When asked to watch this sci-fi movie from 20 years ago, I refused, but I couldn't calm down for a long time after watching that movie until 3am. I didn't expect that a sci-fi movie 20 years ago would give me such a strong sense of shock, and even for me personally, its shock intensity surpassed that of "Interstellar". What impressed me most about "Interstellar" is the most precious thing of human beings - lifespan, which is ruthlessly dominated and obliterated by general relativity; The picture will also give goosebumps all over, imagining that the whole person will be weakly pulled into that incomparably bright dark abyss.
However, "Contact in Time" goes beyond the level of science fiction to discuss the topic of facing human nature: Can technology really bring happiness to human beings? Is there an irreconcilable contradiction between belief in science and belief in God?
In the first half of the movie, the heroine Ellie, with the grief of losing her parents and her obsession with looking for aliens, has been dealing and fighting with people who despise the "exploring aliens plan". She spent 13 months alone after cutting off funding. She ran all over the world to ask for money from various consortia who might be interested, and then searched the observatory in New Mexico for four years without any results, and she was faced with the desperate situation that the state was about to revoke her right to use the observatory... Rationalist, indomitable typical scientist image.
If the story only came to an abrupt end in the first half, the story of this scientist is also magnificent enough, and his scientific spirit is worthy of being passed down and learned from generation to generation like other scientists. But what she encountered after she actually received the information from the aliens could not be solved only with scientific knowledge, and her values above science were also challenged a little bit. In order to show this conflict concretely, the movie arranges the identity of the hero Joss to be a theologian, a profession that seems to be opposed to a scientist. Joss and Ellie have several debates throughout the film, and their views gradually change during the debate.
The male protagonist Joss is not actually an anti-science person. To be precise, he is an anti-technology person. When he appeared on the scene, he stated his point of view: "I am not an anti-science person, I am against sacrificing human truth, and Entrusting technology to the godless." Four years later, he added in the talk show: "Are we humans happier because of the development of science and technology?", "We shop at home, browse the Internet, but at the same time we feel more empty. We do mindless work, we go on crazy vacations, we think we can fill the void, we look for meaning, but what is the meaning?" And while he made his point in the studio, Ellie found out that night. Alien signal, Ellie suddenly received an alien signal in her laboratory, and the entire laboratory was like an ant on a hot pot in order to correct the radar array and confirm the signal. Ellie's excited and somewhat frantic voice is intertwined with Joss's calm voice, creating a strong contrast.
After learning that astronomers have obtained massive amounts of alien information, the response of the masses is extremely incredible. The number of people participating in religious ceremonies in the United States has soared by 39%. Many people choose to commit suicide, and many people choose to believe that this is the will of God. Even thousands of people gathered at Ellie's observatory in New Mexico, set up dense tents, held various protests or prayers, and became the biggest event for a while (I want to say that Americans have strong brains). In short, the people who eat melons are very resistant to the behavior of the country to contact aliens. They do not think that their personal life will be threatened, but that their beliefs will be broken by real aliens.
In the face of the existence of aliens, whether it is an opportunity or a danger, whether scientists, theologians or the general public have to seriously consider some questions that cannot be answered by science itself: Is it correct for us to contact aliens? ? What is the significance of our contact with aliens? What will they bring us?
This conflict between religion and science culminates in a secret security meeting, where Ellie discovers after decoding a message from aliens that aliens want humans to build a machine. At the meeting, the two sides disagreed on whether to make the machine, and the president's spokesperson claimed: "We don't know the value of these things, and we don't even know whether aliens believe in gods." Ellie, a sane scientist at the time Exasperated, he directly mocked: "The message they convey is written in scientific language, not a burning tree in the form of a religion or a voice from the sky." Thus completely denying any connection between God and this event. The scene was irreconcilable for a time. At this time, Joss, the president's religious adviser, said: "But you can't deny that this is indeed a voice from heaven, and we need to consider the inevitable religious implications of it, but we shouldn't be afraid of it. danger, and I hope we can find common ground and break down our differences. ”
Then Ellie and Joss debated the existence of God from their own perspectives
Joss: "What people want most is the meaning of existence that science cannot give them"
Ellie: "Come on, like you're saying that science killed God. What if science just revealed that God doesn't exist?"
