Alex Garland: Fundamental Questions Inspire Art and Science | Alex Garland on The Origins Podcast
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Published 2022-08-14
Alex Garland is probably best known to the world for writing and directing the blockbuster film Ex Machina about the consequences of the coming of age of an AI humanoid robot. Before that, he wrote the film 28 days later, about the fictional aftermath of a mysterious incurable virus that spreads through the UK. Most recently he directed a television series for FX called Devs, about many things, but hinging on quantum mechanics and issues of a multiverse.
The human implications of new technology seem to play an ever-present role in his films, and Lawrence has been fortunate to have had the opportunity to chat with him about science and art in the past and was eager to sit down and record a podcast. He is remarkably thoughtful and at the same time self-deprecating. Since the origins podcast tends to focus on issues of science and culture, Alex was the perfect guest, and he seamlessly blends the two. Lawrence sat down with Alex and talked about his own origins, emerging from a period of more or less complete disinterest in science to returning to the kind of questioning that his scientist grandfather used to embark on with him when he was a young boy. Recorded in the building in which his most recent TV series Devs was being recorded, they had to talk about the quantum universe as well.
It was a fascinating and thoughtful conversation about the human interface with modern science, as displayed in film, writing, and art.
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All Comments (21)
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alex garland is still very underrated. he's a humble quiet genius
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He's put some of the most compelling scenes on screen in the last few decades. His use of these high level scientific concepts commenting thematically on the internal struggles of his characters to to tell an intriguing story is an absolute pleasure to experience. It's a tragedy his work isn't finding more commercial success in today's media landscape.
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Alex Garland is a brilliant guest to interview. Humble , curious and very insightful. He must be a joy to be around.
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alex garland is one of my favorite filmmakers of the last decade. devs was incredibly well made, just rewatched it it for the fourth time
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I love this mans scientist storyteller brain so much. Annihilation has been my most favorite scifi ever since it came and i love and seen all scifi since 15 years, since i first got internet. more power to this man.
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I just like the idea that Alex Garland defined every Film he has made as his own understanding of a certain theme. Wether it could be AI or other particular Topics.
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Garland is amazing and pioneering modern scifi. Really enjoyed the interview. I really enjoyed how he invoked his friend's argument around 39:50, sounds like a great friendship
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It's really refreshing to see an artist who is taking on sci-fi that is so deeply humble about the debt they are in. Not really being into science until they were in their 20s, feeling like they were doing a lot of catching up, and trying to say what they can say without feeling like an imposter. It was great to see transparently how "tortured" of an artist Garland is, not in the sense of some fantastical idea of that concept...but just the burden of being given a team and production that can make the movies they want to make...and feeling they owe that team the script and capabilities and knowledge required to pull it off...and never being really sure if they had it. As an artist watching final works of other artists, it can feel daunting to see how cohesive it all feels, how complex the research had to have been to get the details, and then it makes it hard to tackle subjects that require that level of research to feel as though you have something to say about it beyond just the visual desire to go to that space. Great interview, disagree with ya'll on a few things on just an A priori level when it comes to things like Machines being able to be hard coded the inability to kill, I just don't think that's inherently true. We don't really know the level of complexity required to produce consciousness and the amount of contradictory information needed to sustain that could inevitably lead to the ability to make judgements against hard coding and may necessitate it or in a certain sense...are they actually conscious or are they simply a simulation visually with all the bits that make them conscious cut off for safety reasons?
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What a talent and inspiration. Thanks for the video, Lawrence.
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Wow! Excellent!!! Thank for your podcast.
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Really enjoyed this. Need more of it.
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Thank you for providing us with this!
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Really interesting. I look up to Garland. Thank you for this, great interviewing!!
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Great podcast and a very interesting artist that I didn't radared much(only Ex Machina) . Thanks for sharing the knowledge ❤🎉🎉🎉
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I remember reading 'The Tesseract'. Perhaps, of many, my most memorable reading experience. I still tell people, if they are ready, read that.
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really enjoyed this one, TY Lawrence!
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Great conversation thank you
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Terrific conversation ,thoroughly enjoyed it,devs is an amazing show do watch it all physics lovers out there......
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Free will, don't have any when you need a washroom, but before you leave the washroom free will is you deciding to, or not to wash your hands. Great interview, thank you very much both Alex and Lawrence, wide ranging and exploring discussion that was fun.
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Great pod with a really interesting guest. I'm not sure I agree with Alex's reasoning about AI not being an existential threat though. Sure, we can be smart and resourceful at responding to threats but we have never had to respond to one that was fighting back with its own intellect, possibly a much greater intellect than our own.
