I asked ChatGPT: “Does the transporter on Star Trek kill every person who uses it, and then manufacture an exact duplicate?”
I asked ChatGPT: “Does the transporter on Star Trek kill every person who uses it, and then manufacture an exact duplicate?”
This is the answer that it gave:
“No, the transporter on Star Trek does not kill every person who uses it, and then manufacture an exact duplicate. The transporter is a device used to teleport people and objects from one location to another. It works by breaking down the molecular structure of the subject and then reassembling it at the destination. The goal of the transporter is to safely transport the subject from one place to another, not to kill them and create a duplicate.”
“In the Star Trek franchise, the transporter is generally considered a safe and reliable technology, and it is widely used for transportation purposes. While there have been instances in which the transporter has malfunctioned or been used in unusual ways, leading to strange and sometimes dangerous consequences, these instances are few and far between.”
“It is important to remember that the Star Trek franchise is a work of fiction, and the depiction of the transporter and its effects on people and objects is not meant to be taken as a scientific explanation of how teleportation would actually work in the real world. The transporter is a science fiction device that is used to drive the story and create exciting and imaginative scenarios for the characters.”
R.I.P. Grant Imahara
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/grant-imahara-dead-mythbusters-host-was-49-1303101
Grant Imahara, Host of ‘MythBusters’ and ‘White Rabbit Project,’ Dies at 49
July 13, 2020
An electrical engineer and roboticist by training, he worked for a long time at Lucasfilm’s THX and Industrial Light and Magic divisions.
Grant Imahara, an electrical engineer and roboticist who hosted the popular science show MythBusters and Netflix’s White Rabbit Project, has died. He was 49.
Imahara died suddenly following a brain aneurysm, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. “We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family,” a representative for Discovery said in a statement on Monday.
An electrical engineer and roboticist by training, he joined Discovery’s MythBusters in its third season, replacing Scottie Chapman and was with the show until 2014 when he left with co-hosts Kari Byron and Tory Belleci. The trio would reunite in 2016 for Netflix’s White Rabbit Project which lasted for one season. On MythBusters, Imahara used his technical expertise to design and build robots for the show and also operated the computers and electronics needed to test myths.
While part of the Mythbusters team, he sky-dived and drove stunt cars, on film sets he came into contact with some of the most iconic characters in screen history, installing lights onto Star Wars’ R2-D2, creating the robot Geoff Peterson for The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson and working on the Energizer Bunny.
On Monday evening, Imahara’s MythBusters and White Rabbit Project co-host Byron tweeted, “Sometimes I wish I had a time machine,” and included a picture with Imahara and Belleci.
Later on Monday, Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage also tweeted: “I’m at a loss. No words. I’ve been part of two big families with Grant Imahara over the last 22 years. Grant was a truly brilliant engineer, artist and performer, but also just such a generous, easygoing, and gentle PERSON. Working with Grant was so much fun. I’ll miss my friend.”
Born in Los Angeles, Imahara studied electrical engineering at the University of Southern California (though he briefly had doubts and wanted to become a screenwriter) before combining the two passions and landing a post-graduation gig at Lucasfilm-associated THX labs. In his nine years at Lucasfilm, he worked for the company’s THX and Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) divisions. In his years at ILM he became chief model maker specializing in animatronics and worked on George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels, as well as The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Galaxy Quest, XXX: State of the Union, Van Helsing, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
In 2000, Imahara also competed in Comedy Central’s BattleBots with a robot he built himself called “Deadblow” that won two Middleweight Rumbles, was the first season’s Middleweight runner-up and became the third season’s first-ranked robot.
As computer graphics began to supplant model-making in the aughts, former ILM colleague Tony Belleci suggested Imahara come aboard Mythbusters, the Discovery show Belleci co-hosted. As a co-host, he became a self-described “human guinea pig,” though if they determined a situation unfit for humans, they created machines to test them in their place.
