culture-transmission

Black Mirror and Feedback Loops: Tech as Trap In 2011, Charlie Brooker launched Black Mirror—an anthology series about technology's dark side. The title is literal: a black mirror is what screens become when they're off. The series explores what happens when the screens are on—

Lem and Solaris: The Unknowable Other In 1961, Stanisław Lem published Solaris—a novel about alien contact that refuses to deliver what alien contact stories usually deliver. There is no communication. No understanding. No translation protocol that cracks the code. The alien ocean covering the planet Solaris does things—manifests

Asimov's Psychohistory: Statistics as Prophecy In 1942, Isaac Asimov had an idea that would generate eight novels and influence how we think about predicting the future. Psychohistory: a mathematical science that predicts the behavior of large populations. Not individuals—individual behavior remains unpredictable. But masses of people, billions

The MCU and Quantum Branching: Maximum Optionality In 2019, Avengers: Endgame became the highest-grossing film of all time. Its time-travel mechanics are explicitly quantum. Tony Stark solves time travel using a "möbius strip" model derived from quantum mechanics. The heroes travel to the past without creating

The Matrix and Wormholes: Neo Had More Choices In 1999, the Wachowskis released The Matrix—a film that would define the sci-fi imagination of its era. The hero, Neo, discovers that reality is a simulation and that he might be "The One"—a messianic figure prophesied to

Dune and Attractor Basins: Paul Had to Do Jihad In 1965, Frank Herbert published Dune—a novel that remains one of the most sophisticated treatments of prescience, determinism, and agency in science fiction. The hero, Paul Atreides, gains the ability to see the future. Not one future—many. He sees