The Spooky Science of the Southern Reach - An Evening with Jeff VanderMeer

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 มี.ค. 2016
  • Jeff VanderMeer, author of the New York Times bestselling Southern Reach Trilogy (Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance), joined G. Eric Schaller, Professor of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth, for a broad-ranging discussion about the scientific and philosophical ideas that inspired the series. The two friends and occasional collaborators discussed conservation science, VanderMeer's relationship with the natural world, and the theme of extinction in "slow apocalypse" fiction, as well as the role of real-world science in science fiction. Moderator: Seth Mnookin.

ความคิดเห็น • 33

  • @Bombtrack411
    @Bombtrack411 6 ปีที่แล้ว +37

    I really liked Borne, but I *loved* the Southern Reach trilogy. I highly recommend them.

  • @coastalumbra2682
    @coastalumbra2682 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thank you for this. Very informative c::

  • @freewheeler8924
    @freewheeler8924 6 ปีที่แล้ว +19

    I've just finished reading Annihilation. I liked it, and in it I could see the influences of Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Solaris by Stanislaw Lem, a lot of J.G. Ballard, and a little H.P. Lovecraft - specifically the final creature from At the Mountains of Madness. So, yes, Annihilation is derivative, but all of the novels mentioned are excellent sources to base something new on.

    • @hanniffydinn6019
      @hanniffydinn6019 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Freewheeler ! Tediously unoriginal. They did it better in the 70s, this is so deep fake.

    • @freewheeler8924
      @freewheeler8924 6 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      After reading more of Vanderneer's stuff, I agree with you. His work is like a post-modernist mash-up of better sci-fi by other people - a total cut-n-paste job.

    • @hanniffydinn6019
      @hanniffydinn6019 6 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Freewheeler ! Nobody seems to be doing anything new! History is just repeating itself...having read Stanislaw Lem recently my mind is blown how original his writing is, he really describes some incredibly surreal worlds....I guess these authors are just trying to bring those incredible ideas dumb them down to a mass audience.... But honestly I'm so impressed by Lem. You should watch the German tv show based on his pilot stories! Ultra mind bending ! Also the humour I think is even more dada than Douglas Adams, he's the only author that comes close to Douglas Adams sci fi humour I feel....

    • @freewheeler8924
      @freewheeler8924 6 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yeah Lem is the greatest. And his range is so wide, from hyper-cerebral to total farce. I love Lem.
      Do you know A. Bertram Chandler? He's a lesser-known SF writer but he's done some damn fine stuff over the years (since the 1940s). In real life, he was a ship's captain, and on his long ocean voyages he wrote about: interstellar travel! His Space Opera is the best, intelligent yet funny, far better than the immensely over-rated Asimov and Heinlein.

    • @hanniffydinn6019
      @hanniffydinn6019 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Freewheeler ! Interesting, thanks for the heads up on Bertram chandler, I don't have any books by him, so I will most definitely check him out! 😎🤓👍

  • @batteryaciidburnable
    @batteryaciidburnable 6 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    This video contains spoilers

  • @cocopud
    @cocopud 6 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    When he was talking about various fungal contaminations I was cleaning out the bird feeders. What did I find in them? Fungal contaminations. Queue twilight zone music do do do do do do do do do..... 😜

  • @jusouza1121
    @jusouza1121 ปีที่แล้ว

    I just read the entire trilogy again. It's my favorite! I'd love to be there!!

    • @pluto9000
      @pluto9000 ปีที่แล้ว

      I wish I was there too 🤯

    • @Sunsp0t_Lu
      @Sunsp0t_Lu ปีที่แล้ว

      In Area X? Or at this session? 😅

  • @gollygeedang
    @gollygeedang ปีที่แล้ว +1

    34:14 - illusion of control / complexity of eco systems

  • @Branstrom
    @Branstrom 7 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Who said that about the relative difficulty of AI vs ecosystems?

  • @davids2254
    @davids2254 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wow
    At 32:00 😄 could that be said about what we're going through during the Pandemic

  • @chrisgreene2405
    @chrisgreene2405 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Really ? There are books! I loved the first one

  • @alugartttt
    @alugartttt 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    So where is the novel that expands on Southern Reach trilogy (the he mentioned when asked about SnS Brigade)

  • @arcadealchemist
    @arcadealchemist 6 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    reminds me of SCP-354

    • @Talon3000
      @Talon3000 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      The whole thing really reminds me of a SCP.

  • @babakhanoushii
    @babakhanoushii ปีที่แล้ว

    49:20

  • @andrewdeen1
    @andrewdeen1 6 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    strange how scientifically-minded he is when he used hypnosis as such a major plot point in the book

    • @RoboBoddicker
      @RoboBoddicker 6 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      Andrew Deen Er, hypnosis is a real thing though

    • @UltraViolet666
      @UltraViolet666 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      He talks about it at 1:11:00. Hypnosis and mind control is a real thing that has been studied by psychologists and whatever other scientists it interests. Have you ever heard of the MK Ultra experiments? It's probably the best example of why it's actually illegal, and how scientists and organisations have tried to use it before

  • @mwmann
    @mwmann ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Physical life is short. Spiritual life is eternal.
    Many unwise humans make the nonsense of the physical world important. It isn't. It's nonsense. The Spiritual world that reveals the truth and the reason and the point of existence is found in only one book, the Holy Bible. All else is either a waste of time, man's vanity or a product with its primary author existing in spiritual darkness who uses or possesses physical humans.

    • @DeroriMusic
      @DeroriMusic 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Wouldn't this comment also be futile then? Seeing as it's in the physical world, transmitted fully by physical systems?