Does It Fly‪?‬ Roddenberry Entertainment

Follow us as we take it back to 2006 with the Academy Award-nominated Children of Men! Adapted from the 1992 P.D. James novel of the same name, the film, directed and co-written by Alfonso Cuarón, is set in a gritty, dystopian 2027, where humanity faces imminent extinction after years of global infertility. Amidst this chaos, former activist Theo (Clive Owen) is reluctantly drawn into a mission to escort a miraculously pregnant woman, Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), to the safety of a scientific organization dedicated to finding a way for people to once again have children. When the world is reduced to a single lifetime, how do we as a species overcome no guarantee of an assumed future? In this episode, Hakeem and Tamara nail down the realism behind Children of Men’s hopeless society and get down to business discussing whether or not ALL of humanity could suddenly become infertile.



From a narrative perspective, Tamara investigates the world of Cuarón’s mid-apocalyptic dystopia. Does the film’s lack of explanation of where infertility came from impact the world-building? When humanity no longer has hope, how would we behave and react? Would we replace children with something else? And most importantly, what does the title “Children of Men” even mean?



On the scientific front, Hakeem investigates the feasibility of a species-wide infertility epidemic. Could such a disease only affect humans and not other species? How can the same disease get inside all of us? What would it take for such a disease to spread planet-wide? Looking towards the future, would it be possible for babies to be born without ever being in a mother's womb?



Our latest episode includes all this and more! Remember that you can join in on the conversation in the comments on our YouTube page, so be sure to like, subscribe, and come back for more!



FURTHER READING



Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Here are a few recommendations!



The Children of Men by P.D. James

The modern science fiction classic that inspired the film!



Growing A Baby Lamb in an Artificial Womb

“There was some small animal, a lamb or a goat, that was actually bred in a plastic bag; it had its own umbilical cord… You probably don’t need a womb anymore.”



Making Synthetic Human Embryos

“How do we create new human embryos and bring them to complete their gestation cycle artificially?”



Choosing Pets Over Babies

“We see in our own time now millennials who are like ‘I’m putting off having kids’ and lather their animals with love, affection, and goodies.”



Hauntologyーmourning a future that we were promised.

“We always assume that tomorrow is going to come. We talk about leaving a better world for our children, but this is a world where tomorrow is not going to come.”



Could an Airborne Disease Spread Globally?

“Suppose a government is doing space research, and they’re putting some aerosols in the upper atmosphere, and it's some chemical. Because of the winds of the earth, it could spread around the world.”



Brain Droppings by George Carlin

Hakeem’s reading recommendation is filled with thoughts, musings, questions, lists, beliefs, and curiosities from his “all-time favorite word nerd,” George Carlin.



The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

Mentioned by Tamara, another modern sci-fi classic that follows a civilization ravaged by a fungus-based infection. “If there is a fungus because they spread via spores, fungi spores could get in humans around the world before we knew it.”



And speaking of fungus and spores…



SUGGESTED VIEWING



If you’re in the mood for more dystopian sci-fi thrillers like Children of Men, here are some recommendations for other movies and shows with catastrophes, apocalypses, and everything in between!



The Last of Us

Based on the critically acclaimed video game franchise, the Emmy

This episode of Does it Fly is presented by ScreenUK. ScreenUK is a free discovery platform celebrating the very best of UK-produced film, television, animation and gaming and sharing it with audiences around the world. ScreenUK is the go-to place to discover your next favorite movie, show, or game and features tons of exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews and all the info you need to find out how and where to watch or play your newest obsessions, wherever you are in the world. Make ScreenUK.org your next stop.

It’s “time” (sorry) for a unique piece of sci-fi technology from the legendary Doctor Who! TARDIS stands for “Time and Relative Dimension in Space.” The Doctor is a Time Lord, from the planet Gallifrey, and a TARDIS is a technology that allows Time Lords to travel through space and time while having all manner of timey-wimey adventures. And yet, despite the name of our show, TARDISes do very little actual flying. They are designed to dematerialize and re-materialize in the desired place in space and time. Though there are episodes where audiences see the TARDIS doing what is more akin to traditional flying, doing that too often can damage them.

