January 12, 2015
EP. 60 — Mind Blowing Movie Thought Experiments
Last year, Christopher Nolan’s ‘Interstellar’ took advantage of some of the most up-to-date quantum theory we’ve got, and wove in a story about space travel, time, and relativity.
While that movie went out of its way to include actual science, others just happen upon quantum theory accidentally. Take ‘The Empire Strikes Back’– Luke trains with Yoda for what seems like months in the entire time it takes Han to get through one warp-speed chase. Some might call it a plot hole, but actually could the better explanation be that Luke and Yoda were on a planet that experienced time differently?
This week on the podcast, Cracked editors Jack O’Brien, Michael Swaim, and Soren Bowie explain in layman’s terms some of the basic paradoxes and thought experiments that have come to define quantum theory, and then apply quantum physics to popular movie plot holes.
Recent Episodes
January 26, 2020
Freedom sucks…and that is why we have to defend it. Because our democracy involves doing a lot of stuff that takes energy, takes time, and lacks that Michael Bay Quality that only a surprise missile launch can provide. So on this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt and special guest Jason Pargin (who writes for Cracked as David Wong) are exploring the ways being afraid of everything (an easy action) can stop us from being free. Discover the decades-long tradition of some Americans wanting to give up everything in exchange for not needing to think, the centuries-long tradition of people inciting fake panics, and the reasonable ways you can help change things for the better.
Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/why-fear-based-democracies-arenE28099t-free-with-jason-pargin/
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Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/5-parts-u.s.-economy-that-are-stranger-than-you-think
January 12, 2020
Movies, TV, gaming: three things that are theoretically a waste of time. Oh sure, they deliver value in the art sense, and comfort in the goofing-off sense. But what if they’re more valuable than that? What if consuming shows and playing video games (accidentally) turns people into real-life heroes? On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians/writers Caitlin Gill and Alex Watt for a look at the surprising number of times that exact thing happened. They’ll explore stories of regular people who saved a life thanks to skills gained randomly from cartoons, sitcoms, ‘World Of Warcraft’, and more silly entertainment.
Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/9-times-pop-culture-accidentally-taught-people-to-save-lives/