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Best Artificial Intelligence Fiction
- Thread starter Huntn
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I thought the movie 2001 was incredibly rich in imagery, to the point where Stanley Kubrick went overboard, and the lack of narrative made it hard to understand without several viewings. Reading the book is the fast track to clarifying what was going on.
The sequel 2010 (movie) was a worthy story, very enjoyable and better from a story telling perspective. HAL is an important factor in the story. Cold War style tensions complicate the mission. Great cast too, including Roy Schieder, John Lithgow, and Helen Mirren.
Discovery One abandoned in the vicinity of Jupiter.
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Something I didn't catch until I seen the movie several times is the cross that's formed by the monolith and the alignment of Jupiter's moons. It happens just before Dave enters the Stargate. When you see it, it's obvious that it's intentional.
Which is pretty darn interesting since co-author Arthur Clarke is quoted as saying that he's an atheist and Stanley Kubrick is a Jew.
But what is it intended to represent? You may be making an assumption. It could be an attempt to equate a religious symbol, for lack of our capacity to understand, with something greater than our selves, but lesser than a deity. Which if this was in a different thread could be the an outstanding launch point for a discussion. I think I'll throw this in the Competant Theist thread if I can figure out I've not all ready discussed it, which I probably have..
Sigh. Movies about AI and "evil robots" seem to have gotten more and more predictable ever since Metropolis...
A couple of years ago, Ray Kurzweil, one of the leading experts on AI, noted in a Wired article "... there’s very often a dystopian bent to science fiction because we can perceive the dangers of science more than the benefits, and maybe that makes more dramatic storytelling. A lot of movies about artificial intelligence envision that AI’s will be very intelligent but missing some key emotional qualities of humans and therefore turn out to be very dangerous."
TV Tropes' page "A.I. Is a Crapshoot" does a pretty good job of covering the "dystopian bent" variations that AI typically receives in movies, books, etc.:
A couple of years ago, Ray Kurzweil, one of the leading experts on AI, noted in a Wired article "... there’s very often a dystopian bent to science fiction because we can perceive the dangers of science more than the benefits, and maybe that makes more dramatic storytelling. A lot of movies about artificial intelligence envision that AI’s will be very intelligent but missing some key emotional qualities of humans and therefore turn out to be very dangerous."
TV Tropes' page "A.I. Is a Crapshoot" does a pretty good job of covering the "dystopian bent" variations that AI typically receives in movies, books, etc.:
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You know, I think I've got to turn off spell check. It's starting to make me sound like I never made it past fourth grade English.
Minor edit - your description is of the movie, not the book, as the two actually have only a passing resemblance.
You know, I think I've got to turn off spell check. It's starting to make me sound like I never made it past fourth grade English.
It can be extraordinarily frustrating to find the computer "autocorrecting" a correctly spelled word simply because it is rare, as if I couldn't possibly have meant to type it.
You are correct! It's been a long time and I thought that plot from the movie was one of the short stories in the book. I'll correct.
Chappie was a decent movie. Without adding spoilers, the concept of teaching A.I like a child and exploring whether consciousness can be extracted onto storage could actually be a whole other movie of it's own, and which I haven't seen much explored yet in A.I flicks.
What about one of my own all time favourites, - which I have in book form, on LP (vinyl), saw on TV as a series, and - oh, an age ago - even heard on the radio………that is: 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy' by the late, great, Douglas Adams.
Marvin, sometimes known as 'The Paranoid Android' was one of the greatest AI characters ever penned.
Marvin, sometimes known as 'The Paranoid Android' was one of the greatest AI characters ever penned.
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What inyour view would be less predictable? The sky is the limit in which way AI could be taken, will be taken as the technology progresses. If we can do it, someone will try it.
AI encompasses a spectrum from basic mechanical control allowing or not allowing human actions (flight laws in a modern airplane), to something only found in SciFi (for now
) surpassing human awareness and intellect. I think the aspect of AI that is troubling to us and mostly seen in Scifi stories is where a computer is allowed to make judgements not based on clear cut situations where if A happens, do B, with no allowance for interpretation.It's the interpretation that is scary. Like designing an AI who is tasked to protect the human race, and it decides the best wat is to lock us up. Obviously this freedom of action could be blocked in programming. The nightmare scenario is where a highly advanced AI has been created with wide powers, and we think we have control, but somehow it's able to circumvent our control, putting us under its thumb.
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I don't think we know what constitutes consciousness, do we? When we have designed a computer with the equivalent of human intelligence, intellect, sensory input, able to communicate like a human, able to express hope and fear, will it have a bubble of consciouness surrounding it or just be functional logic circuits with input and output? This gets very close to the soul argument. What more does a biological organism have, that a machine could not have? Who is to say that a machine could not become the receptacle for a soul? Reminder, this is not PRSI.
