Divide by Zero
The Living Force
I just saw Arrival and was amazed.
The character development is great and so is the "action". Some may find it slow, but I doubt any of us here would.
Highly recommended, it makes Contact and 2001: A Space Oddysey a bit simplistic and boring now in hindsight.
It makes you wonder about language and how perhaps language works in 4d.
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The movie is based on this book:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_of_Your_Life
The first thing I was worried about was that these aliens were going to be a "savior" as it seemed at first with their friendly (yet difficulty to communicate). But it seems like as the C's, they couldn't just give the answer, but had to teach the one who could learn which was Dr. Banks.
So, in the movie the aliens tell her that a weapon is a gift. She tries to figure out what they mean while the rest of the world is preparing for war, started by China.
It turns out they meant technology. But what technology?? She finds out later that the technology is the language itself.
It reminds me of Laura's writing on language and how it sets up our way of seeing the world!
"Free will is exercised by not affecting the outcome of events"
Another amazing idea to ponder, which I have wondered in regards to time and causality. In that case, what is free will but to be conscious, aware, and objective of that reality? Could that be one of the "simple and karmic lessons" here?
It also sounds like the C's saying how we should sit back and enjoy the show. I don't think that is the same as the new age idea of everything is beautiful, etc. But this is the show we signed up for and it will be what it becomes.
I could only imagine that this idea could be a shadow of what 4d could bring.
The character development is great and so is the "action". Some may find it slow, but I doubt any of us here would.
Highly recommended, it makes Contact and 2001: A Space Oddysey a bit simplistic and boring now in hindsight.
It makes you wonder about language and how perhaps language works in 4d.
--------SPOILER ALERT----------------------
--------SPOILER ALERT----------------------
--------SPOILER ALERT----------------------
The movie is based on this book:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_of_Your_Life
Dr. Louise Banks is enlisted by the military to communicate with a race of aliens, known as heptapods (due to their 7-pointed radially symmetrical appearance), after they initiate first contact with humanity. The story revolves around Dr. Banks, and woven through it are remembrances of her daughter.
The heptapods have two distinct forms of language. Heptapod A is their spoken language, which is described as having free word order and many levels of center-embedded clauses. Understanding Heptapod B, the written language of the aliens, is central to the plot. Unlike its spoken counterpart, Heptapod B has such complex structure that a single semantic symbol cannot be excluded without changing the entire meaning of a sentence.
When writing in Heptapod B, the writer knows how the sentence will end. The phenomenon of Heptapod B is explained by the aliens' understanding of mathematics and Fermat's principle of least time.
Dr. Banks's understanding of the heptapods' writing system affects the way she perceives time and suggests a deterministic universe where free will is exercised by not affecting the outcome of events. This is reflected by the tense used in the story's writing: a small portion of the story, at the beginning and the end, is written in the present tense, indicating that the story is being written at the time of the daughter's conception. The sections describing the interactions with the Heptapods are written in the past tense. The sections describing the daughter's life—from birth to death and beyond—are written as Dr. Banks' remembrances that she nonetheless describes using the future tense, because learning Heptapod B enables Dr. Banks to know her daughter's entire life even before she agrees to conceive her.
The first thing I was worried about was that these aliens were going to be a "savior" as it seemed at first with their friendly (yet difficulty to communicate). But it seems like as the C's, they couldn't just give the answer, but had to teach the one who could learn which was Dr. Banks.
So, in the movie the aliens tell her that a weapon is a gift. She tries to figure out what they mean while the rest of the world is preparing for war, started by China.
It turns out they meant technology. But what technology?? She finds out later that the technology is the language itself.
It reminds me of Laura's writing on language and how it sets up our way of seeing the world!
"Free will is exercised by not affecting the outcome of events"
Another amazing idea to ponder, which I have wondered in regards to time and causality. In that case, what is free will but to be conscious, aware, and objective of that reality? Could that be one of the "simple and karmic lessons" here?
It also sounds like the C's saying how we should sit back and enjoy the show. I don't think that is the same as the new age idea of everything is beautiful, etc. But this is the show we signed up for and it will be what it becomes.
I could only imagine that this idea could be a shadow of what 4d could bring.