to try and be cool or funny, but it doesn’t come off as cool or funny what-so-ever. It’s just irritating.
If its irritating then why bother engaging with it. There is a point where you can just ignore it because in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t change anything (or at least it shouldn’t).
Idk I think he does it in some misguided attempt to try to educate people. I agree it is obnoxious though.
Movie: “Y’all check out these space wizards who can pilot big space ships at FTL. Check out these giant worms that shit magic dust. Check out a Special Boy who can see the future.”
NDT: “None of this is scientifically accurate.”
I swear the only time he’s relevant is when he’s bitching about some science fiction movie not being 100% accurate
Taking an ice-pick to “Contact” because it isn’t realistic, and posting it in Tyson’s DMs every day until he deletes his account.
Science fiction not science facts. When was the book written again? And why is an Astrophysicist giving opinions on worm biology? Not his area of expertise?
The specific thing he’s bitching about is sand physics, that is that sand doesn’t really ‘thump’.
This is something that is actually specifically addressed in the book, I’m not sure about the movie; short version is that the sand and weather on Arrakis are weird, and the sand forms more solid areas than elsewhere.
So not only is he complaining about a minor (from a realism perspective, it’s important in-universe) detail, he’s also showing that he did not read the book
Which is funny because on Earth sand actually does create resonant chambers in the desert dunes that do, under specific circumstances, drive sound hundreds of miles. It’s the phenomenon of singing deserts, that goes from anywhere between low rumbles up to flute like warble, it’s been documented since the times of Marco Polo. We even have squeaking sand beaches. So, as usual, the pedantic twat is actually technically incorrect.
So I guess transcribing a YouTube video and providing a weak opinion on what was said is considered journalism these days? This is such a low effort article.
I watched the interview and it seems like more of a comedy bit than Neil’s actual opinion of the movie overall. Some people just want something to get upset over I guess…
I’m kind of surprised at the reactions honestly. He’s even said this in interviews before, it’s a fun bit he does to comedically over-analyse any time a new sci-fi film comes out. I think he stopped or considered stopping for a while precisely because people took out the pitchforks and he didn’t want to ruin people’s fun, but I think the fact that many people enjoyed it swayed him to keep going.
The problem is that these kinds of news outlets know that if you take it out of context in an article headline and make it sound like it’s a genuine critique of the movie, you’ll get a lot of engagement from people who are ticked off about it.
Yeah, it doesn’t ruin anything for me. If you demand that your science fiction be 100% accurate, there’s going to be very little science fiction that you enjoy.
Dune is really more like science fantasy, like Star Wars, anyway.
Seismic surveys looking for oil and gas use what's called a thumper truck, which literally thumps the ground to send seismic signals through the Earth. Those signals are received by seismometers some distance away. Geologic structures underground are detected by the way they reflect, bend and otherwise change the thumper truck's seismic waves.
When seismologists perform these surveys near sand dunes, however, they notice their signals are not coming through clearly.
Ehhhh sometimes it goes too far. I remember one time he commented after a mass shooting that, uhm ackshually the flu kills more people than mass shootings so why are you all upset? It was pretty offensive.
I would consider it offensive to belittle the murder of children/adults just because diseases kill more people. That’s such a smooth brain take, and is honestly something I’d expect to come out of a Republican politician.
The original book finds itself in a science fiction genre only because anything with spaceships and technology is placed there. For all practical purposes though, it’s a space fantasy.
In other words, complaining about science of Dune is like complaining about poetic meter of a tax report - something you do only with the closest of friends.
There’s also a lot in there about how a planet’s ecology influences culture. Also the long term effects of banning computers. Also about how in the far future people will forget about Earth but some cultural artifacts will remain even when people have forgotten why they do things. Also about how over enough time, people may change so much they may not even be recognizable as human. Also how with the existence of FTL travel it may become impossible to escape the killer robots people will inevitably build unless someone turns themself into a worm.
Not really and I don’t think NDT really does either, he’s using pop sci-fi for science outreach to point out the parts of the fiction that are fiction that many of us without a thorough science education may miss or to build interest for science in the general population. I think even if he misses the mark sometimes it’s a valuable thing to attempt and he does nail it occasionally.
Tweets need to go away period. what a piece of shit content model and platform. Having a very short character limit was never the genius move people thought it was
Originally it was a technical necessity since Twitter had to work via SMS which has a limit of 160 characters. The enforced brevity was part of it’s original charm IMHO.
I know where the limit came from but no one forced them to use SMS or make an app, period.
I never understood how forcing people into so few characters was a good thing. All it did was make people post less thoughtfully and more often.
This whole thread is people pissed off that NDT posts things without thinking about how they come off so it kind of makes sense he would do that on Twitter.
I sorta get it. Limits allow for creativity. I find myself being the most creative when I work within limits, selfimposed or otherwise. That’s why I love dnd and pathfinder.