Katy Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 It's a new class on Great Courses Plus that is entertaining enough to binge watch. It's been a while since I liked a course there this much. I'm not even that much of a sci fi fan. https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/show/sci_phi_science_fiction_as_philosophy 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Adding to my watch list, looks good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mothersweets Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Oooh, this looks interesting! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Targhee Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Yes, I started it for fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberia Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Would this be good to listen to in the car? Or does it have visual aspects that require video ? Sounds fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted July 29, 2018 Author Share Posted July 29, 2018 1 hour ago, Tiberia said: Would this be good to listen to in the car? Or does it have visual aspects that require video ? Sounds fun. So far you could definitely listen in the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Targhee Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 It definitely helps to have read/watched the Sci fi discussed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabelen Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 27 minutes ago, Targhee said: It definitely helps to have read/watched the Sci fi discussed! Is there a link to the list of books discussed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Targhee Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 4 hours ago, Mabelen said: Is there a link to the list of books discussed? The lecture titles give the main works he discusses in the lectures, and the guidebook gives lists at the end of each lecture of related sci-fi (the lists are pretty comprehensive). I believe the guide has summaries/critical points of the critical works discussed. It is not required that you have invested all this sci-fi already but helpful. Most seem to be film/TV (eg GATTACA, Soylent Green, The Matrix, Dr. Who) though many of those have their origins in books. He covers classics (like Metropolis) through contemporary works (like Westworld, though honestly I have not got to that lecture so I can't be sure if it is the HBO series or the old movie with Yule Brenner) . Here are the lecture titles from the guidebook: 1 Inception and the interpretation of art 2 The Matrix and the Value of Knowledge 3 the Matrix Sequels and human Free Will 4 The Adjustment Bureau, the Force, and Fate 5 Contact:ScienceversusReligion 6 Arrival:aliensandRadicaltranslation 7 Interstellar: is time travel Possible? 8 Doctor Who and time travel Paradoxes 9 Star Trek: TNG and alternate Worlds 10 Dark City, Dollhouse, and Personal identity 11 Westworld and A.I. Artificial Intelligence 12 Transcendence and the Dangers of ai 13 The Thirteenth Floor: are We Simulated? 14 The Orville, orwell, and the “Black Mirror” 15 Star Wars: Good versus evil 16 Firefly, Blake’s 7, and Political Rebellion 17 Starship Troopers, Doctor Who, and Just War 18 the Prime Directive and Postcolonialism 19 capitalism in Metropolis, elysium, and Panem 20 Snowpiercer and climate change 21 Soylent Green: overpopulation and euthanasia 22 Gattaca and the ethics of Reproduction 23 TheHandmaid’sTale: Feminism and Religion 24 Kubrick’s 2001 and nietzsche’s Übermensch 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6packofun Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Oh my gosh, how did I not know Great Courses Plus was a thing?!! Do you have access to everything they have? *Edited to add: What about any print materials...can you download (free or paid)? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 I didn't know about Great Courses Plus. How does it work? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Targhee Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Not all courses are on there. It is a subscription service (the first time you go there it will probably offer a time sevsative deal). The guide books are in pdf so you could print I suppose (but they are often color and I wouldn’t want to pay for that). ETA: I don’t know if you can download - we have only used streaming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted July 30, 2018 Author Share Posted July 30, 2018 I definitely don't have all of the older courses that have been referenced on the board on Great Courses Plus, but there are hundreds or maybe thousands of them. There is a guidebook, it's a pdf that is 312 pages long, both with lecture notes and suggested supplementary materials if you are interested in diving deeper or want to watch everything referenced first. I didn't even realize they had them until that was asked. I think you can get a monthly subscription fee like Netflix, though in our case DH bought me an annual subscription for something (maybe my birthday?). I haven't spent much time on the website, we mostly access only the streaming information through Roku. I find it preferable to rewatching our favorite tv shows over and over. In terms of which books and movies and tv shows are referenced, you can't just go by the list of lectures because so far in most of them he also references another movie and tells you to pause and go watch it. So far I haven't and haven't felt the need to. I took a fair amount of philosophy classes in college though, so I'm not sure everyone would feel that comfortable to skip the stuff. Certainly if I was doing this for academic reasons I'm sure it would be beneficial to see them all, but I'm watching for entertainment more than anything else. The instructor is very good, in one of the first 5 classes he managed to sum up all of my philosophical issues with Calvinism in about 10 seconds in a succinct and precise way - I've never heard anyone do that before, and it's not a theology course. To misquote Einstein, I pretty much judge instructors by their ability to explain enormously complex issues as if they are speaking to a six year old - not that I want all nuance erased, but I think that teaching ability shows up tremendously in that little test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 2 hours ago, 6packofun said: Oh my gosh, how did I not know Great Courses Plus was a thing?!! Do you have access to everything they have? *Edited to add: What about any print materials...can you download (free or paid)? I had no idea either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6packofun Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 On 7/29/2018 at 9:56 PM, Katy said: The instructor is very good, in one of the first 5 classes he managed to sum up all of my philosophical issues with Calvinism in about 10 seconds in a succinct and precise way - I've never heard anyone do that before, and it's not a theology course. To misquote Einstein, I pretty much judge instructors by their ability to explain enormously complex issues as if they are speaking to a six year old - not that I want all nuance erased, but I think that teaching ability shows up tremendously in that little test. I was skimming through the guidebook and saw a reference to Calvinism and was like, "OK, I don't even know where he's going with that but he just sold me a subscription." and I signed up. LOL 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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