Danny Bednar dbednar@uwo.ca Office: SSC 2410

Office hours: Thursdays after class or by appointment

What will be on Test 3? Lectures 8,9 and 10 Anything written on the course website or

said by a lecturer in class Videos are SUPPLEMENTARY to help

understand, but will not be directly referenced in questions

Some links are testable, especially if they are looked through during class on the projector.

Test format will be short answer

SPACE IN POPULAR CULTURE

Tuesday November 1st, 2012

This Presentation is complimentary to the GEOG 2090 lecture 9b “space in culture, science fiction”

http://instruct.uwo.ca/geog/136a/lec9b.htm

Space Culture in the 18th and early 19th century Hard to imagine in some ways, but

understanding of space before the 1960’s was very limited

The ideas that there could be advanced life on Mars or even Earth’s Moon were presented in very different contexts than they are today

http://www.lit4lib.sky7.us/luciansa.html http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/arch

ive/permalink/the_great_moon_hoax http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20

05/06/0617_050617_warworlds.html

Space as Frontier Numerous authors in both popular

culture and academia have discussed the notion of space as a continuing frontier in place of new areas on Earth to discover;

The idea of the frontier was especially prominent in United States history and continued into the Space Age

http://archive.spacefrontier.org/Policies/frontieragenda.html

Space, the Frontier and Star Trek The quotes “Space…the final frontier” and “where no

man [sic] has gone before” from the famous opening monologue during the credits of Star Trek have become culturally significant quotations in North American and European Culture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2gPUabIqQQ A large portion of the world’s familiarity with space

exploration’s concepts and its challenges likely come from popular culture properties like Star Trek.

Star Trek interacts with real science through things like the X-prize’s “tricorder challenge”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/quirks-quarks-blog/2012/01/star-trek-tricorder-challenge.html

Evolution of Space as ‘Frontier’ In the 1970’s images of the whole Earth taken from space

become symbols of environmental movements and new cultural understandings of human history and the frailty of Earth

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/wallpaper/photography/photos/milestones-space-photography/earth-full-view/

Within this movement, exploring the new frontier of space allowed us to reevaluate our place in the Universe (see Carl Sagan’s Cosmos)

The idea of space as a frontier began to grow in the business and scientific community as the finite nature of Earth’s resources gained popular discussion

Current business approaches to space rely heavily on the discourse of space as a new frontier

http://www.ctvnews.ca/billionaires-want-to-open-new-mining-frontier-asteroids-1.800490

Space as Unknown Culturally, space has commonly

represented the unknown and the strange; much as the open Seas and deep ocean once did (still do)

Super market tabloids have traditionally relied on space to present some of the most outlandish and strange fictional tales which grab readers’ attention.

http://weeklyworldnews.com/

Space Literature

Space has been most prominent in literature in ‘Science-Fiction’

Landmark science fiction writers include Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, Phillip K. Dyke, Frank Herbert, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlien, and Isaac Asimov

Before much was known abut Earth's neighborhood, space provided early 20th Century writers good settings for strange and provocative stories.

This early period of space culture was commonly used to make social commentaries on things such as religion, race and war

Space Music Musicians have used space to illicit existential

messages, environmental messages and themes related to either the advancement or downfall of human kind.

Daivd Bowie’s “Space Oddity” is one of the most famous space themed singles in music history. It uses space travel as a means to discuss various themes including the desolate nature of space, loneliness and technology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D67kmFzSh_o

The First ‘Sci-Fi’ Film The first science-fiction film was space

themed 1902- Voyage Dans La Lune:

considered by many to be the first science-fiction movie. Inspired by earlier literary work by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.

http://www.filmsite.org/voya.html

Space and Film Numerous themes have been explored in films

where space exploration is the main setting. http://www.hobbyspace.com/Movies/index.html#S

paceMovies Because of the visual spectacle which space

provides, films have played a large role in fostering some of the more prominent discourses and imagery that surround space exploration in our society.

Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey has specifically been often discussed for its application to various political-philosophical themes

http://www.palantir.net/2001/meanings.html

Space in Film: Ominous Visitors

Space in Film: Isolation/Terror

Space in Film: True Stories

Space in Film: Doom, Gloom and Human Nature (and Metaphors)

Space in Film: Bad Science

Distinguishing Science and SCI-FI Some movies (like the Carl Sagan

written ‘Contact’) work to portray science and scientists in a somewhat accurate manner, despite relying on story-necessary leaps in technology or plausibility (hence science-FICTION).

Others do not http://listverse.com/2007/11/23/top-10-er

rors-in-science-fiction-movies/ http://www.everythingaction.com/2011/0

1/07/nasas-most-scientifically-accurate-and-inaccurate-movies/

Conclusion: Space Culture as Important Space exploration exists as a concept of one form or

another to practically everyone Before taking this class you may have had your own

assumptions about what space exploration was Often what drives geographers, engineers, physicists

or geologists among others to study space is their connection to it through popular-culture

There are interesting connections between space as it is studied by scientists and academics and the space that is presented in television, literature and film

Conclusion: Space Culture as Important Space discourse reflects some of humanities biggest challenges

and hopes for the future (environmental, economic, scientific, philosophical, and political,)

http://fwb.home.xs4all.nl/rgbmars.html Some of the biggest questions facing humanity look towards

space exploration for answers (Are we alone? How did it all start?)

