James Cameron Almost Visited the Space Station - and Helped Design a Camera Now Used On Mars (gq.com) 35
James Cameron once got himself onto the list for a potential visit to the International Space Station. It's just one of several surprising scientific achievements buried deep inside GQ's massive 7,000-word profile:
After James Cameron's Avatar came out in 2009 and made $2.7 billion, the director found the deepest point that exists in all of earth's oceans and, in time, he dove to it. When Cameron reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench, a couple of hundred miles off the southwest coast of Guam, in March 2012, he became the first person in history to descend the 6.8-mile distance solo, and one of only a few people to ever go that deep....
It would be fair to call him the father of the modern action movie, which he helped invent with his debut, The Terminator, and then reinvent with his second, Aliens; it would be accurate to add that he has directed two of the three top-grossing films in history, in Avatar (number one) and Titanic (number three). But he is also a scientist — a camera he helped design served as the model for one that is currently on Mars, attached to the Mars rover — and an adventurer, and not in the dilettante billionaire sense; when Cameron sets out to do something, it gets done. "The man was born with an explorer's instincts and capacity," Daniel Goldin, the former head of NASA, told me....
The original Avatar... required the invention of dozens of new technologies, from the cameras Cameron shot with to the digital effects he used to transform human actors into animated creatures to the language those creatures spoke in the film. For [his upcoming Avatar sequel] The Way of Water, Cameron told me, he and his team started all over again. They needed new cameras that could shoot underwater and a motion-capture system that could collect separate shots from above and below water and integrate them into a unified virtual image; they needed new algorithms, new AI, to translate what Cameron shot into what you see....
Among other things, Cameron said, The Way of Water would be a friendly but pointed rebuke to the comic book blockbusters that now war with Cameron's films at the top of the box office lists: "I was consciously thinking to myself, Okay, all these superheroes, they never have kids. They never really have to deal with the real things that hold you down and give you feet of clay in the real world." Sigourney Weaver, who starred in the first Avatar as a human scientist and returns for The Way of Water as a Na'vi teenager, told me that the parallels between the life of the director and the life of his characters were far from accidental: "Jim loves his family so much, and I feel that love in our film. It's as personal a film as he's ever made."
Another interesting detail from the article: Cameron and his wife became vegetarians over a decade ago, built their own pea-protein facility in Saskatchewan, and though they later sold it Cameron says he "pretty much" loves farming and pea protein as much as movies. And he once suggested re-branding the word vegan as "futurevore," since "We're eating the way people will eat in the future. We're just doing it early."
But in a 29-minute video interview, Cameron also fondly discusses his earlier ground-breaking films, even as GQ's writer notes their new trajectory. "It is a curious fact that Cameron has directed only two feature films in the last 25 years — and perhaps more curious that both are Avatar installments, and perhaps even more curious that the next three films he hopes to direct are also Avatar sequels....
"Cameron told me he'd already shot all of a third Avatar, and the first act of a fourth. There is a script for a fifth and an intention to make it, as long as the business of Avatar holds up between now and then. It seems entirely possible — maybe even probable — that Cameron will never make another non-Avatar film again."
It would be fair to call him the father of the modern action movie, which he helped invent with his debut, The Terminator, and then reinvent with his second, Aliens; it would be accurate to add that he has directed two of the three top-grossing films in history, in Avatar (number one) and Titanic (number three). But he is also a scientist — a camera he helped design served as the model for one that is currently on Mars, attached to the Mars rover — and an adventurer, and not in the dilettante billionaire sense; when Cameron sets out to do something, it gets done. "The man was born with an explorer's instincts and capacity," Daniel Goldin, the former head of NASA, told me....
The original Avatar... required the invention of dozens of new technologies, from the cameras Cameron shot with to the digital effects he used to transform human actors into animated creatures to the language those creatures spoke in the film. For [his upcoming Avatar sequel] The Way of Water, Cameron told me, he and his team started all over again. They needed new cameras that could shoot underwater and a motion-capture system that could collect separate shots from above and below water and integrate them into a unified virtual image; they needed new algorithms, new AI, to translate what Cameron shot into what you see....