TARDISES have a Chameleon Circuit that allows them to blend into their surroundings. The Doctor’s TARDIS has a rather unique shape as an old police phone box, but that’s not their standard form. Instead, the Doctor’s famous TARDIS got stuck this way while disguising itself as something commonplace using that Chameleon Circuit. They are also, perhaps most famously, bigger on the inside than they are on the outside (if this concept gives you a headache, don’t worry).

In this episode, Hakeem and Tamara examine just how feasible it is for the TARDIS to traverse both time and space in such a unique fashion as well as a number of its other unique features. In the process, they discuss some key episodes in Doctor Who history, as well as the scientific concepts that do (or don’t) power the TARDIS.

Hakeem and Tamara explored a number of concepts to try and figure out what makes the TARDIS tick in this episode.


FURTHER READING

Black Holes

“There's a lot of brilliant physicists who have been studying this for a very long time. When you study black holes, basically you're studying the geometry of space-time. Black holes, not only are they bigger on the inside than the outside, but they grow continuously with time on the inside. So even if they shrink down and evaporate on the outside, the inside volume doesn't change.”

White Holes

“Armies have tried to get inside the TARDIS and they can’t, because it’s impenetrable. A white hole is a time-reversed black hole…Physicists…came up with this idea of a white hole…because they wanted to look at wormholes. How do you do interdimensional travel? They realized that if you have a time-reversed black hole, you form this thing called a white hole. So just like nothing can come out of a black hole, nothing can go into a white hole.

The Totalitarian Principle

“Any physical process that's not strictly forbidden from occurring by the laws of physics must occur. Unless the laws of physics say it can't happen, it must happen.”


SUGGESTED VIEWING

Since the show has been around for 60 years, we get that jumping into Doctor Who can feel a little intimidating. And when you factor in the fact that the TARDIS has been there from the beginning and appears in pretty much every single episode, it can be downright overwhelming. So if you’re someone who’s always been curious about Doctor Who and just wondering where to start or a fan who wants to revisit the basics as well as some of the episodes we watched to get ready for this week’s discussion, allow us to point you at a few of our favorites.

For simplicity’s sake, we’re keeping our recommendations to the newer series that began in 2005, but if you’re ready to dive deeper, you can’t go wrong with Tom Baker’s long-running (and perhaps mos

SPOILER ALERT: This episode of Does it Fly? and the show notes that follow contains spoilers for Black Mirror, “San Junipero.” If you haven’t watched the episode yet, go check it out on Netflix and then come back and join us!

One of Black Mirror’s most critically acclaimed episodes! Apparently set in a seaside town in the 1980s, “San Junipero” follows the story of two women, Yorkie and Kelly, who meet and develop a relationship. But in fact, the San Junipero locale is a simulated reality where the elderly and dying can live out their remaining days in a youthful, idealized version of their choosing before deciding whether to pass on to death or remain in the simulation forever. San Junipero has cemented itself as one of the most “happy” episodes of Black Mirror, showing there’s at least a little room for positivity and hope in the future. Hakeem and Tamara are back again, looking through the mirror at our reality to see what it would take to upload one’s consciousness (and soul?) permanently.

From a scientific perspective, Hakeem investigates the technological feasibility of uploading and suspending human consciousness in virtual reality. How are our memories created, and would it be possible to upload entire neural networks? What would the ethical considerations be for having an afterlife of this nature? How would it affect our understanding of life, death, and immortality? And how much of yourself and your memories will be uploaded? Perhaps most importantly, would this version of you be a copy, an imitation, or your whole self?

Meanwhile, Tamara jacks in to tackle “San Junipero” from a story perspective. Does the episode's lack of technological explanation for its virtual reality enhance or diminish the authenticity of Yorkie and Kelly’s relationship? What’s the user interface like, and what’s San Junipero's population breakdown? Would you trust your consciousness in the hands of a corporation for eternity? And how does this episode’s positive ending reflect and challenge Black Mirror’s usual pessimism about the future and technology?

All this and more in our latest episode! Remember that you can join in on the conversation in the comments on our YouTube page, so be sure to like, subscribe, and come back for more!



FURTHER READING

Want to dive a little deeper into the scientific concepts Hakeem touched on in today’s episode?

The Hebbian Learning Rule

“Memories are fragments; some parts are in the pre-frontal cortex, some parts are in the hippocampus; it all has to do with the connection between neurons. Neurons that fire together wire together.”

