CANCELED: Science in the Movies - Dystopian Futures: Science Fact or Science Fiction?

This event has been canceled, due to the recent outbreak of Coronavirus. For more information Duke’s response to COVID-19, click here.

In Keeping with this year’s NC Science Festival theme (“The Future”), the latest installment of our semi-annual “Science in the Movies” series will explore Hollywood’s fascination with depictions of dystopian futures and the science (sometimes beneficent, but more often nefarious) that they predict. We’ll look at the science in films for which the dystopian “future” has already come and gone (e.g., 1984, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as of last year, Blade Runner) to see what they got right and wrong.

We’ll also discuss films where the future is still to come (the deadly cyborgs in the 1984 classic The Terminator came from 2029, i.e., our current decade!), and speculate on whether or not those cinematic predictions are likely to come true. “Science in the Movies” explores how science is portrayed in cinema, and is organized by SCONC (Science Communicators of North Carolina) and the Duke Initiative for Science & Society.

This event is free to attend, and no RSVP is required.