Our Opinions Are Correct
182 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 days ago - ★★★★★ - 363 ratingsExplore the meaning of science fiction, and how it's relevant to real-life science and society. Your hosts are Annalee Newitz, a science journalist who writes science fiction, and Charlie Jane Anders, a science fiction writer who is obsessed with science. Every two weeks, we take deep dives into science fiction books, movies, television, and comics that will expand your mind -- and maybe change your life
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Episodes
Fascism and Book Bans (with Maggie Tokuda-Hall)
April 18, 2024 07:33 - 56 minutes - 130 MBScience fiction has been warning us about fascism for decades — so why haven't we listened? How did Nazis become just another monster in our stories, like werewolves or cyborgs? Plus we talk about the new wave of book censorship with Maggie Tokuda-Hall, co-founder of the new organization Authors Against Book Bans. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
The Turing Test is bullsh*t (w/Alex Hanna and Emily M. Bender)
April 04, 2024 07:00 - 48 minutes - 111 MBWe're talking about the Turing Test, the grandmother of all tests for AI sentience. Joining us are AI researchers Alex Hanna and Emily M. Bender, hosts of the Mystery AI Hype 3000 podcast. We discuss why the Turing Test is so influential in both fiction and reality – and why it is completely wrong. Later in the episode, we’ll talk about another thing that humans got wrong when it comes to non-human intelligence: dog breeding.
Queer Horror! (with Dr. Chuck Tingle)
March 21, 2024 15:47 - 50 minutes - 116 MBIt's a scary time for LGBTQIA+ folks — and many of us are turning to horror stories that take our real-life terrors and make them even more monstrous. To find out why, we talk to Dr. Chuck Tingle, the author of Camp Damascus and Bury Your Gays, and we geek out about why queers love to be scared. Also, we talk about horror movie soundtracks — and the 1970s prog rock experiment that changed horror movie music forever. Shownotes: https://www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Videogame movies are officially better than comic book movies
March 07, 2024 08:00 - 52 minutes - 120 MBAt last, videogame movies have defeated comic book movies. We learn about why from Evan Narcisse, who writes for comic books and videogames, as well as being a journalist and critic. Then we rant about why so many people are obsessed with psychoanalyzing villains, and are flocking to stories that reveal the innermost traumas of bad guys. Why do we keep humanizing awful people? It's a problem. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Encore Episode: Let's Obsess Over the Politics of Dune!
March 04, 2024 20:12 - 44 minutes - 102 MBThe long-awaited Dune sequel is in theaters now — and it's a huge hit. To celebrate, we're resurfacing one of our favorite episodes from the past. Is Dune a white savior fantasy? A subversive eco-parable? To find out, we talk to Haris Durrani, author of an influential essay about Dune.
We Don't Give a F*ck About Canon
February 22, 2024 09:30 - 45 minutes - 105 MBScience fiction and fantasy fans love to argue about canon — both meanings of the word. Which stories in a fictional universe really "happened"? Which stories deserve to be enshrined as the best of the genre? We don't think either of those things is worth yelling about! Also, did you know that tsunamis can happen in lakes, rivers and even creeks? We talk to Aggeliki Barberopoulou with the USC Tsunami Research Center to learn more...
The world's humblest heroes, from plumbers to tardigrades
February 08, 2024 08:00 - 46 minutes - 107 MBInspired by The Super Mario Bros Movie, we're talking about a humble class of heroes whose lives are devoted to infrastructure maintenance and repair. There are heating engineer rogues and space janitors and, of course, plumbers. Later in the episode we’ll head down to Antarctica, where our guest Ariel Waldman spent her summer vacation studying the environment and the tiny creatures who live there – including tardigrades, the world’s greatest microscopic animals!
Encore Episode: The Incredibly Strange Career of Anne Rice
January 25, 2024 08:46 - 1 hour - 95.3 MBAnne Rice is best-known for her Vampire Chronicles, which began in the 1970s with her novel Interview with the Vampire. But did you know she also wrote bestselling BDSM erotica and two novels about Jesus? In this episode, we do a deep dive into Rice's strange career, including that time she unleashed her fans against Tom Cruise. We also discuss the fantastic new Interview with the Vampire series. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Encore Episode: Science Fiction Keeps Trying To "Fix" Disabled People with Elsa Sjunneson
January 11, 2024 08:44 - 45 minutes - 62.1 MBScience fiction and fantasy are full of portrayals of disabled bodies, some of which are nuanced and positive, and many of which... aren't. Join us as we talk about disability tropes and the realities of disabled life with Elsa Sjunneson, author of the brand new book Being Seen. Plus we answer reader questions from our Patreon! Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Alien ecosystems and the algae menace
December 28, 2023 08:34 - 50 minutes - 68.9 MBAll of us live embedded in webs of life known as ecosystems, and that can get pretty creepy -- or astonishingly beautiful. Inspired by the mind-blowing new animated series Scavengers Reign, we're talking about some of the best examples of alien ecosystems in science fiction. Then we dive into some real-life ecosystems on Earth, and reveal two important ways that scientists study environmental changes. Along the way, you'll find out why algae is literally sucking the life out of coastal ecos...
