Matt Brady - The Science of Rick and Morty: What Earths Stupidest Show Can Teach Us About Quantum Physics, Biological Hacking and Everything Else in Our Universe

What Earths Stupidest Show Can Teach Us About Quantum Physics, Biological Hacking & Everything Else in Our Universe

Matt Brady

Published by 535
An imprint of Blink Publishing
The Plaza, 535 Kings Road,
Chelsea Harbour,
London, SW10 0SZ

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ISBN 9781788701464 (trade paperback)
ISBN 9781788701471 (ebook)

All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or circulated in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing of the publisher.

This book has not been approved, licensed or sponsored by any entity or person involved in creating Rick and Morty, the TV series. Rick and Morty the TV series is the registered trademark of The Cartoon Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

A CIP catalogue of this book is available from the British Library.

Text design and typesetting by Envy Design

Text copyright by Matt Brady, 2019

Illustrations Clarkevanmeurs Design

Matt Brady has asserted his moral right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers would be glad to hear from them.

Blink Publishing is an imprint of the Bonnier Books UK
www.bonnierbooks.co.uk

For Mom & Dad who always let me do my thing, even when it left them scratching their heads and wondering how Id ever make a living at it. I think I have this figured out now

For Aidan whos going to show this part to his friends who dont believe that his dad wrote a science book about Rick and Morty. Yes, I really am that Aidan Bradys dad. Now pay up.

For Shari for putting up with Writer Matt, Self-Doubting Matt and Manic Matt for the last six months. And for being my rock.

And for Jack, for being a very good boy.

Break the cycle Morty. Rise above. Focus on science. Rick to Morty

Season 1, Episode 6: Rick Potion #9

Y ou are going to learn things by reading this book, and someday, you might change the world because of it.

People as old as me often hold Star Trek in a very special place. Weekly, the crew of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1071), the Voyager, or the space station Deep Space Nine amazed audiences with stories of a future where science could solve problems, equalise society and create opportunities, using technologies that we couldnt even dream of.

But looking back, whats a cell phone, but Captain Kirks communicator realized? The touchscreens that were ubiquitous on Captain Picards Enterprise how many times did you use a touchscreen today? Hundreds of other examples can be found throughout modern life. One could argue that Star Trek was the collective dream of future scientists and engineers that ended up creating the world they were shown.

Neither Star Trek nor Rick and Morty shy away from science. In episode after episode, its there, in your face, an integral part of the world and something thats used by the characters. While Star Trek used science as a tool a way to solve problems and to discover new things about the universe around us Rick andMorty uses science as a toy: something to be tinkered with and used by Rick in the most unconventional and irreverent ways. But in the end science. Both shows get science into living rooms, and in the end, people think about science.

Rick and Morty is funny. Its cheeky, its philosophical, it can be, in equal parts depressing and life-affirming, and its also one of the smartest shows on television.

Think back to some of the biggest episodes with the most outlandish storylines things like Lawnmower Dog, M. Night Shaym-Aliens, A Rickle in Time or Pickle Rick. Theyre all built around the newest, most innovative scientific concepts, and more than that, they ask mind-blowing questions as a result:

Can we make animals (or ourselves) smarter?

Are we living in a computer simulation?

Are there multiple timelines or realities, and can we move between them?

Can a cockroachs brain be controlled with chemicals?

Much of the world of Rick and Morty is built on cutting-edge science: hacking memories and dreams, the multiverse, cloning, biohacking and human augmentation, aliens, evolution, artificial intelligence, particle physics and cosmology.

As a science teacher and writer, Im always looking for ways to make science concepts more palatable for my students and my readers. To these ends, I like to think of pop culture as a Trojan horse. Its weird, interesting and cool, and you let it settle into your brain, thinking its just another bit of decoration or trivia that will get filed away. But then, late at night or as youre watching/playing/listening to said pop culture the secret door in the horse opens and the science comes spilling out into your walled city. Maybe its a stray thought about making dogs smarter and giving them the ability to speak (and question us about what we did to their testicles). Or maybe its a question about multiverses that gets you wondering about where and how such things could exist. Or just perhaps, what gets out of the horse is a question about extracting and storing unpleasant memories.

And then hopefully, you ask your science teacher about it, look it up online, watch a video about it or even decide to read a book. If any one of these countless options happens, Im happy. A seed of science has made its way into your brain.

Give that seed some water and some soil, and see where it goes.

Maybe those scenes where someone grew or shrank got you thinking about and looking into the hows and whys of shrinking in our world, and maybe you learned a little something about it.