Sci-Phi: Science Fiction as Philosophy (2018)

antony capellaMarch 20, 2024

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The science fiction genre has become increasingly influential in mainstream popular culture, evolving into one of the most engaging storytelling tools we use to think about technology and consider the shape of the future. Along the way, it has also become one of the major lenses we use to explore important philosophical questions.

24 lectures
1 – Inception and the Interpretation of Art
2 – The Matrix and the Value of Knowledge
3 – The Matrix Sequels and Human Free Will
4 – The Adjustment Bureau, the Force, and Fate
5 – Contact: Science versus Religion
6 – Arrival: Aliens and Radical Translation
7 – Interstellar: Is Time Travel Possible?
8 – Doctor Who and Time Travel Paradoxes
9 – Star Trek: TNG and Alternate Worlds
10 – Dark City, Dollhouse, and Personal Identity
11 – Westworld and A.I. Artificial Intelligence
12 – Transcendence and the Dangers of AI
13 – The Thirteenth Floor: Are We Simulated?
14 – The Orville, Orwell, and the “Black Mirror”
15 – Star Wars: Good versus Evil
16 – Firefly, Blake’s 7, and Political Rebellion
17 – Starship Troopers, Doctor Who, and Just War
18 – The Prime Directive and Postcolonialism
19 – Capitalism in Metropolis, Elysium, and Panem
20 – Snowpiercer and Climate Change
21 – Soylent Green: Overpopulation and Euthanasia
22 – Gattaca and the Ethics of Reproduction
23 – The Handmaid’s Tale: Feminism and Religion
24 – Kubrick’s 2001 and Nietzsche’s Ubermensch