Memory Retrieval and the Passage of Time

“Every time you access a memory, there’s a possibility for modification.”

Language Models, Explained

“If you’re Albert Einstein, you have a lot of writing; you have a lot of speech; I can put that in an AI learning algorithm so that it can learn to predict the next word just like ChatGPT does.”

Self-Concept

“We each have three selves: our private self, our public self, and our secret self.”



Want some sci-fi & the afterlife or anthologies? Here are some suggested readings on stories and concepts similar to “San Junipero”!

Permutation City by Greg Eagan

“A life in Permutation City is unlike any life to which you’re accustomed. You have Eternal Life, the power to live forever. Immortality is real, just not what you’d expect.”

Axiomatic by Greg Eagan

“Drawing on nine years of research, Axiomatic explores the ways we understand the traumas we inherit and the systems that sustain them.”

The Wilds by Julia Elliott

“At a deluxe medical spa on a nameless Caribbean island, a middle-aged woman hopes to revitalize her fading youth with grotesque rejuvenating therapies that combine cutting-edge medical technologies with holistic approaches.”

Replay by Ken Grimwood

“43-year-old man who dies and wakes up back in 1963 in his 18-year-old body. He relives

We explore the rules of one of the greatest innovations in sci-fi history, Star Trek’s transporter! We also ask the big question: could this iconic science fiction technology become a science reality in our lifetimes?

EPISODE SUMMARY
One of the most iconic pieces of Star Trek technology! By converting matter into energy, objects and living beings can be “beamed” across great distances, where they are then re-converted back into physical matter. Not just a clever way to not require Starfleet away teams to have to jump in an expensive shuttlecraft every time they need to get back and forth from a starship, but a concept instantly recognizable as uniquely Star Trek, one which has the power to make or break a mission and that has been the focus of multiple stories in the franchise’s history. Noted astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi and pop culture expert Tamara Krinsky break it all down to see what it takes to, well, break down a living person and reassemble them at another location.

From a science perspective, Hakeem tackles both the scientific feasibility of converting matter into energy and (perhaps infinitely trickier) then converting the energy back into solid matter. Is there any existing technology analogous to this? Is it possible to even consider that this could be done to a living being without killing them? What about real world parallels with concepts such as quantum teleportation? And just how much data storage do you need in order to make this happen?

Meanwhile, Tamara looks at this incredibly reliable piece of fictional Star Trek technology from a story standpoint. What happens to someone’s soul (or, at least their consciousness) when their atoms are disassembled and reassembled elsewhere? What about Dr. McCoy’s well noted objections every time he steps on a transporter pad? Are McCoy’s fears as commonplace to a 23rd century citizen as a fear of flying is for people of today?

All this and more in our first episode! Don’t forget you can also join the conversation in the comments on our YouTube page, so be sure to like and subscribe!

FURTHER READING
Want to dive a little deeper into the scientific concepts Hakeem touched on in today’s episode?

Quantum Teleportation

“There is something that works in the real universe, and it’s called quantum teleportation, but it’s not [the transporter].”

Avogadro’s Number

“If you want to take a guess at how many atoms are in this cup or in this microphone, you start with Avogadro’s number.”

Moore’s Law

“Here on Earth, we have this thing called Moore’s Law, and that has to do with the growth of processor speed, but I think there might be something similar for the growth of data storage.”

The Hebbian Learning Rule

“That’s the big one for me. How do you handle memory? Because as the saying goes, ‘neurons that fire together, wire together.’”



Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

“There’s this thing called Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, so [with the transporter] you can’t get both their motion and their location to arbitrary-precision…”

And for those of you who want to learn more about the early days of Star Trek and the behind-the-scenes stories surrounding the creation of the transporter…

The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry

One of the foundational Star Trek texts, and one that Tamara referred to when researching today’s episode.

“Movie and TV-making technology at that time, making models and miniatures was pretty much how that was accomplished on screen, and it was really expensive. So if you were going to have a show every week where you had to bring a crew down in a shuttle or some kind of spaceship, that was going to be really expensive for the budget of the show. But it's a basic premise, so you're gonna have to figure out how to do it every week…you've only got a certain amount of time to tell your story and you want to use those most efficiently an

Our first full episode is coming your way on April 5th, but we thought we'd give you a little taste while you wait!