Spoiler alert: I will be revealing plot points of the movie Interstellar. In fact, I’ll be assuming the reader has already seen it.
Given my deconstruction of Christopher Nolan’s movie Inception at Google in promotion of my book Inception and Philosophy: Because it’s Never Just a Dream, a few people have asked for my take on Nolan’s latest cinematic endeavor: Interstellar. But I’m not sure how useful I can be for making sense of the whole movie; if Inception was a philosophic thriller, Interstellar is a scientific one – and I’m only a philosopher. Although my study of the philosophy of science has made me very familiar with a number of scientific theories referenced in Interstellar – quantum mechanics, relativity, etc. – much more informed minds have already spoken on the topic. For example, the famous physicist Kip Thorne served as the scientific advisor to the film and wrote the book “The Science of Interstellar.” If you’re interested in understanding the science behind the film, I highly recommend it.
However, I have to admit that what I saw as scientific inadequacies in the film initially detracted from my enjoyment of the film. Many of the same “flaws” bothered astronomer Phil Plait as well. But it turns out, like me, many of the “problem areas” he identified weren’t problems all. For example, he failed to take into account that Gargantua – the black hole that sits at the center of the new solar system – is not an ordinary black hole, but a supermassive rotating black hole even larger than the one sitting at the center of our galaxy. So, for example, it turns out there can be a one hour/seven-year time dilation outside the event horizon of such a black hole. (Notice the similiarity to the 1 hour/10 year dream-time dialtion in Inception) Plait had to offer a retraction correcting most of his scientific complaints.
Plait had other complaints about the movie that weren’t grounded in scientific inaccuracies. For example, the notion that love is somehow an extra dimensional force yet to be explained is not only unscientific – but is just downright silly. I would agree – and the movie could have done without it. Thankfully, that makes me able to ignore it. But another complaint I’ve heard centers around an essential plot point in the movie: the salvific actions of the five-dimensional beings. And if it sticks, it doesn’t seem to be something I could ignore.