How Doctor Who Stood the Test of Time
December 14, 2023 08:33 - 52 minutes - 72.2 MBHow does Doctor Who remain cool after sixty years? By constantly updating and reinventing itself. We've been loving David Tennant's triumphant return, and we're so pumped for Ncuti Gatwa. But we're wondering... are there lessons from Doctor Who's longevity that could apply to other venerable series and universes? Heck yeah, there are. Allons-y! Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 142: Books That'll Get You Through The Winter Months
November 30, 2023 08:14 - 43 minutes - 59.9 MBThere's no company as soothing as a good read when the days get shorter and the air gets colder. So here's our annual list of recent books that'll help get you through those nasty winter months. (Or if you're listening to this in the Southern hemisphere, here are some summer beach reads!) The good news? We're lucky to have a wealth of amazing reads right now. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 141: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Zines
November 16, 2023 08:08 - 52 minutes - 72.4 MBZines are DiY publications that grew to prominence in the early twentieth century scifi fan community, then morphed into a punk subculture in the 70s and 80s ... and now they're back! We talk with two guests who take us deep into the history and future of zines: Lynn Peril, who created the iconic zine Mystery Date in the 1990s, and Lawrence Lindell, author of the new graphic novel Blackward, about queer Oakland teens who organize a Black zine fest. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com...
Episode 140: Silicon Valley is doomed to misunderstand the future, with Dr. Joy Buolamwini
November 02, 2023 07:25 - 51 minutes - 70.7 MBSilicon Valley markets itself as the place where futures are born, and yet tech corporations have no real understanding of where our civilizations are headed. We are wrapping up our Silicon Valley vs. Science Fiction series with some final thoughts on why this might be. Then we talk to AI developer, ethicist, and poet Dr. Joy Buolamwini, founder of the Algorithmic Justice League and author of a new book called Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines. Show n...
Episode 139: How To Write About Violence (with Fonda Lee and Lauren Beukes)
October 19, 2023 07:28 - 39 minutes - 53.6 MBBattles and smackdowns are a key part of many science fiction and fantasy stories — but how do you do them right? Do you have an obligation to show the cost of violence? And what does a good fight scene look like? To find out, we talked to authors Fonda Lee and Lauren Beukes. (Note: This episode was recorded Sept. 23 at Rose City Comic Con in Portland, OR.) Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 138: Battlestar Galactica, 20 Years Later
October 05, 2023 07:18 - 52 minutes - 71.6 MBOne of the greatest science fiction shows on TV debuted twenty years ago: the rebooted version of Battlestar Galactica. This show broke new ground in depicting realistic politics — and a nuanced view of a society of artificial people. How does it hold up? To find out, Charlie Jane went back and watched the entire series — here's what she found. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 137: The Creativity Fallacy
September 21, 2023 07:50 - 49 minutes - 68 MBWhat does it mean to be a creator at a time when creativity is completely commodified? We’ll talk about the status of the author, and how audiences have idealized artists while also celebrating the so-called death of the author and rise of the reader. We’ll talk about how AI converts our minds into apps, and also why the intentional fallacy blew up the literary world in the 1940s! Later in the episode we’re joined by Mary Anne Mohanraj, an author and professor of literature at the University...
Episode 136: Who Wants to Live on an Eyeball Earth? With Aomawa Shields
September 07, 2023 11:15 - 50 minutes - 69.1 MBWe've learned so much about the planets outside our solar system in the past ten years, and we're poised to learn even more. What kind of life could live on eyeball Earths, and other types of tidally locked worlds? To find out, we asked Aomawa Shields, astrophysicist and author of the science memoir Life on Other Planets. Plus Aomawa talked to us about why burnout is such a huge problem for Black women in STEM. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 135: The Myth of Free Speech
August 24, 2023 07:49 - 41 minutes - 57.4 MBTech companies love to trumpet about how their products are free speech machines. But how can we have free speech when we don't have freedom? That's what we're asking in today's episode, the latest in our Silicon Valley vs. Science Fiction series. We take a deep dive into 1984, the science fiction novel that started a lot of today's discourse about speech and authoritarianism. And of course, we talk about the company formerly known as Twitter, and much more! Show notes: www.ouropinionsarec...