Imahara also starred in several episodes of the fan-made web series Star Trek Continues. He played Hikaru Sulu, a lieutenant, helmsman and third officer on the USS Enterprise, in the show that was an unofficial continuation of Star Trek: The Original Series.
In a 2008 interview with Machine Design, Imahara told the publication that he wanted to be an engineer because “I liked the challenge of designing and building things, figuring out how something works and how to make it better or apply it in a different way. When I was a kid, I never wanted to be James Bond. I wanted to be Q, because he was the guy who made all the gadgets. I guess you could say that engineering came naturally.”
The Beatles sing about Star Wars
The Beatles perform their critically acclaimed album Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans.
The first two videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYD3QtyEGGM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhFyX1IkjAM
Complete playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8s6sSjUyaxUk3mCUqiNuJiMNxs9QdthO
Here’s the brilliantly intelligent 2009 science fiction movie “Moon”
I’m not going to give away any plot spoilers in this post, although I will approve spoiler comments for the comment section.
What I will say in this post is that this move is very cerebral and highly thought provoking. It’s slow paced, calm, and quiet. There is plenty of breathing room for contemplation. The character development is exceptionally well done, and some of the scenes are genuinely heartbreaking and moving. And then when I watched it a second time, I loved it even more.
You can watch the movie in its entirely at this link. I use the Firefox browser, and did not have any problems when I watched it as this link. I did get a few pop ups before the movie started, which I was easily able to close without any problems. Do not click on anything that has the words “play” or “download” because those buttons are not what they claim to be – they are actually links to ads. However, the arrow that’s on the middle of the film image, and the arrow that’s directly at the bottom left of the film image, do work, and will make the movie play.
Here’s my favorite episode of “Land of the Lost”
As a child in the 1970s, I always enjoyed watching “Land of the Lost” on Saturday morning. As an adult, I like the show even more. This is an intelligent science fiction program that makes you think, and is never dumbed down (except for season 3, which is so horrible that it never should have been made).
Here is my favorite episode – “Elsewhen” from season 1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDocflFRcSk
Movie review: “Elysium” is implausible, because it’s based on a medical device manufacturer that does not employ any salespeople
Elysium has too many loud, noisy action scenes, and not enough calm, quiet, reflective scenes of thoughtful contemplation. It didn’t have any lines of dialogue that I can see myself wanting to quote in the future. None of the characters were particularly interesting. And if I was a child, I couldn’t see myself wanting to buy any of the action figures that might be based on this movie.
The machine that instantly cures cancer seems perfectly plausible. However, in the entire movie, we never find out the name of the corporation that manufactures this machine. And apparently, there is no team of trained salespeople traveling all over the world trying to sell this machine to hospitals in big cities. And that brings up the most unrealistic thing about this movie: Since when has there ever been a medical device manufacturer that did not employ any salespeople?
In this movie, there is no Bill Gates-type character who donates huge amounts of his own money to help the poor get medical care. In this movie, there are no rich people who massage their supersized egos by having entire hospital wings named in honor of their massive donations.
While it’s easy for me to imagine that a bunch of rich people would want to live in their own private space station, there’s no way that every rich person would want to live there – there would always be some holdouts who preferred to remain on earth. But in this movie, there are no holdouts.
If they wanted to make a point about poor people not being able to afford health care, the following would have been a lot more realistic: a poor person gets cancer. They go to the hospital, where one of these machines instantly cures their cancer. Then they get a ridiculously large bill that they could never possibly afford to pay. They lose their house. Their life savings is wiped out. They declare bankruptcy. That would be realistic.
But the idea that on the entire earth, there wouldn’t be even one hospital that had one of these machines, is completely ridiculous.
“The Emperor’s New Clones” is the best “Star Wars” parody that I have ever seen
The Emperor’s New Clones was created by some very talented people at an organization called “Backyard Productions.” With its wonderful sets, costumes, and special effects, I was stunned to find out that the total cost of making this was only approximately £3,000.
Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog 