Syncopated's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[SS - The Flower of Life]

A pathetic and dangerous portrayal of science

This animation is not only absurd, but a danger to young minds that could find it anything but a total mockery of science and religion. This is clear in the first few seconds, where you say everything can be measured geometrically, i.e. that everything is physical. But then you refer to this mysterious 'spirit' that can somehow traverse nothingness, which is distinctly not a physical form. You basically admit that there is some form that is outside of science, while trying to pass of this video as science itself. Sorry, but by any standard definition of 'science' (and any legitimate definition as far as I'm concerned) these things are mutually exclusive.

You point out interesting things here, and it's true that there are certain mathematical and geometric forms that appear throughout the universe. But you ascribe SO MUCH importance to these forms to the point where you see patterns that aren't there. This was done in the past: Kepler believed that each of Earth's "five planets" known at the time were arranged in one each of the five Platonic solids. Obviously, this is false because we have more than five other planets in our solar system. The point here being that just because we can pull a baseless connection out of the air doesn't make it remotely true, or important.

Further, several parts of this video are plain ridiculous. To say that everyone in the universe refers to Metatron's Cube as such is obviously false- we have no idea what life outside of Earth is like, if it even exists. These sweeping generalizations reduce the content of this animation to essentially drivel. You probably realized this when you had to preface it with "this might seem silly!" which is not a caveat I've seen on any legitimate information in my life.

You also neglect a HUGE amount of information in not mentioning anything about the Golden Ratio, which is an actually mathematically relevant area of study in the area of geometries that appear throughout the observable universe. Many of your images (the Vitruvian man, human embryos etc.) contain measurements mapping to the Golden Ratio (which is basically the limit of the ratios of consecutive Fibonacci numbers), which we can explain without any god or spirit. Simply put, we see the golden ratio all over nature (pine cones, pineapples, major art pieces including the Mona Lisa) because it is somehow programmed into us. Why? Not because of a divine force, but because it is mathematically the most efficient, compact way of storing objects. So through evolution, plants and animals come to fall into this form because it is efficient, and humans come to see beauty in it because it is a part of our DNA: when it is present in potential mates it is a sign that they are healthy and likely to produce children.

You can't just throw around random conclusions, prepend the word "spirit" and think you are entitled to use the word science to explain what you've done. Parts of your message are definitely fine: you can believe in intelligent design, and think it's beautiful that these forms recur in nature- it's conceivable that the universe has an intelligent creator, and these forms certainly are beautiful! But you can't call it science. This is a butchery of science. Its cute forms make me fear that children will watch it and think that science is something you can make up, without research, testing, and hypotheses. But those things are exactly what science is. It follows the scientific method. For the love of all scientists that brought us to the advanced, comfortable lifestyle we enjoy, do not attempt to associate the content of this animation with science.

Otherwise, it was well drawn and voiced. You have some talent, but I doubt anything useful will ever come of it because I know your mind will not be changed. This post is not meant to change your mind, either, just to show that we can find criticism of your video and line of thinking beyond simple expletives.

Here's to hoping that none of your content along these lines gets any further awards or public recognition, for the good of everyone.

RiverJordan responds:

Well, for one - I have 10 minutes a week to talk about this stuff, so it's not like i didn't want to talk about spirals. They're coming in the next lesson. This is a building process.

Furthermore, you may not know about the rest of the universe, but through astral projection and channeling you can learn quite a bit.

I could write up a giant page of arguments too, but I won't for now. I'll save my energy for the next lesson, because the more we go into this, the more it'll make sense. I don't expect everyone to agree with it, and i appreciate you taking the time to write up your beliefs and understandings here.

Jordan

[Not so Funky]

Ah nice, refreshing work

Hehe this was fun to watch. Everything was synced quite well and it all looked great. I particularly liked the cat's instrument and the cat himself was very slick. Of course the music is very sweet as well and I love the variety of events that you have occur on the beat, from flashes to movements to time manipulation. Really just a cool piece of flash that's impossible to watch only once. Just wish it was longer...but thanks for the work!

Kuoke responds:

Thanks for the review.

[wiil of god]

Well...

Ok so i didn't actually watch the whole video...but I just thought you should know that im pretty sure the actual translation of that marx quote is 'religion is the opiate of the masses'. And "opioum" is spelled opium anyway. and did you want the title to be "will" of god? im only rating it this highly cause it looks like a lot of hard work into it, so it would be silly to waste it with these silly errors.

wiilofgod responds:

thnx for noting those little mistakes :)