Can You Master This Unique Sci-Fi Trivia Challenge?

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Ivan Seeking said:
The Voyage of the Space Beagle

Oh I loved that book... I actually read it IN a library (in a corner of the stacks) when I was a kid. *wistful*
 
Ivan Seeking said:
On this planet [name required], if you use the toilet, you get a receipt. Why?

Because if you don't the balance will be taken OUT OF YOU, surgically. Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Douglas Adams, Baruch Dayan Emet.

Oh the name... I haven't read the book in a while, so I remember the sound from the radio show... Bethsilameen? Betsilamine?
 
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Frame Dragger said:
Because if you don't the balance will be taken OUT OF YOU, surgically. Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Douglas Adams, Baruch Dayan Emet.

Oh the name... I haven't read the book in a while, so I remember the sound from he radio show... Bethsilameen? Betsilamine?

Yes! [is the name right? I'm not even sure] The planet was suffering from erosion resulting from space tourism, so the mass intake and return for each visitor were closely monitored. You hope to excrete as much as you eat or you go under the knife.
 
Ivan Seeking said:
Yes! [is the name right? I'm not even sure] The planet was suffering from erosion resulting from space tourism, so the mass intake and return for each visitor were closely monitored. You hope to excrete as much as you eat or you go under the knife.

Ahhh, that was a GOOD one.

Ok...

Here's the hint, in reference to a "character" in a book.

Silence in the coldest season.
 
Ivan Seeking said:
Yes! [is the name right? I'm not even sure] The planet was suffering from erosion resulting from space tourism, so the mass intake and return for each visitor were closely monitored. You hope to excrete as much as you eat or you go under the knife.

It's "Bethselamin" to be exact.
 
Ivan Seeking said:
Another clue?

Sure...

Silence in the coldest season

Namesake of Ogden
 
Ivan Seeking said:
Taking a longshot that I can't decipher your second clue: Rand al'Thor; Winter's Heart?

Otherwise, I'm stumped.

A WoT reference! I love you for thinking of it, but no.

The answer: Wintermute... the AI from Neuromancer by William Gibson, created by the man Ogden Wintermute.

I'll cede the next round to you, for the WoT reference (RIP Mr. Rigley/Jordan).
 
Frame Dragger said:
A WoT reference! I love you for thinking of it, but no.

The answer: Wintermute... the AI from Neuromancer by William Gibson, created by the man Ogden Wintermute.

I'll cede the next round to you, for the WoT reference (RIP Mr. Rigley/Jordan).

Heh, I was truly grasping at straws.

What sci-fi movie has a basis that was arguably first suggested by a famous 16th/17th century Philosopher?
 
Ivan Seeking said:
Heh, I was truly grasping at straws.

What sci-fi movie has a basis that was arguably first suggested by a famous 16th/17th century Philosopher?

Would the movie be Cube? The prisoners were able to excape using a Cartesian coordinate system, invented by René Descartes.
 
I'll go with the "Matrix", based on Descartes' argument that you cannot trust your perceptions, as an evil demon might be controlling your every experience. This evolved into the whole "How can I know that I'm not just a brain hooked up in a lab being fed sensations by some scientist." idea.
 
Janus said:
I'll go with the "Matrix", based on Descartes' argument that you cannot trust your perceptions, as an evil demon might be controlling your every experience. This evolved into the whole "How can I know that I'm not just a brain hooked up in a lab being fed sensations by some scientist." idea.

That's the one. :biggrin:
 
Janus said:
If you need it, you can find it in Suffolk county.

Hmmmm... swinging blindly now... "The Forgotten" (the movie, not the tv series)? That, or Needful Things... but that's in Maine. I'm stumped!
 
Ivan Seeking said:
You are sooooooo close.

If I was using an ICBM to make my guess I would of hit it. :-p
 
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Argentum Vulpes said:
If I was using an ICBM to make my guess I would of hit it. :-p

You were very close! Just Google [descartes sci-fi movie]. Matrix is mentioned on the first page.

Janus said:
If you need it, you can find it in Suffolk county.

Frame Dragger said:
Hmmmm... swinging blindly now... "The Forgotten" (the movie, not the tv series)? That, or Needful Things... but that's in Maine. I'm stumped!
 
True Ivan, it's just the math link made a bit more sense to me so that was the tree I was barking up.

Janus said:
If you need it, you can find it in Suffolk county.

Would it be http://www.iconsf.org/" held at Stony Brook University, in Stony Brook, New York. Which is in Suffolk County, New York.
 
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Janus said:
Hmm, no new guesses. so here's two more:

When you get there, you might find out that it is Punday night.

The author can spin a fine tale.

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon?
 
Correct! Callahan's place, a creation of Spider Robinson and along the tradition of A. C. Clarke's "White Hart".

Drinks are a dollar. (50 cents actually, but you only get your change if, upon finishing your drink, you don't exercise your option of making a toast and throwing the glass into the fireplace.)

It is a place where the odd and wonderful can, and often does, happen. Like the time the fellow betted everyone in the bar that his dog could talk. Ventriloquism turned out to be the trick, only it was the guy that was mute and the dog that threw his voice. (Mutation had given him the intelligence, and surgery the ability to talk.)
 
It is the city of eternal darkness.
 
Janus said:
I'll go with the "Matrix", based on Descartes' argument that you cannot trust your perceptions, as an evil demon might be controlling your every experience. This evolved into the whole "How can I know that I'm not just a brain hooked up in a lab being fed sensations by some scientist." idea.

Ooooo, nice!

Of course it wasn't the much later philosopher, Baudrillard. He said that if it were based on his own writings, then it was based on a misreading of them. Also, worth repeating, that if the matrix was to make a film, “The Matrix” would be the sort of film it would make.
 
MotoH said:
It is the city of eternal darkness.

Would it be The city of Ember? A book series by Jeanne DuPrau. It was also made into a movie I believe.