Encore Episode: Work Is Not Your Friend, with Alan Henry
August 10, 2023 07:33 - 55 minutes - 76.1 MBPeople have been paid for labor for at least 5,000 years, but the modern 'workplace' is a pretty recent invention. We look at how science fiction has dealt with the transformation of labor — plus we talk to Alan Henry, author of the new book Seen, Heard and Paid. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Encore Episode: We're in the wrong timeline, with Connie Willis and R.F. Kuang
July 27, 2023 07:45 - 41 minutes - 57.5 MBWe've all been feeling like something is wrong with the timeline. In this episode, we ask what alternate history, fake history, and secondary world history can teach us about the present. Does exploring the past in fiction help us learn from history or are we doomed to repeat it? History-obsessed authors Connie Willis (Blackout, Doomsday Book) and R.F. Kuang (The Poppy War) offer their thoughts too. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 134: The State of the Galaxy
July 13, 2023 07:44 - 48 minutes - 66.8 MBIt's time for our state of the galaxy address. We’ll be talking about how humans figured out that we are living in a galaxy, and how science fiction represents other galaxies. We're also joined by Molly Peeples, an astronomer with the Space Telescope Science Institute and Johns Hopkins University, who studies where galaxies come from, and what they’re actually made of. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 133: Silicon Valley vs. Science Fiction: Ayn Rand
June 29, 2023 13:55 - 53 minutes - 73.4 MBOne science fiction author has influenced the leaders of the tech industry more than any other: Ayn Rand, who preached radical selfishness in Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead. How has Rand's vision shaped the technology we use today? To find out more, we talk to philosopher Matt Zwolinski and author Matt Ruff. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 132: A Sense of Place with Jessica Johns
June 15, 2023 07:08 - 54 minutes - 74.9 MBSometimes, a story is set in a place that isn't just a location. It's a character. How do places come alive? We discuss hauntings, homelands, and what it means to write a landscape that is more than backdrop. Joining us is Jesscia Johns, author of Bad Cree, to talk about how place figures into her novel about a monster who stalks Treaty 8 territory in Alberta, Canada. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 131: The State of Star Trek, with Mike McMahan
June 01, 2023 07:11 - 59 minutes - 81.4 MBStar Trek is back in a big way: we've had three live-action TV shows and two animated shows recently, with more stuff on the way. But what does Star Trek mean to us now? And what do we want from Star Trek today? To get deeper into these questions, we did a mind meld with Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 130: What to Watch and Read This Summer!
May 18, 2023 07:59 - 45 minutes - 62.5 MBSummer is almost here, and there's no shortage of amazing books, movies and TV shows to read by the pool. (Or wherever you consume your entertainment. We don't judge.) How can you make sense of all these options? We have you covered. Here's our totally correct guide to all the best science fiction and fantasy to check out! Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 129: Silicon Valley vs. Science Fiction: Smart Home Nightmares
May 04, 2023 07:31 - 51 minutes - 70.6 MBTen years ago, Silicon Valley promised us smart houses that would light rooms as we walked into them, turn on the music, and do our shopping. And it never happened. We talk about how the smart home has its roots in Charlie Chaplin movies, sewing machines, and home economics classes. Guest Jacqui Cheng, former editor-in-chief of gadget guide Wirecutter, joins us to us to discuss the culture of smart home electronics. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 128: Dungeons & Dragons Gets Cozy
April 20, 2023 07:14 - 48 minutes - 66.1 MBGames are packed with astounding worldbuilding, and Dungeons & Dragons is perhaps the worldbuildiest of all. We take a deep dive into the game’s transformation from from a Satanic threat in the 1980s, to a wholesome, cozy world that has inspired a swashbuckling new movie and adorable novels like Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes. And then we’re going to talk about worldbuilding in Charlie Jane’s Unstoppable trilogy. The third and final book, Promises Stronger than Darkness, came out this mon...
Episode 127: Silicon Valley vs. Science Fiction: "Difficult Geniuses"
April 06, 2023 07:30 - 41 minutes - 57.7 MBWhen tech whizkids are caught behaving badly, they're just being "brilliant jerks." And the figure of the charismatic-but-bratty genius inventor is everywhere these days. We look at how the isolated, tormented mad scientist in science fiction evolved into the sexy asshole that everyone wants to be. And we talk to Christopher Cantwell, co-creator of Halt and Catch Fire and recently writer of the Iron Man comic, about how Tony Stark has changed. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/show...
Episode 126: It's a Great Time to Read (and Write) Short Stories!
