2025/09/04

The Most Unknown (film) - Wikipedia

The Most Unknown (film) - Wikipedia


The Most Unknown (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Most Unknown
Directed byIan Cheney
Produced byIan Cheney
Xavier Aaronson
Joseph Bachor
CinematographyTaylor Krauss
Michael James Murray
Emily Topper
Edited byIan Cheney
Daniel Quintanilla
Music bySimon Beins
Ben Fries
Distributed byMotherboard Tech by Vice Media
Release date
  • March 16, 2018
Running time
88 minutes
LanguageEnglish

The Most Unknown is a 2018 documentary film, directed by Ian Cheney, that introduces nine researchers from diverse scientific backgrounds to areas of scientific field work new to them. The film has had mixed reviews, with some reviewers focussed on the participants' contagious fascination with research on life's biggest mysteries ("the most unknown"), while other reviewers criticised the film's coverage of difficult technical concepts as lacking depth.

Description

The film presents interviews with nine scientists, each conducted by a scientist in another discipline—"a geobiologist, molecular biologist, various physicists studying space and time, cognitive psychologists, and a neuroscientist—who take turns visiting one another to get a cursory taste of the other's field", according to The Village Voice.[1] Film Journal International said, "In each of the nine segments, one scientist travels to meet another scientist of a different discipline to learn about the research they're doing. Then the scientist whose research has just been discussed heads off to a new location (usually remote, always beautifully lensed) where somebody from a separate school of study tells them about what they're up to. And so on."[2]

Reviewers described the interviews variously as "a La Ronde of intellectuals",[3] "nine scientists... who visit one another blind-date style",[4] "a round-robin of wonder",[5] "a daisy chain of nine curious scientific minds... a scientific game of tag",[6] "global game of tag with experts",[7] "beads on a chain of discovery",[8] "a daisy chain of one-on-one interviews / lab tours",[9] "an intellectual relay race or high-IQ speed dating",[10] and "a global relay of encounters in an effort to find commonality of language and purpose as life's big questions are explored".[11]

Cast and crew

Scientists who interviewed each other included microbiologist Jennifer Macalady, physicist Davide D'Angelo, psychologist Axel Cleeremans, astrobiologist Luke McKay, astrophysicist Rachel Smith, geobiologist Victoria Orphan, physicist Jun Ye, neuroscientist Anil Seth, and cognitive psychologist Laurie R. Santos.[12]

The documentary was directed by Ian Cheney, with advisor Werner Herzog, and was supported by a grant from Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation initiative "dedicated to engaging everyone with the process of science".[13][14]

Distribution

Motherboard Tech by Vice Media used a "multimodal release strategy", premiering the film at the Copenhagen International Film Festival on March 16, 2018; it was released in theaters on May 18, 2018. In the summer it began streaming on Netflix, which had global rights and made it available in 25 languages.[15] Finally it was posted as nine individual episodes on YouTube.[14]

Critical response

Daphne Howland of The Village Voice praised the concept of the film as raising "some of the grandest, if also the most basic, mysteries — like our perception of time or whether there's life on other planets".[1] Howland also commented on the film's beautiful settings as "photogenic", criticizing that the science was not "deeply explained".[1] Ken Jaworowski's The New York Times review agreed, saying the documentary "extols the wonders of science and of all that's yet to discover", but a drawback is that with 10 minute episodes, it is difficult to grasp the concepts, and the scientists are less skilled as interviewers.

Jaworowski said the film "works best as inspiration to delve deeper into these disciplines, and as a celebration of science".[3] The New Yorker's Sara Larson said director Cheney's "goal isn't so much to inform as to inspire, and it's vicariously exciting to watch his subjects step out of their own research and into that of their peers."[4]

Film Journal International said,

Cheney places viewers in each setting with sweeping, sparkling vistas of strange beauty that would make David Attenborough weep. As different as their backgrounds are, the scientists chosen by Cheney are a uniformly cheerful and eager-to-pitch-in bunch who are more excited than daunted by the odds stacked against their various projects. As observational astronomer Rachel Smith describes her work at one point, "You've got a puzzle with a million, or billion pieces. We've got one piece."

