Damien Walter

Can Denis Villeneuve make a movie out of Rendezvous with Rama?

What has a superbly detailed technical description of an interstellar megastructure and no characters or story?

Denis Villeneuve’s latest film project.

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Why do we like Geralt of Rivia? The Witcher season 2

He smells terrible. He never has any money. And he’s a violent killer.

There are a lot of reasons not to like Geralt of Rivia. But we do like Geralt of Rivia.

Why is that?

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Kim Stanley Robinson | Interstellar travel is a religious fantasy

Science fiction is fighting a doctrinal war. Between those who believe that humankind’s future is still the stars, and those – like Kim Stanley Robinson – who believe interstellar travel is a fantasy of religious belief. The science is clear, travel to other stars may well be forever beyond us. So why do we keep telling this story?

A response to Kim Stanley Robinson’s interview for the Science Fiction Talks club on Clubhouse. Find his full interview here: https://www.clubhouse.com/room/xe65rroG

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The Unreal future of science fiction

I’m resisting the temptation to throw it all in and disappear down the Unreal Engine rabbit hole. Forget outer space, the future of humankind lies in the infinite exploration of inner space and the realms of the human imagination. But don’t worry….the world-building AI will always need storytellers.

00:00 The Unreal Engine rabbit hole
04:44 Humans are never going to outer space
08:23 J G Ballard’s take-down of outer space
10:12 The future of inner space
15:35 We are all science fiction creators
17:16 Even the gods of world-building still need storytellers

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The 21 most significant science fiction storytellers of the 21st century (so far)

As the first twenty one years of the twenty-first century come to a close, who are the creators of science fiction defining the century ahead? Damien Walter writes on technology, culture and science fiction for The Guardian, BBC, Independent, Wired, Buzzfeed, SFX and Aeon. He teaches The Rhetoric of Story & Writing the 21st CenturyContinue reading “The 21 most significant science fiction storytellers of the 21st century (so far)”

Lord of the Rings = 1984 + Hobbits

On the surface Lord of the Rings and 1984 look very different. But JRR Tolkien and George Orwell were men of the same generation, the same class, and the same culture, writing about the same matter – power.

00:00 Tolkien & Orwell
04:24 Surface Exterior vs Deep Interior
07:12 Symbols vs Symbols
12:14 Class & Communism
13:18 1984 is the future where Sauron won the Third Age
15:09 Meaning vs Nihilism
16:40 We would use power for good…but can we resist using our One Ring?

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Dreams are messages from the deep : meditation on Dune

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune opens with a sentence that is not in Frank Herbert’s DUNE. “Dreams are messages from the deep”. What do these words mean? And why does Denis Villeneuve choose to open his movie with them?

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Dune : the 7 levels of meaning

Part Seven of Advanced Science Fiction & Fantasy: writing the 21st century myth Dune is a phenomenon, a novel written in the 1960s that seems to become more popular with every decade. The story of Paul Atreides and the battle for Arrakis fascinates readers who follow the young hero on his journey of transformation. ButContinue reading “Dune : the 7 levels of meaning”

Brave New World vs 1984

Part Six of Advanced Science Fiction & Fantasy: writing the 21st century myth The twentieth century produced two great visions of dystopia. George Orwell’s 1984 is still the most terrifying depiction of totalitarian control ever depicted, a nightmare future of surveillance, torture and mind control. Aldous Huxley’s dystopia shows us a future of pleasure andContinue reading “Brave New World vs 1984”

The Avengers : how Marvel made our modern supergods

Part Five of Advanced Science Fiction & Fantasy: writing the 21st century myth The Disney owned Marvel franchise is the biggest and most profitable story in human history, a vast metanarrative built around the interwoven stories of a modern pantheon of supergods. How are such huge stories told? The answer lies in understanding the archetypalContinue reading “The Avengers : how Marvel made our modern supergods”

Blade Runner : what is human?

Part Four of Advanced Science Fiction & Fantasy: writing the 21st century myth Blade Runner challenges us to ask – what is human? The science fiction author Philip K Dick believed that our humanity was based not in our body, or in our mind, but in our capacity for empathy. Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner isContinue reading “Blade Runner : what is human?”

Meaning vs Atheism: can science fiction bridge the gap?

Science fiction is a strange beast. A exploration of the hard edged future of science and technology, fused with the transcendent hunger for imagination and self-transformation. Can science fiction be a bridge between the two “non-overlapping magisteria” of Science and Religion?

This episode of the Science Fiction podcast is a crossover with my series commenting on the “Intellectual MMA” of YouTube philosophy. The Four Horsemen of Atheism – Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett VS The Four Horsemen of Meaning – Jordan Peterson, Jonathan Pageau, John Vervaeke and Bishop Barron. Who is who? And who won?

00:00 Science fiction bridges religion and science
01:04 What happens when Science meets Fiction?
02:21 The era of Intellectual MMA
03:43 Horsemen of Meaning vs Horsemen of Atheism
05:09 The rise of the YouTube intellectual
07:19 Which Horseman is which?
12:01 The Meaning Crisis
14:58 The problem of Self-Deception
20:52 So…who won?
22:12 We need a participatory philosophy
24:59 Religious dogma? BAD! Religious debate? GREAT!