I Wrote a NEW Sci-Fi with Project Hail Mary Author Andy Weir

This wasn't in the book... Andy is one of the most popular science fiction writers alive today. He also wrote The Martian. What’s special about his work is how real his fake stories are. He showed me the secret spreadsheets he uses to calculate the science in his writing (including my favorite, “wrong math”). The reason that matters is that fiction can help you see the real world more clearly. Sci-fi is “huge if true”! This show is about real science and tech, but we’ve done a little sci fi to explain complex things. So I wanted to learn from Andy. In this conversation, we go deep inside Andy’s fictional worlds to see how exactly he makes them so real… And we play out a BRAND NEW sci fi story together in real time… Welcome to HUGE* Conversations. Chapters 00:00 Who is Andy Weir? 03:10: The world’s largest meteorite 06:04 Andy Weir’s secret spreadsheets 10:04 How Rocky became Rocky 13:02 Where Rocky’s story really began 15:07 What didn’t make it into the book for Project Hail Mary 17:22 How to create a true alien 19:25 Rocky’s body v. your body 23:38 Our new sci-fi story 27:23 How to tell if a planet has alien life 31:23 The biggest question if we do find aliens 36:48 How do you talk to a new alien species 41:16 The biggest changes in The Martian 44:55 The secret sauce of HUGE* and Project Hail Mary 48:15 Does sci-fi influence science 51:17 Andy’s new book 51:42 The biggest sci-fi changes in real life 54:54 The optimistic future Andy sees coming 57:35 What Andy Weir wants to be remembered for 58:42 Sneak peek at our next video! 58:53 :) You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram Bio: Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, HUGE* If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked. Additional reading and watching: - Novels by Andy Weir: Project Hail Mary, The Martian, Artemis - "The Egg", a short story by Andy Weir - Webpage with details of Eridian biology https://www.galactanet.com/eridian/ - Interviews with Andy Weir: - The Talking Room with Adam Savage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SemyzKgaUU - Penguin Random House https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16bKLuAZvyw - Dr. Becky: https://youtu.be/JOgwM941nV4?si=MnS-VdLFJ_GcbShR - Re: Thinking with Adam Grant https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/worklife-with-adam-grant/id1346314086?i=1000607234826 - Lecture at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2tfh6OUUYUw - Paper, "What Changed when Andy Weir's The Martian Got Edited?" by Ketzan and Schoch https://dh2017.adho.org/abstracts/317/317.pdf - NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/programs/exep/ Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/ Gear I use: Camera: Sony A7SIII Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro Music: Musicbed, Tom Fox Follow along for more episodes of HUGE* If True: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1 — Hey, welcome to the joke down low! What do you give an alien when they’re upset? Some space. Find a way to use “space” in a comment to let me know you’re a real one who made it to the end of the description :)