4: Arrival

The Monte Hall Effect

Tim and Tola discuss the 2016 Denis Villeneuve film "Arrival", as well as SETI, car insurance, THE IMPORTANCE OF WATCHING THIS PARTICULAR FILM BEFORE LISTENING TO THIS PARTICULAR PODCAST, J.R.R. Tolkien, Icelandic composers, Broadchurch, remembering 9/11, professorial salaries, security clearances, Speak'n'Spells, training and executive decision making, Close Encounter's Dark Side of the Moon, dumb politicians, scissor lifts, basing things on 12 because the bible, great Hong Kong actor Tzi Ma, conspiracy theories, UFO reports and your government, linguistic relativity a.k.a. the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, Pioneer/Voyager golden records, alien abduction pulsar map tattoos, infinite depth of field imaging, rotoscoping and Ralph Bakshi, Primer's mad crescendo, how predeterminism might work, kids in peril in film, a Childhood's End type scenario, non-zero sum games, Leto's golden path, and parenthood and risk.

Final score: Science (93%), Fiction (93%), Film (95%)
Seriously, we know some of you like to listen to the podcast before watching the film. We really, really, realy recommend you don't do this with "Arrival," and watch the film before listing to the podcast. For reals.

Next podcast: "Interstellar"!

Note: We're asking our fans to help us pick a 1950's science fiction film to review in an upcoming show. The choices are: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), When Worlds Collide (1951), War of the Worlds (1953), This Island Earth (1955), and Forbidden Planet (1956). Email us at [e-mail] and let us know which movie we should review!