Barack Obama has shared his favorite sci-fi films and TV series, because he’s a nerd like the rest of us.
There was a time when sci-fi and fantasy lovers were looked down upon, but nowadays, most people realize that these genres offer the best insights into real life, using fantastical ‘what if’ scenarios to explore complicated political and moral dilemmas.
President Obama understands this, and in his role as guest editor of WIRED Magazine, he has shared his own favorite science fiction films and TV series, that include all your old faves — and a few surprises.
President Obama’s favorite sci-fi films and TV series
There are eight works on the list, that range from the most iconic of classics (2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner) to last year’s The Martian, which he praises because it “shows humans as problem solvers.”
Both the Star Trek TV series and Star Wars: A New Hope are on there, too. Star Trek, he says, “wasn’t actually about technology. It was about values and relationships … [it] uses science fiction to promote a humanistic ethic.” When Leonard Nimoy passed away last year, Obama paid his respects to the fallen legend, saying, “I loved Spock.”
See the full list, which also counts The Matrix, on WIRED, where the POTUS also recently shared his views on the future of AI technology.
In the in-depth interview, Obama reassured readers that the reality of AI is a long way away from global takeover. What we do have to worry about is increased social inequality and wage suppression as the new technology potentially begins to eliminate job opportunities.
On AI as an extension of humanity, Obama muses, “Part of what makes us human are the kinks. They’re the mutations, the outliers, the flaws that create art or the new invention, right? We have to assume that if a system is perfect, then it’s static. And part of what makes us who we are, and part of what makes us alive, is that we’re dynamic and we’re surprised. One of the challenges that we’ll have to think about is, where and when is it appropriate for us to have things work exactly the way they’re supposed to, without surprises?”
Well, he’s about to have a lot of free time on his hands, so maybe he should write a book about it.
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