Hangzhou Daily News In the past two years, science fiction topics have been trending on social media from time to time. Chinese science fiction writers represented by Liu Cixin have created a “breaking circle” of science fiction literature with their magnificent imagination, and also provided a lot of material for film and television works. . The popular summer movies “Walking on the Moon” and “Mozart in Outer Space” all use different sci-fi narration methods to open new horizons for the audience.
Behind the popularity of sci-fi IP, technology programs have been unable to heat up. Such programs have the advantages of faster and more convenient popularization of science and technology and improving the scientific literacy of the public. However, due to the high professional standards of their production, it is difficult to control the boundary between easy-to-understand and cutting-edge technology. There is a breakout program.
Recently, a sci-fi talk show that has been broadcast for more than a month has attracted the attention of many netizens. It uses a “chat” method to open up new ideas for the expression of domestic technology programs.
Jia Zhangke and Liu Cixin led the discussion on scientific topics
The first domestic sci-fi talk show “Don’t Answer” was launched on July 18. The show was inspired by the sci-fi classic “Three-Body Problem”. The talk took place in the “Blue Space” spacecraft, and Jia Zhangke was the “Chief of the Future Exploration Section”. , together with Liu Cixin, a “future consultant” and scientists in various fields as “future researchers”, to jointly develop the vision and interpretation of the future.
“Don’t Answer” is inspired by the sci-fi classic “Three-Body Problem”. The name of the program comes from the most famous “stalk” in “Three-Body Problem” – the high-level civilization Trisolaran No. 1379 listener chose to violate the three-body law and conceal the earth’s signal , issued a warning to the earth “Don’t answer! Don’t answer! Don’t answer!”, trying to help the earth escape the fate of being strangled by the Trisolaran civilization.
Yang Zhou, the producer of Youku Culture Channel, said that the name was chosen in the hope that it would have a different meaning in the program – in the face of new things, do not jump to conclusions, but observe more to form your own independent thinking. This kind of talk show, which seems to be scattered into pearls, is actually based on the past experiences of the guests and the expectations for the future. Therefore, Jia Zhangke, a director who is good at shooting realistic themes, was chosen as the guest host. field.
“The science fiction of the past may become the reality of today, and the science fiction of today may become the reality of the future.” Jia Zhangke expressed his views on science fiction in the program.
The idea of ”Don’t Answer” is the combination of science and technology and humanities. It is discussed under the imagination of “near science fiction”, and the theme of the program is positioned as “in the future, on the topic of reality”.
In order to enhance the visibility of the program, in addition to Jia Zhangke and Liu Cixin, there is also a humanities scholar and a frontier science and technology expert to discuss the topic in each issue. The guest lineup includes Xu Bing, Yu Minhong, Hao Lei, Xu Zhiyuan, Liu Qing, Xue Zhaofeng, Yin Ye, etc.
There are eight episodes of the program, covering many topics such as Mars immigration, marriage and love under big data, digital cloning, virtual actors, etc., focusing more on real life.
In the first episode of the program “Looking up at the Sky”, the interstellar exploration and Mars immigration, which seem to be “brain-opened”, are actually more about the meaning of the continuation of human civilization and the changes in the existing way of life. In the discussion of “nostalgia”, it also extends to the test of the relationship between people and people and between people and their hometown brought about by the change of time and space.
Each episode starts with an “unfinished” sci-fi short film. With this topic as the topic, the host and guests not only feel the “imaginary” of sci-fi stories, imagine the “unbelievable” of future life, and at the same time think about the “ups and downs” of real life. “. When the current life and the future life collide, the openness of the program is revealed, which is also the main purpose of the program to express people’s observation and thinking more broadly.
Science and technology programs can improve national scientific literacy
In the variety show market, between 2017 and 2019, there was also a “technology boom”, such as “Intelligent Future”, “I Am the Future”, “Extraordinary Wisdom”, “Come on, To the Future” and “Future Architect”. Waiting for the show, but very few really came out of the circle.
This “Don’t Answer” uses open topics and diverse dialogues in each issue to stimulate the audience’s enthusiasm, focusing on technological development so that the audience can “open their minds” and think about a more distant future while paying attention to real problems. This did attract a segment of the audience that was open to new things, but it wasn’t enough.
This year, in addition to “Don’t Answer”, technology talk shows like “Future China” have also been launched to jointly explore cutting-edge technologies and extend the spirit of science in a popular way.
In the short term, excellent science and technology programs can improve the scientific literacy of citizens and cultivate scientific thinking. In the long run, they can tap the humanistic elements behind technology and use the diverse thinking of human beings to open up another wider world for us.