The End of the World with Michael and Stu
The Apocalypse is Everywhere. The End of the World with Michael and Stu is a (hopefully) insightful and (hopefully) humorous exploration of the rise of apocalyptic news, apocalyptic thinking and apocalyptic culture. Each week, we’ll be looking at a work of art, a piece of media, or an historical event related to the (hopefully not) impending End of the World.
The End of the World with Michael and Stu
109: There's Something Here from Somewhere Else
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This week we are finally tackling Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan''s 2023 portrait of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb. We get into the dramaturgical choices made by Nolan in the film, we analyze the question of "theory vs practice," and we talk a little bit about the political implications of the Oppenheimer's actions. What happens when socialist leanings meet personal egotism? We also draw out the implicit comparison between Oppenheimer and his foil, Lewis Strauss, which the film goes to great pains to hammer into us, its audience.
We open up the episode recapping Sam Altman's recent comments on the energy it takes to train an AI vs. the energy it takes to raise a human, and we also talk briefly about the New York blizzard. Oh and Barbenheimer is mentioned, as it must always be.
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