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Why Sci-Fi Needs Believable Technobabble episode artwork

Sep 7, 2017 27 min

Why Sci-Fi Needs Believable Technobabble

from Imaginary Worlds Hosted by Eric Molinsky | Daylight Media

This week, I team up with Helen Zaltzman of The Allusionist podcast to help me figure out why one set of poorly understood pseudo-scientific terms can sink a scene, while another set of pseudo-scientific phrases can sell a sci-fi concept. We'll hear from physicist Katie Mack -- who hates technobabble -- and Jennifer Ouellette who plays matchmaker between scientists and Hollywood directors that want to sell their mumbo jumbo with real science. And "Timescape" author Gregory Benford tells the story of tachyons, and how an obscure theoretical particle became a technobabble meme.

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Why Sci-Fi Needs Believable Technobabble

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