March 23, 2023 07:09 - 45 minutes - 62.5 MBIf you haven't read any short stories in a while, it's a great time to get back into them. A ton of truly excellent books of short speculative fiction came out recently, and wondrous new tales are appearing in magazines all the time. We talk about some of our favorite new books of short stories — and we offer some tips for writing some short fiction yourself. Works mentioned: All the Hometowns You Can't Stay Away From by Izzy Wasserstein Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, ...
Episode 125: Silicon Valley vs. Science Fiction: ChatGPT
March 09, 2023 08:23 - 55 minutes - 75.9 MBThis is the first in a series of monthly episodes we’ll be doing about how Silicon Valley appropriates and misinterprets science fiction. Silicon Valley executives claim to be inspired by SF, but mostly they use it retroactively to justify their products, often missing the more complicated, nuanced ideas embedded in the original stories. Today we’re going to tackle the hype cycle around A.I., which borrows liberally from the post-scarcity, post-human visions of Iain M. Banks in his Culture ...
Encore Episode: Four Technologies That Nobody Realizes Will Change the Future
February 23, 2023 08:01 - 42 minutes - 58.2 MBEverybody obsesses about A.I., nanotech, space travel and robots. But the technologies nobody pays much attention to could have an equally significant impact on our world. Like artificial wombs, smart toilets, new forms of public transportation, and new cleaning machines. Show notes: https://www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes/2019/12/5/episode-46-four-technologies-that-nobody-realizes-will-change-the-future
Encore Episode: Gender Essentialism
February 09, 2023 08:33 - 48 minutes - 66.9 MBGender essentialism is the idea that there is something eternal and innate about people's gender identities, and nothing can change that. Popularized during the 1970s, it affected how science fiction stories represented gender -- and it spawned new academic disciplines devoted to scientific misogyny. We talk about all this, and do a deep dive on the "What Women Want" franchise. Show notes: https://www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes/2021/7/15/episode-88-how-gender-essentialism-warped-...
Episode 124: How To Build A Planet
January 26, 2023 08:10 - 42 minutes - 59 MBWe're going to ask a few very small questions in this episode, like how to build a planet from scratch -- and then, how to build governments on that planet. What makes an imaginary world feel believable? Annalee explains what they did to research their new novel The Terraformers (coming out 1/31). Expect some gritty details about worldbuilding, moose romance, public transit, and making sure that every revolution has a core of joy. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 123: Why We Disagree About Avatar
January 12, 2023 08:40 - 46 minutes - 63.5 MBAvatar: The Way of Water has already become one of the most successful movies of all time. This long-awaited sequel gives us a lot to think about — from the ongoing white savior narrative to an unexpectedly disturbing interstellar whaling industry. But when it comes down to how we feel about this movie, we disagree quite a bit. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 122: The Incredibly Strange Career of Anne Rice
December 29, 2022 08:00 - 1 hour - 94.4 MBAnne Rice is best-known for her Vampire Chronicles, which began in the 1970s with her novel Interview with the Vampire. But did you know she also wrote bestselling BDSM erotica and two novels about Jesus? In this episode, we do a deep dive into Rice's strange career, including that time she unleashed her fans against Tom Cruise. We also discuss the fantastic new Interview with the Vampire series. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 121: Books to Devour This Winter
December 15, 2022 08:20 - 51 minutes - 71.1 MBThe winter holidays are coming up, and it's a great time to hide away with a stack of books. Good thing we've got you covered! Here's our roundup of our favorite recent books, including some you probably haven't heard much about yet. Plus we geek out about the themes and common ideas we've been seeing in the books we've read in 2022. Get ready to grow your TBR pile! Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 120: Who Owns Epic Fantasy?
December 01, 2022 09:19 - 44 minutes - 101 MBTolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy supercharged the genre of epic fantasy, giving rise to countless stories of heroic quests in settings that looked like Medieval Europe. How do we expand the map of heroic fantasy so it includes everybody who was marginalized, or left out completely, in those tales? Plus we talk to Tolkien scholar Helen Young about the racist backlash against the new TV show Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 119: The Myth of Progress with Brad DeLong
November 17, 2022 08:47 - 1 hour - 146 MBOne of the most cherished tropes in science fiction is the idea that technology, science, and civilization are always getting better -- and the future will be wealthier and fancier than the present. Call it the myth of progress. We explore where the myth comes from, and how it influenced scifi authors from HG Wells to NK Jemisin. Plus we’re joined by economist Brad De Long, whose new book Slouching Towards Utopia is all about economic progress in the twentieth century – and why that progres...
