# Oblivion (movie)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 20, 2013, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192 "2013-04-20T05:30:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/61 "2014-01-31T15:11:08Z")

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> [@GreedySmurf](#):
>
> Problem is, does Jack know what year it is? Does he know how old those books are? It’s been a while since I saw the movie, but aren’t his memories of the past only dreams, they’re not actually direct recall memories?
> 
> And then if he believes the tech all around him, the drones, the massive water processors, the bubble jet, etc is all human tech. And seeing that sort of stuff, I would easily believe humankind was able to fight off aliens and travel to Titan.

If they had portrayed Jack as being a less intelligent character (which would have been easy in a film starring Tom Cruise) then it’s possible. But they don’t. He’s an astronaut which means that he would have to be among the most intelligent human beings living. He could make connections that other people would struggle with.

Again…if you saw something and you are reasonably intelligent, you can work out how it was constructed. If your job is to repair devices then you start with a basic set of principles on the operation and some idea of how it is manufactured and go from there. If you cannot figure out how something “works” you can’t fix it.

Jack saw that the ruins of Earth were significantly less advanced than the machinery which he was servicing and using. That should have created some dissonance as at a certain point it would occur to you that the you are repairing is far more advanced than the tech which you are seeing around you.

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**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/62 "2014-01-31T16:22:18Z")

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Titan has oceans of hydrocarbons. Europa has, presumably, oceans of water.

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**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-movie/656192/63 "2014-05-20T09:41:36Z")

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Well, I just watched the first hour of this on Cinemax, but I gave up on it. I’m pretty sure I know how it will end, though. Maverick wakes up, and he’s back on the aircraft carrier with Goose. It was all a dream.

The sunglasses and motorcycle were obvious enough, but when he was being chased by the drones and actually dodged a lightning bolt, I knew it for sure. He even used a couple of Topper Harley’s tricks in that scene.

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