Long before Ready Player One, there was a book about an intergalactic game of chance and luck called The Player of Games, by Iain M. Banks, published in 1988. It was the second Culture novel, which is a vast AI interface that plug people into a better reality, or does it?

We’ll break down the book, see if it holds up, and talk about its relevance in today’s world which has VR gaming as the new frontier. Check it!

Today's episode is on honor of Douglas Trumbull, the genius behind the special effects of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, Star Trek, Blade Runner and others, who passed from this corporeal plane to become a star child himself on Feb 7th, 2022.

The film we are revisiting today was Douglas’ directorial debut. Brainstorm stars Christopher Walken as a scientists who invents a brain–computer interface enabling sensations to be recorded from a person's brain and converted to tape for others to experience.