The Futurama of Physics 150
MasaMuneCyrus writes "I was surprised to notice an article about Futurama in my latest American Physical Society news. Titled, 'Profiles in Versatility: The Futurama of Physics with David X. Cohen,' Cohen talks a little bit about his life and his love for physics, and he goes on to describe how he regularly injects graduate-level physics jokes into the script of Futurama. He also talks a little bit about the upcoming season of Futurama: 'In the 10th episode of the upcoming season, tentatively entitled "The Prisoner of Benda," a theorem based on group theory was specifically written (and proven!) by staffer/PhD mathematician Ken Keeler to explain a plot twist.'"
Cohen Should Abstain from Any Regret (Score:5, Interesting)
Does the physicist-turned-comedy icon have any regrets? "What I do is ultimately not similar to physics or computer science," Cohen admits. "I would like to have lived two lives, to be a scientist in one... So of course I have regrets. Science is more important than what we do, although I do get a lot of satisfaction out of my work."
Surely you must take some solace or pride in the fact that the genre of sci-fi entertainment often sparks the scientist in people? And if it doesn't get them to become scientists, it at least drives a curiosity. Were it not for the enjoyment of many sci-fi novels as a kid, I would not be so interested in science and computers. Many older engineers I've worked with have given Star Trek a lot of credit for their early intrigue with physics. Surely Cohen can consider the cult popularity of Futurama and its return as a potential to be an enduring piece of entertainment that serves as a pilot light for young minds. Even though many of the Stanislaw Lem novels I read were humor or political satire, they caused me to wonder ... "what if?" Futurama makes physics entertaining and funny. Some would consider that very valuable as there's very little material out there that does that.
Re:Cohen Should Abstain from Any Regret (Score:3, Interesting)
P.S.
>>>Star Trek a lot of credit for their early intrigue with physics.
I wanted to be like Scotty or Geordi, but neither is really an engineer as it turns out. i.e. They don't design. They are more like technicians, trying to keep the existing systems (which some other engineer built) operational. I should have been that, instead of studying engineering. I think it would be more fun.
Oh well.
Re:Cohen Should Abstain from Any Regret (Score:3, Interesting)
Why would Starfleet put their ship designing engineers out in the middle of nowhere on already built and functioning starships? That'd be like putting the engineering (engine-ering) crew behind a desk with some paper and drafting tools.
Physics jokes are fun, but... (Score:2, Interesting)
Physics jokes are fun for physicists, but there seems to be a lack of technology/computers-related jokes in the movies.
Who can forget the easy "10 home, 20 sweet, 30 goto 10" joke from the first (was it the first?) episode, the "two reels of tape look like boobs" painting/poster, the nightmare of Bender "and I think I saw a TWO in there!", etc. It's fine to make obscure jokes that only 5% of the viewers will get (old hardware or stuff like that perhaps), just like not everyone gets all the physics jokes.
One exemple would be "Hey Fry, can I borrow 150 dollars? Sorry Bender, I only have 144. Oh, I can't store 144, that's where my speech processor is at.". The reference (of course) is the 220h default address of the Sound Blaster (220 hexadecimal = 144 decimal).
Not sure if time-travel paradoxes jokes are considered physics jokes, but I like those too.
They could also play with logic, similar to those fake Veridian Dynamics ads in Better Off Ted [wikipedia.org]. Watch "Friendship. It's the same as stealing." to see what I mean. It's logic and you can almost agree with all their points up until the end. Reminds me of the crazy MPAA ads before movies.
P.S.: we want more Amy! Half-naked Amy acting cute, charming and clumsy!
Re:Physics jokes are fun, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:An equation with two unknowns (Score:3, Interesting)
So the humor here is that it's paradoxical to want to solve a single equation with two variables? Or am I being too geeky here? After all, the solution is *trivial*...
Is it? It's quite possible that that equation has no solutions in the reals, though I can't be assed to work it out right now. Given Cohen's penchant for deep mathematical jokes, I wouldn't be surprised if the value of B is complex.
An equation with only complex solutions, where the solutions are supposed to be physical quantities, can in some sense be said to be "unsolvable," or rather, it has no true physical meaning because its solutions are not physical.