Joss: "I don't know, I can't imagine living in a world without God, I don't want to."
Ellie: "For me, the existence of God requires proof. Do you have proof of his existence?"
Joss: "Evidence?"
Joss: "Do you love your father?"
Ellie: "What"
Joss: "Your dad, do you love him?"
Ellie: "Yeah, love him a lot"
Joss: "Then can you prove it?"
Ellie: "…"
What Ellie is saying is that science just uses facts to prove that God does not exist. Joss believes that faith does not strictly prove its existence, but exists because people need it, just like if you can't prove love, love does not exist? Can't you love your relatives, lovers and friends?
When it comes to faith, I am reminded of a story of Nietzsche satirizing God in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. One day, many people who believed in God came to Zarathustra and told him that God was dead and asked Zarathustra to save them. Zarathustra pulled out a donkey and said to them, This is your God. As a result, this group of people really worshipped and prayed in front of the donkey very devoutly, making Zarathustra wonder whether to laugh or cry. So, do those people really think donkey = god? Or do they need a sense of faith, even if it comes from a donkey? Although this story is absurd, it shows that God is only a carrier in people's beliefs, and it may actually be replaced by anything. The essence of belief is its supporting role in people's survival .
As a scientist, the most confident place is that the premise and assumptions of science are based on facts, and the derivation of its logic is absolutely rigorous, so the conclusions are more based than those of other disciplines. Therefore, many people continue to think according to this logic: because the conclusions drawn by science are the most reliable, the tool it uses - rational thinking is higher than all other emotional thinking, and only science can explore the truth of the universe and Meaning, other disciplines cannot accomplish this task.
is this real? Is it possible that with science and reason, we can ignore emotions and other irrational and unprovable beliefs? Is it possible to find the truth of existence and meaning only by relying on science?
Most Chinese people have no religious beliefs and may think that discussing the relationship between science and belief is of little use to them. But in fact, faith is not necessarily to believe in God, but to support your life in your heart, or to support your motivation to achieve happiness. For example, in your heart, your family supports your efforts to survive, for example, you believe that your career can bring you happiness, or smoking and racing can make you happy (it may be a bit inappropriate to elevate smoking to belief, but if someone really of those who think smoking gives them the motivation to work hard for happiness, it counts too). Then at this time, a scientist will tell you through a very strict argument in front of you: your family will die one day, the business you are engaged in does not create much economic value, and smoking or racing will seriously harm your health. Will you be happy then? Will you choose to believe his theory and then collapse, or will you continue to hold on to your own beliefs? It seems that science cannot solve this problem, nor can it be responsible for the results of the selection.
Of course, we cannot deny the value of technology. Now we can buy everything with a mobile phone, and can easily go to various places in the world. Technology has given ordinary people greater freedom to do what they want. But for some reason, people in our country are becoming more and more anxious, worrying about cars and houses every day, and developed countries or regions like Europe and the United States are also facing problems such as social division and new nationalism. It is clear that making people happier is not a task that technology alone can accomplish. At the end of the film, as Joss and Ellie leave the House, when a reporter asks Joss what he believes in, he says, "As a believer in God, I follow a different creed than Dr. Ellie, but our goal is the same - to seek the truth. " Maybe faith and science have to find a mutual balance, so that humans can better pursue their own happiness and meaning.
In the end, the teacher asked me to talk about the social responsibility and social beliefs of scientists, but I still haven't figured out what kind of responsibility or belief should I have, and I can't exaggerate my feelings at the end. I can only understand one thing through this movie and some thinking some time ago: when we pursue science and reason, we cannot ignore emotional thinking, and when we pursue the truth of facts, we must not forget to respect the beliefs of others.
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