Test Your Geekdom
Vol XVIII: The Science of Sci-Fi

Geekdom isn't all about knowing your films and comic characters, so today’s quiz will focus on science, history, philosophy, and other real world concepts... or at least the various technobabble and gibberish which often take their forms in film and literature.

Good for 30 possible points, Good Luck!

1. This 1999 film by the Wachowski Brothers was heavily inspired by the Allegory of the Cave.
   Name the film
   Name the philosopher credited with the Allegory of the Cave

2. This author is often credited with popularizing robots with his 3 Laws of Robotics and his robots featuring positronic brains, both of which have been heavily borrowed by other writers. While the former is typically explained in each of his many stories on robots, the latter is never explained, beyond the assumption it functions on positrons, which are a real particle.
   Name that Author
   Name the anti-particle of the positron

3. Also known as an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, this hypothetical object allows one to travel from one place to another instantly, and is a common method of faster than light travel in Sci-Fi. One of the better known examples is from a TV series in the 1990s, part of a famous Sci-fi Franchise that takes place on a space station located in deep space near such an object that exits on the other side of the galaxy.
   What is the common name for an Einstein-Rosen Bridge?
   What is the name of TV series mentioned?

4. This type of radiation is typically produced by Nuclear reactions, such as an exploding nuclear bomb, and is often used to give fictional characters incredible abilities rather than cancer, and sometimes turn them green. Perhaps the most famous example is a Marvel Comics character best known for his anger management issues. That character himself is often considered inspired by a 1886 novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, which revolves around a person suffering from a psychological condition very popular with writers and explored with a DC Comic’s Batman antagonist known for flipping coins.
   Name the radiation type
   Name the Marvel Character
   Name the 1886 Novella
   Name the psychological condition
   Name the DC villain

5. This Astrophysical Principle is the philosophical consideration that observations of the physical Universe must be compatible with the conscious life that observes it. It was once discussed by this late SF writer known for his stories about hitchhiking as follows, “Imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, 'This is an interesting world I find myself in — an interesting hole I find myself in — fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!'”
   Name the principle
   Name the Author

6. This unit of measuring vast distances sounds similar enough to a unit of time that it is probably no surprise this fictional spaceship pilot once claimed to have made the Kessel Run, a race of a set distance, in 12 of them, even though the goal of races is usually to do them in the shortest time and shortening the distance is usually called cheating. On the other hand this character is a notorious cheat, and his creator does often get time confused, such as not knowing who shot first.
   Name the unit of measure
   Name the character mentioned
   Name the creator mentioned
   Name the character that creator claims shot first

7. This 1956 film, an example of “So bad, it’s good” sort-of stars Bela Lugosi and had an allegedly intelligent alien from outer space claim "a ray of sunlight is made up of many atoms.", making it unsurprising the plan failed just like the 8 before it.
   What particle is a ray of sunlight composed of?
   What is the name of the Film?

8. This fictional material is named after a fictional origin world of a famous protagonist which just happens to be named identically to a real world chemical element discovered in 1898 by Chemists Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers.
   What is the name of the fictional material?
   What is the name of the real world material and the fictional world?
   What is the name of the aforementioned protagonist?

9. The material mentioned in the previous question is known to weaken the protagonist, who is otherwise nearly invincible. There is a common phrase referring to a mythological figure and part of his anatomy that is used to describe such things as areas of weakness or vulnerable spots.
   Name the Mythological Figure
   Name the portion of his anatomy which was weak

10. There is a scientific law, named for a pair of common geometric shapes, which states that if you increase size of an object proportionally its area increases by the square of that increase and its volume by the cube. This is often cited as the reason very large fictional creatures, such as dragons, could not fly, or why this famous giant fictional reptile - who is often headed straight for Tokyo - could not exist.
    Name the Law
    Name the Tokyo-bound reptile

11. This hypothetical particle is a frequent tacky plot device for allowing time travel or faster-than-light communications, such as the Fatline communication method described in a popular science fiction series written by Dan Simmons.
    Name the hypothetical particle
    Name the first book of the aforementioned series

12. This 1982 film based on a story by Phillip K. Dick features a Voight-Kampff machine, a means of determining if someone is a human or not, and seems inspired by a test designed by a famous mathemetician and early computer scientist. A real world example of this test is CAPTCHA codes, used to determine if data is being sent by a human.
    Name the mathematician and test
    Name the 1982 film

Previous Quizzes
Vol I: Quotes
Vol II: The Sequel
Vol III: Openers
Vol IV: Name That Toon
Vol V: The Sincerest Form of Flattery
Vol VI: Big Dumb Objects
Vol VII: Apocalypse How
Vol VIII: Time Loop
Vol IX: You Bet Your Life
Vol X: Parodies
Vol XI: Zombie Apocalypse
Vol XII: Humanitarians
Vol XIII: Scary Movies
Vol XIV: Circle Quiz 2.0 or the Scif-FI Circle Quiz
Vol XV: Comic Crossover
Vol XVI: A Novel Idea
Vol XVII: Quotes II