What I your view would be less predictable? The sky is the limit in which way AI could be taken, will be taken as the technology progresses. If we can do it, someone will try it.
AI encompasses a spectrum from basic mechanical control allowing or not allowing human actions (flight laws in a modern airplane), to something only found in SciFi (for now
It's the interpretation that is scary. Like designing an AI who is tasked to protect the human race, and it decides the best wat is to lock us up. Obviously this freedom of action could be blocked in programming. The nightmare scenario is where a highly advanced AI has been created with wide powers, and we think we have control, but somehow it's able to circumvent our control, putting us under its thumb.
The converse can be equally potentially unnerving, or unsettling; namely, that of the creature - or entity - of artificial intelligence adopting a more moral, humane position than the - or his/her - human colleagues/peers/overlords; STNG offered a few nice examples of this, in a number of episodes, where Lt-Cmdr Data was the voice of sanity and compassion for all that he appeared to be devoid of emotion or the capacity for same.
Those are brilliant thought provoking episodes!
I don't think we know what constitutes consciousness, do we? When we have designed a computer with the equivalent of human intelligence, intellect, sensory input, able to communicate like a human, able to express hope and fear, will it have a bubble of consciouness surrounding it or just be functional logic circuits with input and output? This gets very close to the soul argument. What more does a biological organism have, that a machine could not have? Who is to say that a machine could not become the receptacle for a soul? Reminder, this is not PRSI.
I'll suggest an exercise. Sit where you are, look around, touch something, listen to the ambient nose, feel your chest rise and fall as you breath, hear your mental voice thats articulate words representing your thinking. Now imagine yourself if you can in a sensory tank, where one by one, your ability to sense these things are removed, until the only thing left is your mental voice and then ask yourself, Am I here? What am I?
What's my point? I don't really know!
I think I'm trying to emphasize our heavy reliance on senses that shape our view of reality and our physicality, not thinking per see. Without senses, how long before we'd go insane or break free from the idea of existence as a mammal? Would we be able to determine if the origin of our consciousness was biological or powered logic circuits with an on/off switch?
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I really enjoyed the avoidance of the evil A.I. cliché in "Moon" and the way it was done without making GERTY the focus of the film. It reminds me a lot of the android in "Robot and Frank".
"Chappie" was another film in which A.I. was not portrayed as antagonistic, and while it was by no means unwatchable, it bit off more than it could chew. There was so much introduced in the movie that I feel as though it didn't give a proper treatment to what transpired. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't find the titular character endearing and the low-fi/hi-tech visuals awesome.
Not the best in the graphics front, but Robin Williams' lovely little Millennium Man was a fairly fun exploration of these issues.
2001 is an artistic journey with powerful symbolism.
2010 is a better at narrative for the continuation of the story.
I can understand why apocalyptic zombie uprising movies usually follow the same basic formula but I'm not sure why AI movies need to be so restricted.
Usually, if the AI characters aren't evil they're "lovable buffoons" like the Star Wars robots which are basically a mechanical version of Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello. Even Star Trek's Data comes off as Jerry Lewis at times. If the AI is female then she's almost always a fem fatale.
Well, if you're writing what is a basically a fairy tale I suppose "the sky is the limit", otherwise if you're writing something more reality based there are always "limits" of various kinds that exit in the real world. Unfortunately, many of the AI themed works that are published or released in the mass market aren't very realistic.
AI encompasses a spectrum from basic mechanical control allowing or not allowing human actions (flight laws in a modern airplane), to something only found in SciFi (for now
Personally, I'm more troubled by human stupidity than I am by AI intelligence.
I don't worry too much about things that can be unplugged.
I can understand why apocalyptic zombie uprising movies usually follow the same basic formula but I'm not sure why AI movies need to be so restricted.
Usually, if the AI characters aren't evil they're "lovable buffoons" like the Star Wars robots which are basically a mechanical version of Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello. Even Star Trek's Data comes off as Jerry Lewis at times. If the AI is female then she's almost always a fem fatale.
Well, if you're writing what is a basically a fairy tale I suppose "the sky is the limit", otherwise if you're writing something more reality based there are always "limits" of various kinds that exit in the real world. Unfortunately, many of the AI themed works that are published or released in the mass market aren't very realistic.
Personally, I'm more troubled by human stupidity than I am by AI intelligence.
I don't worry too much about things that can be unplugged.
You must be assuming they can be unplugged.
I am peeved. I went to AMC on demand and episode 4 was the earliest available for viewing. I'm hoping that AMC does their catch up thing soon. I've got it set up for DVR (recording). I realize I could catch up by watching the missed episodes on my computer, but I don't wanna, want the big screen!