Among other things, Cameron said, The Way of Water would be a friendly but pointed rebuke to the comic book blockbusters that now war with Cameron's films at the top of the box office lists: "I was consciously thinking to myself, Okay, all these superheroes, they never have kids. They never really have to deal with the real things that hold you down and give you feet of clay in the real world." Sigourney Weaver, who starred in the first Avatar as a human scientist and returns for The Way of Water as a Na'vi teenager, told me that the parallels between the life of the director and the life of his characters were far from accidental: "Jim loves his family so much, and I feel that love in our film. It's as personal a film as he's ever made."
Another interesting detail from the article: Cameron and his wife became vegetarians over a decade ago, built their own pea-protein facility in Saskatchewan, and though they later sold it Cameron says he "pretty much" loves farming and pea protein as much as movies. And he once suggested re-branding the word vegan as "futurevore," since "We're eating the way people will eat in the future. We're just doing it early."
But in a 29-minute video interview, Cameron also fondly discusses his earlier ground-breaking films, even as GQ's writer notes their new trajectory. "It is a curious fact that Cameron has directed only two feature films in the last 25 years — and perhaps more curious that both are Avatar installments, and perhaps even more curious that the next three films he hopes to direct are also Avatar sequels....
"Cameron told me he'd already shot all of a third Avatar, and the first act of a fourth. There is a script for a fifth and an intention to make it, as long as the business of Avatar holds up between now and then. It seems entirely possible — maybe even probable — that Cameron will never make another non-Avatar film again."
Delusional (Score:2)
And he once suggested re-branding the word vegan as "futurevore," since "We're eating the way people will eat in the future. We're just doing it early."
It's a food fad.
Re:Delusional (Score:5, Funny)
And he once suggested re-branding the word vegan as "futurevore," since "We're eating the way people will eat in the future. We're just doing it early."
It's a food fad.
Exactly. It's only been around for what, a few thousand years? It will pass.
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It's only been around for what, a few thousand years? It will pass.
Vegetarianism, sure. Veganism? No, it's only been around for a couple of hundred years.
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~ James Cameron ~
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Futureman had the best take on jc:
https://youtu.be/XYL82LwDtyg [youtu.be]
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The term vegan was coined and defined in 1944.
Variations of strict vegetarianism have been around for many thousands of years; followers of Jainism sweep the streets in front of them to avoid stepping on bugs and wear masks to avoid breathing any in. (Which is way more 'extreme' than veganism.)
Veganism isn't a fad however, it's not a diet. It's a belief against the exploitation and cruelty to other animals, as it's defined. It's a social justice movement. It's like saying anti-racism is a fad. It's a moveme
Re:Delusional (Score:4, Interesting)
"Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
-- Albert Einstein
Although he didn't become a strict vegetarian until a year before his death, he had a strong opinion about its importance for the future of mankind.
Re:Delusional (Score:5, Funny)
I need bacon.
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Albert Einstein ... a year before his death
Dementia. Also, you're using the wrong role model here. Hitler was both a vegetarian and a dog-lover, which speaks volumes about the validity of both views. There is a reason why our true masters are strict carnivores.
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Einstein felt bad about eating meat many years before he actually stopped. And the quote is not about him personally.
Hitler had no such qualms, stopping eating meat only at the request of his physician.
You believe in space aliens or something?
Re:Delusional (Score:4, Interesting)
And he once suggested re-branding the word vegan as "futurevore," since "We're eating the way people will eat in the future. We're just doing it early."
It's a food fad.
As someone who regularly eats meat I fully expect that future generations will look back on our meat consumption with horror.
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I think the horror will not be about the consumption of meat as much as it will be about how meat was produced. I'd guess that the future of meat looks more like bioreactors growing cells than fields of animals going to slaughter.
