PBS Digital Studios’ Crash Course Physics explained special relativity, and they used some familiar Westworld faces to do it.
There are a lot of ways you can tell that a television series has really made it. Perhaps it’s when the series gets more viewers in its first season than any other series in HBO history. Or maybe it’s when the show becomes a piece of pop culture that’s talked about all over the internet. For me though it’s when PBS starts making references to it. After all Game of Thrones really took off after Sesame Street started creating skits based on it right?
Well now Westworld can claim a PBS connection as Crash Course Physics has used a few of its characters and one train to explain Special Relativity.
Here’s how Wikipedia describes special relativity…
"In physics, special relativity is the generally accepted and experimentally well-confirmed physical theory regarding the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein’s original pedagogical treatment, it is based on two postulates:The laws of physics are invariant (i.e. identical) in all inertial systems (non-accelerating frames of reference).The speed of light in a vacuum is the same for all observers, regardless of the motion of the light source."
That’s all fine and good, but it’s really hard for me to understand without Dolores and Robert Ford, sorry the video called him Bob didn’t it? There’s something fantastic about explaining special relativity using Robert Ford. I think Ford would enjoy his role in this video.
References like this in pop culture give me hope that the Westworld enthusiasm isn’t going to go away between seasons 1 and 2.
NEXT: 7 Parks We Might Get To Visit In Westworld Season 2
What do you think? Does Westworld showing up in things like this mean it has the popularity to last as a science fiction franchise? Let us know on Facebook or in the comments below.