Space culture is used to honor and maintain our history (Roman and Greek names for planets, craters named after scientists and authors etc…)

Space influences art http://iaaa.org/ Defining moments of human history have been related to space

exploration: Galileo and Copernicus’ ideas of Heliocentrism, the launch of Sputnik and the televised broad cast of the Apollo 11 landing

http://history.nasa.gov/sp4801-chapter4.pdf http://www.worldpicturejournal.com/WP_7/PDFs/Engell.pdf

Space and Conspiracies

Space and Conspiracies One of the more prominent ways space

exploration is discussed in popular culture is through conspiracies related to it

This is commonly related to the ‘unknown’ and ‘mysterious’ discourses of space mentioned earlier

Apollo Moon Conspiracy Assumes that the Apollo 11 and subsequent missions to

land on the Moon were filmed in a studio; commonly ‘Area 51’

Suggests that the incentive to fake the landing existed, implies Nixon Administration was head of conspiracy efforts

Often claim that technology did not, and even still does not, exist that could successfully land humans on the Moon

Points to apparent inconsistencies with moon landing evidence Photographs Footage Lack of continued travel

Apollo Moon Conspiracy Numerous sources exist to both be exposed to these

claims as well as to refute and de-bunk them http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html Scientists, Social Scientists, independent researchers

and various government agencies have all provided material which debunks these hoax ideas

http://www.badastronomy.com/index.html http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/42796

91 http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/truth-behind-moon-landi

ngs/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5MUv7QkMmA&fea

ture=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz7cUP4o-ZQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWZ_LCnkE7A

Moon Conspiracy De-Bunking “Ask the Russians” – Buzz Aldrin During the Cold War both the US and

USSR were aware that there were enemy spies throughout their governments

Information about the progress of the Apollo mission, as well as other classified material constantly found its way to the USSR

This would likely have compromised any attempt to fake a Moon landing

Moon Conspiracy De-Bunking “it would have been harder than actually

going to the Moon” – James Longuski, Department of Aeronautics, Purdue University

The conspiracy implies that thousands of involved individuals were either fooled or complaisant with the hoax

This is generally a reverse understanding of Government competence. Communication vs. Technical Skill and Resources

Moon Conspiracy De-Bunking Not a necessarily difficult task to go back, but an expensive

and unsupported one Once the SIX Apollo missions were finished the political

incentive fund more missions to the Moon dwindled as ratings fell dramatically for missions 3-6 and the Cold War cooled down

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4204/ch22-8.html To revisit the Moon in the 1980s, 1990s or beyond would have

required billions of dollars to restart the program and create new infrastructure up to par with advances in technology

NASA has received continuous cuts. The Apollo program cost approximately $25 billion in 1969,

over $100 billion in 2012 Dollars http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/cost-of-apollo-program The Cold War and Space Race were very unique situations in

American political discourse and economic circumstance

Moon Conspiracy De-Bunking Either Humans have been on the Moon,

or it is made out of mirrors http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmVx

SFnjYCA

Conspiracies Why do people still believe? Psychologists and other academics have provided many

explanations for peoples propensity to accept conspiracies 2011 Darwin et al. - Belief in Conspiracy Theories, the Role of

Paranoid Belief, Paranoid Ideation and Schizotopy 2011 Newhieser et al. - The Functional Nature of Conspiracy Beliefs –

Examining the Underpinnings of Belief in the Da Vinci Code conspiracy

2011 Kay - Show me the Birth Certificate – Conspiracism in the Age of Obama

2012 Swami et al. – Lunar Lies – The Impact of Informational Framing and Individual Differences in Shaping Conspiracy Beliefs about the Moon Landings

2012 Wood et al. – Dead or Alive – Belief in Contradictory Conspiracy Theories

THESE ARTICLES WILL NOT BE DIRECTLY REFRENCED IN A TEST QUESTION!!!!!!

Conspiracies Some reasons the research indicates Moon

conspiracies (and others) continue to fester Impossible burdens of proof Confirmation bias (self-fulfilling information) Helplessness Over-Saturation of Information and Lie Resonance Hyper-Criticism Assumption of Hyper-Competence Need for answers within existing concepts and lack of

necessary understanding towards new concepts (Van Allen Belts)

False Cause and Effect The Assumption of Major Events having ‘major causes’ Framing oneself as ‘the wise contrarian’, ‘crusader of truth’ Lack of understanding of ‘reality’ and ‘proof’, (paranoia) Inconsequential nature of “theories”

Finally…

The ‘Face on Mars’ http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/sc

ience-at-nasa/2001/ast24may_1/ Pareidolia