Stephen Ho: Exploring Neurotech in Cinema with the Neurratives Podcast

Today's guest is Stephen Ho from Blackrock Microsystems. While we've featured Blackrock guests before, Stephen's appearance today is driven by his podcast, Neurratives, where neurotech-inspired movies are reviewed and discussed.

  Top 3 Takeaways:

• "Our goal for the podcast isn't necessarily to be overly technical, requiring a neuroscience degree to understand. We're often deep in the subject matter and may get a bit jargony, but broadly, we aim to be accessible without pretending to be accomplished neuroscience researchers."
• “Due to the subject's nature, movies dealing with neuroscience themes often lean heavily towards science fiction. So, I make a conscious effort to seek out romantic comedies, medical dramas, or family dramas as a palate cleanser between sci-fi films.”
• “I tend to be relaxed regarding accuracy in science and technology in movies, though I do point out inaccuracies when I notice them. However, I don't always see this as detrimental to the movie itself. Some tropes bother me, like percutaneous connectors seen in "The Matrix" and "Ghost in the Shell." They seem impractical and unsanitary.”

2:00 Let’s hear about the Neurratives podcast

4:14 What does a normal podcast episode look like?

7:30 What are some notable movies?

10:30 What are your qualifications to talk about neurotech movies?

12:15 Did you ever feel imposter syndrome?

14:00 Will you ever run out of movies?

16:00 Would listening to Neurratives be better before or after watching the movie?

16:45 What should movie directors either start or stop doing for neurotech movies?

 21:15 Anything else that we didn’t talk about that you wanted to mention?