— Chris Barsanti[16]

Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times identifies two disarming motifs expressed in the film: "a thirst for knowledge and a belief that there's so much more to learn about what makes us and our world", and "The collegial awe that accompanies a proud nerd's introduction to another's elaborate measuring machines".[11]

The film review site "100 Films in a Year", says:

In this documentary, nine scientists working on some of the hardest problems across all fields (the "most unknowns") meet each other... It not only touches on the basics of what the unknowns they're investigating are, but also how they go about investigating or discovering these things — the day-to-day realities of actually "doing" Science. Alongside that, it reveals the scientific mindset; what motivates them. The nine individuals are very different people working on very different problems in very different fields, but the film draws out the similarities in their natures that drive them to explore the unknown... Plus, as a film, it's beautifully shot. A lot of this science is taking place in extreme locations, which bring with them a beauty and wonder of their own.

— Richard Nelson[9]

Movie Nation's reviewer Roger Moore writes, "The Most Unknown mashes up scientists from widely divergent fields for intellectual, scientific, social and even comic effect... They talk of how no one genius making a breakthrough alters human knowledge, but of scientific scholarship, building on tradition, earlier proofs, a wall of What We Know built one brick at a time."[7] Moore also says the film "...humanizes a class of people being demonized in America's virulent outbreak of Know-Nothingism. These are smart, funny and charming worker bees with limits to their knowledge, just like the rest of us... this class of open-minded thinkers should be celebrated, emulated and above all else, funded."[7]

Indira Arriago of Anchorage Express writes, "The interactions between the scientists are eye-opening for them and for the viewers and reminds one of the importance of curiosity as integral to living a meaningful life."[17] Arriago also says, "If there are a couple of shortfalls, they are, one, the film is too short and not deep enough, but 88 minutes only go so far; and two, it doesn't explore the precipice on which science meets poetry, and while it addresses the explorations into 'how' things work and the interrelationships, it falls shy of exploring 'why' things are."[17]

That analysis is echoed by other reviews. The Hollywood Reporter says although the film "seeks intellectual common ground between researchers in a slew of scientific fields", it "goes in rather the opposite direction: diving into the mysteries of the cosmos, but finding itself stuck in the shallow end of the pool".[5]

Similarly, Anupam Kant Verma of Firstpost.com writes, "The Most Unknown, Netflix's latest documentary, is a scientific adventure that never really launches into infinity and beyond... while it occasionally provides glimpses of the possibilities that keep emerging before the human race, perhaps bogged down by its short runtime and format, it fails to elicit the sense of wonder that keeps our mouths open."[2] Verma says the film "traipses across the razor's edge of understanding, too little for those with an interest in the subjects and sometimes way too much jargon for those unaware of the disciplines... the massive amounts of information that needs to be condensed to sustain the narrative often strips it of its wonderment."[2]

Verma writes of the scientists, "Their awareness of the boundlessness that confronts them is staggering. It is only matched by their firm belief in the resilience of the human spirit to explore new worlds. A deep sense of optimism underpins the film."[2]

