Join Alex and Celeste Pilegard as they discuss the first of two Keanu Reeves dystopian cyberpunk future films, Johnny Mnemonic (1995). The film was directed by Robert Longo and he quit filmmaking after this one. A film having to do with storing other people's memories in your head while others suffer from a debilitating disease caused by electronics, while set in 2021... you have to wonder if the author of the short story, William Gibson, was some sort of soothsayer! The pair discusses the interesting memory portrayals and their relation to scientists' current understanding of memory, as well as the recent introduction of generative AI and its effects of cognition. Nerve Attenuation Syndrome is still a bit far-fetched, though and reminds us all of class struggle rather than literal 5G causing COVID.

Also, check out Celeste's Cognitive Psychology OER textbook (Cognitive Foundations) in Second Edition!

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Legal stuff:
1. All film clips are used under Section 107 of Title 17 U.S.C. (fair use; no copyright infringement is intended).
2. Intro and outro music by half.cool ("Gemini"). Used under license.
3. Film reel sound effect by bone666138. Used under license CC-BY 3.0.

Episode Transcription

Go to this link to read a transcript generated by Whisper AI Large V3 Model. Disclaimer: It is not edited and may contain errors!