Episode 118: F*ck Your Space Empire! with Naseem Jamnia
November 03, 2022 07:18 - 52 minutes - 119 MBClassic science fiction wears its love of colonialism on its sleeve, from heroic explorers to space empires that keep the peace. Why are empires such a major part of the genre, and how do we break free? Plus we talk to Naseem Jamnia about their new book, The Bruising of Qilwa. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Encore Episode: The Bomb is Back (Again)
October 20, 2022 08:15 - 37 minutes - 85.5 MBFears of nuclear war are in the news again. We revisit a 2019 episode about how science fiction has dealt with atomic weapons, and how twenty-first century writers will represent the dangers of nuclear war. Shownotes: https://www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes/2019/2/28/episode-26-the-bomb-is-back
Episode 117: What Makes a Story Feel "Fast" Or "Slow"?
October 06, 2022 07:52 - 35 minutes - 80.6 MBPeople talk about "pacing" all the time when it comes to storytelling — but what does "pacing" mean? How do you make a story feel like it's moving faster or slower, and why does this matter? And how do you figure out what pace your own story needs to move at? Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 116: Water Disasters
September 22, 2022 07:40 - 42 minutes - 58.1 MBFloods. Sea level rise. Superstorms. Droughts. All over the planet, people are being hit by disasters caused by too much water or not enough, and it's only going to get worse. We talk about why science fiction has been focused on water disasters for over a century, from Princess of Mars to Dune and Mad Max: Fury Road. We're also joined by flood geologist Kyle House, who tells us about ancient floods -- and the recent one that inundated his neighborhood in Arizona. Show notes: www.ouropinio...
Episode 115: Therapy, Good And Bad, with Theo Germaine
September 08, 2022 07:59 - 55 minutes - 76 MBIt's time to get some therapy, with some help from speculative fiction. In this special live recording from WorldCon, we talk to actor/creator Theo Germaine about fictional therapists (good and evil), and what makes a story therapeutic. Plus, we discuss their recent scary therapy movie They/Them, as well as their role in the show "Work in Progress." Can a story actually heal us? And what happens when stories hurt us instead? Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 115: Therapy, good and bad, with Theo Germaine
September 08, 2022 07:59 - 55 minutes - 76 MBIt's time to get some therapy, with some help from speculative fiction. In this special live recording from WorldCon, we talk to actor/creator Theo Germaine about fictional therapists (good and evil), and what makes a story therapeutic. Plus, we discuss their recent scary therapy movie They/Them, as well as their role in the show "Work in Progress." Can a story actually heal us? And what happens when stories hurt us instead? Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 114: Damnation Arcs
August 25, 2022 07:37 - 57 minutes - 132 MBWe hear a lot about redemption arcs, but what about damnation arcs, where characters go darkside? In this episode, we talk about the "villain's journey," or the tropey route followed by characters like Anakin Skywalker on his trip to Darth Vader-hood. But what happens when the script is changed, and characters hover between hero and villain? Neon Yang, author of The Genesis of Misery and the Tensorate series, joins us to talk about how to feels to turn a character bad. Show notes: www.our...
Episode 113: Let's Get Sweetweird!
August 11, 2022 08:19 - 37 minutes - 86.5 MBRecently Charlie Jane came up with a new term for stories she's been enjoying: Sweetweird. What does this mean, and is it a subgenre or an aesthetic? And also, why do we enjoy inventing and debating new genre terms so much? Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 112: Plastic Problems, with William Gibson
July 28, 2022 07:05 - 45 minutes - 105 MBPlastic was once a symbol of our shiny future, and now it represents our trashed, polluted present. What's the future of this fossil-fueled polymer? We talk about what makes plastic so scary -- in science and fiction. And then we call up William Gibson, who has thought a LOT about plastic, in fiction and real life. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 112: Plastic problems, with William Gibson
July 28, 2022 07:05 - 45 minutes - 105 MBPlastic was once a symbol of our shiny future, and now it represents our trashed, polluted present. What's the future of this fossil-fueled polymer? We talk about what makes plastic so scary -- in science and fiction. And then we call up William Gibson, who has thought a LOT about plastic, in fiction and real life. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Episode 111: Escape Into Musicals, with Laser
July 14, 2022 08:02 - 48 minutes - 112 MBMusicals transport us to another world through song and dance — but how can we use their otherworldly power to tell stories about robots and monsters? To find out, we talk to playwrights MJ Kaufman and Reina Hardy. Plus Laser from the Doubleclicks tells us about their new musical, Teaching a Robot to Love! Topics discussed: Our formative memories with Xanadu and Can't Stop the Music The roots of musicals in comic opera and burlesque The wonder of director/choreographer Kenny Ortega ...