About Wyrd Smythe
The canonical fool on the hill watching the sunset and the rotation of the planet and thinking what he imagines are large thoughts.
Roseanne Barr is still generating the occasional headline with her antics in reaction to the cancellation of her ABC show, so I thought that, rather than just delete this post (which has been sitting in my Drafts folder), I’d set it free to roam the web. “Better out than in,” I believe the saying goes (and, yes, I’m well aware of what that then compares this post to; I stand by that comparison).
One thing I found interesting about it all was the contrast between Barr’s transgression and one made by Samantha Bee on her TBS show. There were some similarities in that both involved personal insults made by popular entertainment figures from their chosen platforms. There are also differences in content, as well as in how Barr and Bee handled themselves after.
Currently we’re in a very reactive, very polarized environment, and the Barr and Bee fracas put it all on mini display.
Continue reading
2 Comments | tags: Roseanne Barr, Samantha Bee, Valerie Jarrett | posted in Opinion, TV
Lately I’ve been reading about compatibilism with regard to free will. While I’ve considered free will before, especially in the context of determinism, I’ve never explored compatibilism, and I decided it was time I got around to checking it out.
What triggered my renewed interest was, firstly, the movie Arrival (and the short story on which it’s based), and secondly, the HBO series, Westworld. Both have thoughtful science fiction with themes concerning free will (or its lack).
When one of my favorite physics bloggers, Sabine Hossenfelder, wrote a post about free will, it inspired me to write one, too. Monkey see, monkey do!
Continue reading
104 Comments | tags: causal determinism, chaos, chaos theory, determinism, free will, physical determinism | posted in Opinion, Philosophy
I should probably start by hastening to add: I don’t dislike dinosaurs, either! It’s an ambiguity of English that when one says, “I don’t like X,” it can mean one has negative feelings about the ‘X’ in question, or it can mean just that one has no positive feelings for it — that one is neutral (or perhaps not interested enough to have an opinion).
It’s an easy jump from “don’t like” to “dislike,” so the phrase, “I don’t like X,” is usually taken that way. But I have wiring in my brain that makes me see it more literally — as failing to have a liking for ‘X’ — so I often have to clarify what I mean.
And what I mean is that I have zero interest in dinosaurs.
Continue reading
3 Comments | tags: clowns, coffee, dinosaurs, Game of Thrones, ginger cookies, Jurassic Park, molasses cookies, pirates, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Tom and Jerry | posted in Life, Movies, Opinion, Sci-Fi Saturday, TV
It’s that time again, July 4th, a date that, for me, has multiple life events bound to it. The key one here is my blog’s anniversary. Now it’s seven!
I started it on July 4, 2011, a date I deliberately selected to — I hoped — add a positive life event to the mix (which most recently was my wedding anniversary for a marriage that lasted only four years). And, pretty much without qualification, it’s definitely been a positive experience! I’ve enjoyed the writing, and I hope it’s been entertaining, educational, and thoughtful. I’d like to think it has been. I’ve also met some great other bloggers along the way.
Oddly (and this wasn’t planned), it turns out I’ve written 700 posts here (this is #701). So there’s kind of a sevens thing going. Which is lucky, unlucky, or completely meaningless, depending on how you look at it.
Continue reading
3 Comments | tags: 2011, Anniversary, blog, blogger, blogging, July 4 | posted in Life
Make no mistake here: I am still definitely a fan of HBO’s Westworld. I think it’s pretty darn good television science fiction, but I do recognize that it’s not great TV SF. It is a bit niche, both as SF and as a puzzle box, and this season seems to suffer some poor (or at least odd) thinking along with some apparent style-over-substance decisions.
But I’m still a fan; I’ll be back to watch season three. In 2020. If I’m even still alive. (I’m old enough for that not to be a given, although it never really is.) I’ve seen a lot more negative coverage this season (generally well-deserved, I think), and I’m hoping it is taken to heart and results in a better third season.
In this last Westworld post (for now) I offer some general reflections and observations of the series so far.
Continue reading
3 Comments | tags: Arnold Weber, Ashley Stubbs, Bernard Lowe, Charlotte Hale, Dolores Abernathy, Elsie Hughes, HBO, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
The more I reflect on the second season of HBO’s Westworld, the more I have some very serious questions about key aspects of the story. In the first season, I had serious questions about The Maze, which was central to the story. This season’s serious questions, equally story central, seem even more serious.
Primarily, there is the matter of the Peter Abernathy encryption key, which spans both seasons. Secondarily, there are the related matters of The Door and The Flood. And, finally, there is the matter of Ford’s Final Game for William.
I really can’t seem to find the logic behind any of them! They all give me a bad case of the Yeah, Buts!
Continue reading
3 Comments | tags: Arnold Weber, Ashley Stubbs, Bernard Lowe, Charlotte Hale, Dolores Abernathy, Elsie Hughes, HBO, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, MacGuffin, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Westworld (TV series) | posted in Rant, TV
The second season of the HBO show, Westworld, has answered many of the questions raised in season one. Of course, it’s also raised a whole crop of new questions! And, sadly, that crop seems to contain more WTF questions than last season.
The big WTF in the first season was The Maze, and there were some smaller ones, mostly to do with Ford’s astonishing foresight into what people would do. (Smacks a bit of Hari Seldon’s Psychohistory.) But this season has a number of choices that strike me as working backwards from a cool image or as style over substance.
More important are the actual questions raised, and hopefully there are far more of those. Let’s find out (serious spoilers, obviously)…
Continue reading
Leave a comment | tags: Arnold Weber, Ashley Stubbs, Bernard Lowe, Charlotte Hale, Dolores Abernathy, Elsie Hughes, HBO, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
In a previous post I wrote a story about how the guns might work in the HBO show, Westworld. In this post I thought I’d take a stab at describing how the host brains might work — a much more challenging task!
As with the guns, as with any of us fans trying to understand any work of fiction we love, our guesswork depends on the facts we can observe in the show — the official canon, so to speak. Additional facts can come from the Word Of God (the show’s creators). Any creation of ours has to fit all these facts and has to be logical and plausible within the context of the story.
So, what do we know about host brains, and what might we guess about their operation, capabilities, and limits?
Continue reading
Leave a comment | tags: consciousness, Greg Egan, HBO, human consciousness, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
As a long-time fan of both science and science fiction, I expect the science in the fiction to be, at least, not mind-blowing stupid. Especially, I expect it to not be too magical, but a better way to put it is I expect it to not piss me off. Granted, the hardness of the SF determines how important this is. By the time you get to fantasy (completely soft SF), the science is magic!
And as a long-time Star Trek fan, I’m used to taking the ball and running with it, to imaging how, for instance, transporters and holodecks work. In fact, I call such flights of imagination “Star Trekkin’ it,” and I’ve been doing it since the 1960s!
The point is that I’ve decided how the guns work on the HBO show Westworld. And the best part is, it might even actually work!
Continue reading
Leave a comment | tags: HBO, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
The first time I posted about the HBO show Westworld was after the first season had completed. Back then I called it a “gem” with much that was “worthy” of “thought and discussion.” I saw it as some of the best science fiction available on TV or in film.
With the second season now over — the finale airing just last night — I am still a big fan, still consider it very worthy, very superior, SF TV, but some of the blush is off the rose. Just a tiny bit. I just wasn’t quite as impressed with season two, but that could be a matter of familiarity.
In any event, now that it’s over, and we know the whole story (so far), it’s time to start dissecting it!
Continue reading
Leave a comment | tags: Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, HBO, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
Logos con carne 