My name is Mason Porter. I am a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at UCLA. Previously I was Professor of Nonlinear and Complex Systems in the Mathematical Institute at University of Oxford. I was also a Tutorial Fellow of Somerville College.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Mathematics and Science in the Whedon universe
I just saw a short talk about this in a Mathematics and Popular Culture session. (The JMM has a lot of sessions along these lines in addition to the flurry of research talks. I spoke about my football ranking system in the Mathematics of Sports and Games section, for instance.) It was kind of amusing (although they don't seem to have any results at this point), and I wonder if they'll find anything interesting after they've had longer to work on it. There are a number of professors at liberal arts universities who work on projects like this. You can read the abstract here.
Oh man, some of the Buffy/Angel episodes that try to tie in physics are really painful to watch. Occasionally they do a good job, though.
ReplyDeleteI have not actually seen any episodes of those shows (and still have a couple Firefly episodes left), but the speaker focused on one character from each show (Willow, Fred, and River). They excerpted an audio clip in which we find that Fred's grad school thesis advisor sent her to a dimension of Hell. I think that most people who have experienced Ph.D. programs can relate...
ReplyDeleteThey also included the audio clip from Firefly that ends with Jayne's 'It's obvious. She killed them with mathematics.' (paraphrased) comment.
My mind had a Comicbook Guy moment during the presentation. The speaker kept talking about vampires as a type of demon, and my mind was like 'They're undead, you idiot!'. :) Of course, maybe they are demons in the Whedon universe? I'm guessing not, but I haven't watched those shows, so please let me know about this if you know offhand.
On TV tonight, Underworld was being shown---exceollent preparation for the sequel coming out next Friday. I probably liked that movie far more than most and am really looking forward to the sequel.
Actually, yes, or half-yes: in Buffy/Angel, vampires are considered demon half-breeds as well as undead. The human soul leaves the body and is replaced by a demon in the vampire creation process.
ReplyDeleteI have been meaning to watch Underworld at some point.