Viewers have become increasingly intuitive to perceive general relativity. General relativity roughly says that time is the same dimension as space. We are traveling through time as we are traveling through space. And at low speeds and low gravity, we delusionally believe that the way we travel through time is only an irreversible linear model. However, as we approach or exceed the speed of light, it is possible for time to stop, or even reverse. Or, there are other ways that time can be tiled in front of us, like the black hole scene in Interstellar.
In Anelaru's animation "The Lord of Time", when the Lord of Time conquers a planet, he will set back time by 50 years, thus causing confusion of cause and effect. The old man walking in the film is the child who is waiting for rescue on the lonely trip.
The order in which we watch movies is also linear. Consuming a movie, reading a novel, and listening to a piece of music are all linear processes. The ending cannot be experienced at the beginning. Image, on the other hand, is a language that is presented once and for all. If the seven barrel stars write an autobiography, he can "present" the entire autobiography at the same time. They should also have the ability to receive huge amounts of information in a split second (simultaneously). If an 8-bit processor is to process 1024 Bs, it will need to be entered 1024/8=128 times, which is similar to the timing of human processing of information. A 1024-bit processor only needs to enter the same information once. For humans, "sequence", "experience", "process", these words related to the process of time are very rich. It can be expected that there are not very many words such as seven barrel stars. Because their way of knowing does not require "experience". Because the future experience is an equal relationship with the present, and can be borrowed at any time. Human "agnosticism" is not comprehensive, and "agnosticism" is too naive. After all, human cognition of the world is still limited by the functions of the body. This way of knowing is not entirely impossible, because there is general relativity behind it.
Therefore, if language determines the way of thinking, then the thinking of the seven barrel stars has no chronological order, and all parts are not sequential. His life, their perception of time, is tiled. End-to-end ring language, the metaphor of cause and effect, all metaphorize this tiling. After the perception of time is tiled, a big question arises: causality. Events are the cause and effect of each other, which is the fatalism derived from general relativity. Everything is destined to happen, no, it's just human understanding. The correct term should be "everything is laid out in front of us at the same time". When the seven barrel stars were thinking about this, the picture should be similar to the paragraph at the end of "Interstellar". The information obtained in the future becomes the turning point of the present time, and inevitably leads to the future results. "Experience", "causality", has become meaningless. Even motives don't make sense. They knew that they would definitely come into contact with humans, that humans would definitely learn the language of the seven barrel stars, and that humans would definitely help themselves in 3,000 years. All actions are just according to the script. Life is just one huge movie and you already know all the script before the show. It's very interesting that this is also a form of film. The Seven Barrels are like the film crew, and the humans are like the audience.
Ignoring the uncertainty of quantum for the time being, according to the thinking of general relativity, the seven barrel stars should be a creature without whim and impulse. Their lives are accustomed to follow a script. Their life (completely certain), and human life (seemingly full of uncertainty), are the same absurdity and nothingness, with no ultimate meaning.
The seemingly happy ending is actually extremely dark. All this is just part of an unchangeable destiny.
2. About the setting
As many people have said, the shape of the seven barrel stars is full of infinite surprises. Finally, there is an alien design in a sci-fi film that completely breaks away from "Earth Humanism". Aliens have never been obligated to grow up to human aesthetic standards, to speak human language, or even to use vocal chords as a means of communication.
I once speculated about the way Trisolarans communicate. According to Lao Liu's various hints, the three-body communication method should also be based on vision. For example, when they think, there should be a colorful haze around the brain. The color spectrum of this haze is arranged in an orderly manner, which can present different information. Therefore, it is possible for people to line up with computers and to think transparently. And the seven barrel stars can play even more, and the octopus inkjet presents a huge amount of information at the same time, a completely flat thinking. Speaking of octopus, it should be the species with the most potential for intellectual activities outside of humans on earth, because their tentacles are more flexible than humans, they have a certain intelligence, they have good vision, and all the conditions are equipped to evolve into intelligent creatures. . It makes perfect sense to design aliens inspired by octopus.
Lots of Chinese elements. In addition to the image of an iron fist and the stalk of mahjong, Chinese aesthetics can be seen everywhere. The circular splash of ink has also become a very good design element at the celebration reception. The smoky Jiangnan scenery, when presenting one-twelfth of the scientific and technological information, the writing rhythm like calligraphy, the blue and black stone of the spacecraft, and the shape of the spacecraft like the ink stone are all inspired by China. These lower-level applications of Chinese elements are much higher than the so-called Chinese style used by many Chinese designers. Have you ever thought about designing aliens with Chinese style?
3. Human naive know-how The
Chinese-style pseudo-philosophy has taught us from a young age that there is no natural law that cannot be understood through research and practice. I just want to say that people who write textbooks are all idiots with brains, because you only know the way humans understand "systems", and the so-called "laws of nature" are just a man-made concept. Our physical receptivity is limited by the physical body, how much more complex system? Humans have always thought that understanding the system is equivalent to understanding the laws, and that the development of time can be deduced, which is really naive. Quantum physics is already full of the unknowable. Humans' ability to comprehend complex things is limited by brain capacity, just as chimpanzees' inability to think about philosophy is also limited by brain capacity.
Let's put aside for a moment the movie's hint of complete fatalism and assume that the future can be changed. If one decision I make can change the direction of the entire future, there are countless branches of past and future. So, can a human being, and having memory exist precisely in the brain, deduce all possible branches of events? Even step-by-step deduction is impossible, let alone tiled in memory at the same time? However, it is possible that the Seven Barrels could. This kind of perception is called a real understanding of the "laws of nature", rather than the self-righteous feeling of understanding the so-called "laws of nature" like humans who use theoretical physics to deduce the history of the universe on a computer.
View more about Arrival reviews
