The famous passage from Bhagavad Gita (BG), the Hindu religious epic. It suggests that Nolan is associating Oppie with the terrible form of Vishvaruppa – call this the “promethean” interpretation. But Oppie is actually more similar to prince Arjuna: the hero with a crisis of conscience who doesn’t want to join the battlefield of Kurukshetra because it will bring incontrollable destruction—but ends up doing it anyway, because that’s his destiny, as explained by Krishna / Vishnu, the “destroyer of worlds”. This “fatalistic” interpretation is reinforced by other scenes – e.g., Oppie’s visions of destruction, and a conversation where President Truman basically tells Oppie that he’s not that important…
Enrico Fermi, one of the brightest among so many geniuses on screen, doesn’t have enough screen time to state his famous paradox. Given that the universe is 13.7 bi years old, and that there are so many stars in the galaxy, and certainly many of them are able to evolve intelligent life just like ours… where’s everyone? certainly, we should be seeing evidence of alien life somewhere by now—like radio waves, space structures, or a party invitation. So, why this silence? Are aliens avoiding us?
One of the main explanations is that life might be self-defeating: as technology progress, the capacity of a species to destroy itself increases faster than the capacity to mitigate this risk.
So, ok, this movie is astonishing… but dear Chris Nolan, if you ever consider to extend it or turn it into a series… there are many things you might want to do. But two short scenes explaining for the viewer (1) the BG’s quotation, and (2) Fermi’s paradox would greatly improve the understanding of one the tenets of the movie—Oppie’s concern that they may start an unstoppable “chain reaction that’ll consume the world”
Two “non-spoilers” for the movie Oppenheimer
Since the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the Elders have been talking about this lately…
1) “Now I become Death, the destroyer of worlds”
The famous passage from Bhagavad Gita (BG), the Hindu religious epic. It suggests that Nolan is associating Oppie with the terrible form of Vishvaruppa – call this the “promethean” interpretation. But Oppie is actually more similar to prince Arjuna: the hero with a crisis of conscience who doesn’t want to join the battlefield of Kurukshetra because it will bring incontrollable destruction—but ends up doing it anyway, because that’s his destiny, as explained by Krishna / Vishnu, the “destroyer of worlds”. This “fatalistic” interpretation is reinforced by other scenes – e.g., Oppie’s visions of destruction, and a conversation where President Truman basically tells Oppie that he’s not that important…
2) Fermi paradox
Enrico Fermi, one of the brightest among so many geniuses on screen, doesn’t have enough screen time to state his famous paradox. Given that the universe is 13.7 bi years old, and that there are so many stars in the galaxy, and certainly many of them are able to evolve intelligent life just like ours… where’s everyone? certainly, we should be seeing evidence of alien life somewhere by now—like radio waves, space structures, or a party invitation. So, why this silence? Are aliens avoiding us?
One of the main explanations is that life might be self-defeating: as technology progress, the capacity of a species to destroy itself increases faster than the capacity to mitigate this risk.
So, ok, this movie is astonishing… but dear Chris Nolan, if you ever consider to extend it or turn it into a series… there are many things you might want to do. But two short scenes explaining for the viewer (1) the BG’s quotation, and (2) Fermi’s paradox would greatly improve the understanding of one the tenets of the movie—Oppie’s concern that they may start an unstoppable “chain reaction that’ll consume the world”
I thought it was a good movie, but was sad at how little it focused on:
The actual making of the bomb
The attempts of scientists to influence the politics of whether and how to use it
Moral regret