HISC 174Aliens & Quantum Reality: Does Anybody Really Know What Time (It) Is?
The film Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve and based on sci-fi writer Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life,” serves as our laboratory for exploring questions of the nature of time, history, memory, free will, determinism, causality, communication, and the meaning of life. Examines questions of aliens, race, gender, colonization, militarism, messianism. Students also learn aspects of physics and linguistics theories, including quantum physics, as we find ourselves face to face with very earthly issues and deep philosophical quandaries.
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When it runs
Winter 2026Open Winter 2026
| Section | Type | When | Where | Instructor | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Lecture | Tue Thu 9:50am–11:25am | TBA | K. M. Barad | Open 57/58 |
Who teaches it
| Instructor | Rating | Difficulty | Would take again | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karen Barad | 3.4 / 5 | 4.1 / 5 | 67% | 19 |
From RateMyProfessors, which is student-submitted and not a survey. Small review counts move a long way on one bad quarter.
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