Theme: This is the worst trip I’ve ever been on.

Episode Connections
Authors, stories. “The Cold Equations.”
Films. The Towering Inferno. The Poseidon Adventure. Sharknado. The Island at the Top of the World. The Black Hole. Alien. Pitch Black. Aliens. Castaway. Passengers. The Martian. Ad Astra.
TV episodes, series. Battlestar Galactica. Survivorman.
Music. The Beach Boys, “The Sloop John B.”
Ideas. The psychological impact of prolonged contact in close quarters. Boredom breeds crippling malaise. People need a sense of purpose. Anomie: “the profound sense of isolation, alienation, and lack of purpose that individuals experience when society's rules and values no longer clearly apply.” Corporate attitudes toward investment and resources mean that sometimes there is no real incentive to solve a recurring problem. Humans tend to willingly forget trauma. Colonial “shuttles” versus generational star ships. Living in realtime versus traveling in cryogenic suspension. Hikikomori: “are reclusive adolescents or adults who withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement.” Contemporary society has created pathways through which we can and do become socially isolated. We experiment with isolation at times. Humans require socialization until population density reaches a certain point, when the impact of socialization flips to the negative.

Whoa - Hmmm - WTF. Bill says definitely not a WTF story. Big hmmm, little whoa. Dan feel a stronger sense of Whoa than Bill.

Previous episode: Arkady Strugotsky, “Wanderers and Travelers”
Next episode: Frederic Pohl, “The Hated”

Music Credit: "Ouroboros" Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Link: Creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Theme: Does this RFID tag make me look inferior?

Episode Connections
Authors, stories. R.A. Lafferty, “Encased in Ancient Rind.” Arthur C. Clarke, “The Sentinel.” Murray Leinster. “First Contact.”
TV episodes, series. Star Trek. Star Trek: Next Generation. Babylon 5.
Ideas. Soviet-era science fiction. Political philosophy. World building. Queries about similarities and differences among species on Earth and other places around the universe. Reflections on the relative intelligence (and by extension significance) of species. Ponders the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe, and how it might compare to humans. What responsibilities do we have to other species? What responsibilities do they have to us? What is intelligence? What is reason? What is evolution and maturity? The Golden Rule as a guide for interspecies engagement. The Prime Directive. Alien abduction.
Whoa - Hmmm - WTF. Dan says Hmmm. Bill says yes, but with a sprinkle of Whoa.

Correction. Bill refers to the septopods as a subclass of octopi, then in fact they would be another order of cephalopod. A momentary lapse of biologic.

Previous episode: Chris Neville, “The Forest of Zyl”
Next episode: Frank Robinson, “The Wreck of the Ship John B”

Music Credit: "Ouroboros" Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Link: Creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Theme: It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.

Episode Connections
Authors, stories. Murray Leinster, The Lonely Planet. Ursula K. LeGuin, “Vaster Than Empires and More Slow.” Stanislaw Lem, Solaris. Tom Godwin, “The Cold Equations.” Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game. Jack McDevitt. Robert Heinlein, “They.”
Films. The Happening.
TV episodes, series. That margarine commercial from the 70s. The Office.
Ideas. Colonial expansion on a planetary scale. Links between recorded history and species survival. Erase history, erase humanity and all life on Earth. Genetic code is a form of recorded history. Sentient planets and plants. Can civilization advance if it cannot record its history or accomplishments? Gaia Hypothesis. Animism.
What did we miss? James Tiptree, Jr., “The Last Flight of Dr. Ain.”
Whoa - Hmmm - WTF. We gave it away early … a definite WTF tale.

Previous episode: Ann Warren Griffith, “Captive Audience”
Next episode: Arkady Strugotsky, “Wanderers and Travelers”

Music Credit: "Ouroboros" Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Link: Creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/