Production

Issues before, issues during, issues in the final cut. So many issues! How the movie lost much of the depth of the book.

Scifi vs Fantasy

Sciencey veneer over a big pile of fantasy. Maybe steampunk?

Dark Matter

Recognizing that dark matter makes no sense as an explanation for dust. Considering the public conception of dark matter way back when the book was written. Discovery and modern evidence. Bullet cluster. Baryonic matter. Dark energy or the cosmological constant.

The Mind-Body Problem

Familiars and daemons and souls. Dualism. Consciousness uploading. Metaknowledge.

Polar Bears

Polar bear evolution. Shrinking habitat. Hollow hairs and skin color and other adaptations. Blubber and keeping cool.

Parallel Universes

Svalbard! Aurora. The many-worlds interpretation.