References

  1.  Howkland, Daphne (2018-05-16). "Documentary The Most Unknown Is an Urgent Plea for Scientific Curiosity"The Village Voice. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  2.  Verma, Anupam Kant (2018-08-31). "The Most Unknown review: Netflix documentary gets lost in its own existential quest"Firstpost. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
  3.  Jaworowski, Ken (2018-05-17). "Review: The Most Unknown Tackles Science's Big Questions"The New York TimesISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  4.  Larson, Sara. "The Inspiring Science of The Most Unknown"The New Yorker. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  5.  "The Most Unknown: Film Review"The Hollywood Reporter. 2018-05-17. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  6.  Vance, Kelly (2018-06-27). "The Most Unknown Is the Most Intelligent Documentary of 2018"East Bay Express | Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  7.  Moore, Roger (2018-05-10). "Movie Review: Scientists learn The Most Unknown in Each Other's Disciplines in new Documentary"Movie Nation. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
  8.  Verma, Anupam Kant (2018-08-31). "The Most Unknown review: Netflix documentary gets lost in its own existential quest"Firstpost. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
  9.  Nelson, Richard (2020-08-11). "The 100-Week Roundup IX"100Films.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-01-16.
  10.  Wilson, Jonathon (2018-08-09). "The Most Unknown - You don't know anything | Film Review"Ready Steady Cut. Retrieved 2022-01-16.
  11.  Abele, Robert (2018-05-24). "Review: Globe-hopping documentary The Most Unknown links scientists through ideas"Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  12.  The Most Unknown (2018) - Cast and crew, retrieved 2022-01-16
  13.  "The Most Unknown". Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  14.  "The Most Unknown Available on Netflix, Youtube"Simons Foundation. 2018-08-24. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  15.  Spangler, Todd (2018-04-20). "Vice Inks Netflix, Theatrical Deals for Motherboard's 'The Most Unknown' Science Documentary (EXCLUSIVE)"Variety. Retrieved 2022-01-16.
  16.  Barsanti, Chris (May 17, 2018). "Film Review: The Most Unknown | Film Journal International"fj.webedia.us. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
  17.  Arriaga, Indra (May 31, 2018). "Film Review: The Most Unknown"The Anchorage Press. Retrieved 2022-01-15.


====


===


===

내가 된다는 것 - 데이터, 사이보그, 인공지능 시대에 인간 의식을 탐험하다 아닐 세스 | 알라딘 2021

내가 된다는 것 | 아닐 세스 | 알라딘


내가 된다는 것 - 데이터, 사이보그, 인공지능 시대에 인간 의식을 탐험하다 
아닐 세스 (지은이),장혜인 (옮긴이)흐름출판2022-06-30
원제 : Being You (2021년)






































미리보기

종이책전자책 14,400원

뇌과학 주간 48위, 과학 top10 6주|
Sales Point : 4,585

9.0 100자평(15)리뷰(30)

책소개
‘의식이란 무엇인가’라는 질문은 오늘날 신경과학이 핵심적으로 파고드는 문제 중 하나다. 이 주제는 과학이 발달한 오늘날에도 여전히 매우 추상적이며 미스터리한 영역으로 남아 있다. 심지어 의식은 인간의 인식으로는 이해 불가능한, 과학을 넘어선 영역으로까지 여겨지곤 한다.

《내가 된다는 것》은 불가해하고 난해하다고 여겨지는 의식이라는 주제를 참신한 관점으로 접근해 의식과학의 지평을 한층 더 확장시켰다는 평가를 받고 있는 세계적인 뇌과학자 아닐 세스의 최신작이다. 2017년, 의식에 관한 그의 테드 강연은 누적 조회 수 1,300만 뷰를 달성할 만큼 열광적인 반응을 불러일으켰는데, 이 책은 이 화제의 테드 강연의 확장판이라고 볼 수 있다.

이 책 전체를 관통하는 핵심 메시지 중 하나는 외부 세상과 우리 스스로에 대한 우리의 의식적 경험은 살아 있는 우리의 몸‘에서’, 우리의 몸을 ‘통해’, 그리고 우리의 몸 ‘때문에’ 발생하는 뇌 기반 예측이라는 사실이다. 다시 말해, 의식의 여부는 인지적 능력인 지능과 직접적인 관련이 없고, 오히려 ‘살아 숨 쉬는 유기체로서의 성질’(감각)과 더 깊은 관련이 있다는 것이다. 즉, 우리가 의식적 자기가 될 수 있는 이유가 바로 우리들이 ‘동물기계’이기 때문이다.

자아의 본질 또는 의식은 이성적인 마음도, 비물질적 영혼도 아닌, 살아 있다는 감각을 뒷받침하는 생물학적 프로세스에 있다. ‘내가 된다’는 경험 또는 의식은 살아 있는 신체에 기반하며 매우 물질적인 토대를 가지고 있다. 생명이 곧 의식의 뿌리인 셈이다.