We were big supporters of Neill Blomkamp’s directorial debut District 9, but lacking the sort of intellectual gravitas of most of TED‘s lecturers I wondered if he was out of his league at the Vancouver conference. Asked whether he believed aliens would really look like the creatures he imagined in District 9, Blomkamp used the opportunity to expound eloquently on the topic of the universe at large. Circumventing the question, Blomkamp instead used the discussion as a launching point to discuss the possibility, and implications, of extra terrestrial civilizations. Touching on everything from Ray Kurzweil’s singularity theory and our age of technological adolescence to Dyson Spheres and the Kardashev Scale — a metric of civilization based on a species’ ability to harness its planet’s and its immediate star’s energy — Blomkamp really explores (and doubts) mankind’s ability to elevate to the next level.
Seeing as District 9 shocked Hollywood when it garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture (as well as noms for Adapted Screenplay, Visual Effects, and Film Editing), it’s safe to say we’ll see more of the South African/Canadian Blomkamp in the future. Will his worldviews influence his future projects…? Guess we’ll see…