Focusing on the 2013 film Ex Machina and the 2015 film The Martian, we will discuss what effect the simplistic representations of scientists in popular culture as either heroes or as villains has on the publics’ view of science.

Jon Roberts is joined by Dr Stuart Vyse , psychologist and writer, consulting editor for Skeptical Inquirer magazine where he also writes the 'Behavior & Belief' column, author of 'Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition' and 'Superstition: A Very Short Introduction,' and Dr Kanta Dihal, a senior research fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, where she leads the Global AI Narratives and Decolonizing AI research projects.