To continue to feed an ever growing population of humans without exhausting all of our resources we are going to need better practices.
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As someone who regularly eats meat I fully expect that future generations will look back on our meat consumption with horror.
Certainly on the amount of meat the average westerner eats, along with all the health risks it creates and the resources needed to produce it.
I'm not saying everybody should reduce to zero, but... sheesh.
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If you tell me we're replacing meat with lab grown groun
The Whocares (Score:2)
What about Elon? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm more surprised that Elon Musk hasn't visited the ISS yet...
Then again, his greatest achievement on such a trip would probably be being the first human to be jettisoned into space by the crew after they were forced to be around him for some time...
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Then again, his greatest achievement on such a trip would probably be being the first human to be jettisoned into space by the crew after they were forced to be around him for some time...
A plan with zero drawbacks, then.
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I don't understand the hate.
This guy has done more to advance the world than just about anybody else who's alive at the moment.
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I don't understand the hate.
Elon lost me at "Pedo Guy".
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No he hasn't.
The only achievement to his name is Paypal. He made his money with Paypal and selling it to eBay.
He then gave a startup called Tesla some money by kicking out a co-founder from the company. (That co-founder recently concluded a legal case that re-instates him as co-founder, with Tesla paying him a fair bit of money).
Likewise, he wormed his way into SpaceX, because SpaceX was running off government
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He then gave a startup called Tesla some money by kicking out a co-founder from the company. (That co-founder recently concluded a legal case that re-instates him as co-founder, with Tesla paying him a fair bit of money).
You mean the millionaire guy who didn't believe enough in Tesla to invest any of his own money? The one who thought it was only a hobby that wouldn't go anywhere?
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.... basically isolate Musk from the operations of Twitter, and who then hires a competent management team to handle the day to day operations, including rebuilding trust with advertisers and all that.
Which part of Twitter has stopped working?
Why are you so hung up on Twitter anyway? Is it really so valuable?
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Why are you so hung up on Twitter anyway? Is it really so valuable?
It's valuable to journalism. Independent and small-outfit journalists absolutely depend on it, both to reach an audience, and to reach potential contacts.
If you don't value journalism, then there's no reason to value twitter, but one might wonder why you're anti-democracy.
Excellent driver... (Score:3)
How do they make Sigourney Weaver (Score:2)
look like a post doc? She's 73 for chris sake.
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I'm having trouble getting excited about this movie, in general. I'm not really against the movie, its just, thirteen years on, I don't really care about the story and I can do without more 3D. I'll grant that Avatar was the best of the 3D fad, but Cameron really missed
Not a scientist (Score:2)
Scientists increase human knowledge by doing research and sharing the results. Isn't Cameron more of an engineer? (I vacillate on whether I think R&D is science--perhaps it depends on whether the information is reusable by the world.)
Sorry for the pedantry ;-)
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If you know what you're doing, it's engineering. If you don't know what you're doing, it's science.
James Cameron needs a reality check (Score:1)
Too often very rich people do what they want and if --by their own measure-- they succeed they hail themselves as saviors of the future. See Elon Musk for example #1.
James Cameron made some movies. I've yet to sit through more than ten minutes of one, so I guess I'm not the idiot they're meant for.
May he be successful with Avatar 2, 3, 4, etc. because when you suck at #1 but idiots lap it all up, do make more.
He was never going to the ISS. He lacks the number one thing they look for - reason to be there.
Fabricated Outrage? (Score:2)
Seriously, what's up the James Cameron hate?
Everyone's got their love-handles up in a knot about what famous guy A is buying and what infamous guy B is doing . . . James Cameron is kinda a sad target as his 'controversial' list is kinda sad and he's got a couple of notches on his belt.
Let's see, Vegan, Canadian, some weird ventures . . . slow news day guys?
Now, has he done ANYTHING good? Oh, yeah, and this is the guy that brought the world Aliens and T2.
Add that to most of the headline-grabbing billionaire