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ActionableMango

macrumors G3
Sep 21, 2010
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"Shadowplay" from Deep Space Nine.

Villagers are all AI (except for one), but they don't know it until about 75% through the story.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,492
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The Misty Mountains
"Shadowplay" from Deep Space Nine.

Villagers are all AI (except for one), but they don't know it until about 75% through the story.

Not discounting your post, just commenting on it. :) This was explored back in the 60s in the Twilight Zone- people not knowing they are robots. Was that the first time? Don't know, could have come from the 50s a heyday of scifi writing. In case you want to be surprised, I shielded them.

Not knowing:
In His Image
The Lateness of the Hour

Others involving AI:
The Mighty Casey
The Lonely- effected me watching this as a child
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,458
"Shadowplay" from Deep Space Nine.

Villagers are all AI (except for one), but they don't know it until about 75% through the story.
Not discounting your post, just commenting on it. :) This was explored back in the 60s in the Twilight Zone- people not knowing they are robots. Was that the first time? Don't know, could have come from the 50s a heyday of scifi writing. In case you want to be surprised, I shielded them.

Not knowing:
In His Image
The Lateness of the Hour

Others involving AI:
The Mighty Casey
The Lonely- effected me watching this as a child
"Westworld" is quite good when it comes that kind of thing.
 
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Huntn

macrumors Core
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May 5, 2008
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Added to Post 1
*Blade Runner 2049 (Oct 2017)- Added Joi, K's A.I. companion. She is well written, sexy, and compelling.
 
I've always loved the AIs in the Culture novels. Enormously powerful artificial minds that simultaneously interact with humans, animals and aliens, run all of the systems aboard their craft or habitat, manipulate powerful fields in higher-dimensions, manage huge weapons arsenals, yet still bitch about each other and have their own personalities. In one of the books an AI even gets depressed and decides it wants to end it all, despite being responsible for millions of lives. Excession is probably my favourite for how Banks brought out the AIs as characters, but there's an interesting AI in each of the books.
 

Doctor Q

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
39,802
7,552
Los Angeles
A classic (both book and movie) that people tend to forget about is Colossus: The Forbin Project.
Since we're still talking about this topic, I'll second this recommendation and mention that it was a book trilogy by D. F. Jones, which I've read many times. The titles were "Colossus" and "The Fall of Colossus" and "Colossus and the Crab."

It's remarkable how books so old can still be scary. And here's evidence that The Forbin Project story is still relevant: Colossus: A New Look at an Old Movie
 

Suture

macrumors 65816
Feb 22, 2007
1,002
212
Had it gone mad or just decided that humans should pay for their faults?

It was pure revenge by AM. AM was actually made up of 3 supercomputers, but one of them took over the other 2 and then starts torturing the remaining humans.
 

Thomas Veil

macrumors 68030
Feb 14, 2004
2,636
8,862
Much greener pastures
Since we're still talking about this topic, I'll second this recommendation and mention that it was a book trilogy by D. F. Jones, which I've read many times. The titles were "Colossus" and "The Fall of Colossus" and "Colossus and the Crab."

It's remarkable how books so old can still be scary. And here's evidence that The Forbin Project story is still relevant: Colossus: A New Look at an Old Movie
I’ve read the trilogy too, and while they’re good books I think this is a concept which, like “2001”, becomes diluted when you try to follow it up. As far as I’m concerned, the original was a perfect, cautionary Frankenstein story with a chilling ending. Bringing in (avoiding spoilers here) outside influences lessens, to me, the impact of that ending by making it just one chapter of a longer, more stereotypical SF tale.

Again, I liked the two sequels, I just feel the story is stronger on its own.
 

Doctor Q

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
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Los Angeles
I’ve read the trilogy too, and while they’re good books I think this is a concept which, like “2001”, becomes diluted when you try to follow it up. As far as I’m concerned, the original was a perfect, cautionary Frankenstein story with a chilling ending. Bringing in (avoiding spoilers here) outside influences lessens, to me, the impact of that ending by making it just one chapter of a longer, more stereotypical SF tale.
Excellent point. In the first book, we have only ourselves to blame, and that's what makes it so cautionary.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
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May 5, 2008
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Just watched Jame Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction (AMC) the episode about A.I. and it’s benefit and/or threat to our society. Outstanding review of the best ground breaking stories/movies, 2001, Star Wars, Forbidden Planet, iRobot, Terminator series, Metropolis, Blade Runner, but I was sad that ExMachina was not mentioned as the outstanding movie that it was.
 
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RootBeerMan

macrumors 65816
Jan 3, 2016
1,472
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My two favourite AI's come from books. Harley, from the novel "When Harley Was One" by David Gerrold (no slouch when it came to writing for TV) and Mike, from Heinlein's "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" (as well as his later AI's in "Time Enough For Love and later works). All well done without being overly technical and over written.
 
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Huntn

macrumors Core
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May 5, 2008
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The Misty Mountains
My two favourite AI's come from books. Harley, from the novel "When Harley Was One" by David Gerrold (no slouch when it came to writing for TV) and Mike, from Heinlein's "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" (as well as his later AI's in "Time Enough For Love and later works). All well done without being overly technical and over written.
I consider myself a bit limited in historical science fiction reading. I loved iRobot, Dune, and works by Ray Bradbury, The Martian Cronicles is a favorite and in the last 20 years also have enjoyed the Honor Harrington series, and Philip Dick stories. Other series, it's been a long time and they have faded, but read some Heinlan, Asimoff, and other writers whose work was originally published in the 50s. Most of these stories lacked memorable A.I. The best AI in a video game was System Shock.

SHODAN_hires.jpg
 
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D.T.

macrumors G4
Sep 15, 2011
11,050
12,460
Vilano Beach, FL
My two favourite AI's come from books. Harley, from the novel "When Harley Was One" by David Gerrold (no slouch when it came to writing for TV) and Mike, from Heinlein's "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" (as well as his later AI's in "Time Enough For Love and later works). All well done without being overly technical and over written.


I don't think we have to say much about Heinlein (in the context of sci-fi), but David Gerrold probably isn't nearly as well known - however, you could spend a long time exploring his various contributions to sci-ci, great call on HARLIE :)
 

rhett7660

macrumors G5
Jan 9, 2008
14,224
4,304
Sunny, Southern California
A show that was only on for one season but had one of the best AI's IMHO was "Almost Human". Good stuff and was sad to see it only lasted on season.
[doublepost=1532450776][/doublepost]
Unfortunately Chappie will never appear on my favorite list. :( Find the comments in the Movie Thread.

Chappie was a fun little movie, but I can understand why some folks didn't like it.
 
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RootBeerMan

macrumors 65816
Jan 3, 2016
1,472
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A show that was only on for one season but had one of the best AI's IMHO was "Almost Human". Good stuff and was sad to see it only lasted on season.
[doublepost=1532450776][/doublepost]

Chappie was a fun little movie, but I can understand why some folks didn't like it.

Never have seen Chappie, but I will one of these days. The wife and I loved "Almost Human". It was so well done and the stories were very well written. Didn't hurt that it had one of our favourite actors in the lead role, either.
 

DC3400

Suspended
Jan 2, 2009
41
0
Smarties Land
Anything with a human because humans are the best example of artificial intelligence since we actually use so little of our brains.
 

ugru

macrumors 6502a
Sep 8, 2002
514
551
Caput Mundi
Ages ago I read Dune and thought it was great. The original movie dissapointed me although it tried. Prequel books huh? :)

The whole situation of Dune's "low tech" worlds is the result of the "Butlerian Jihad", a conflict against the machines (A.I.) that took control of the human society millennia before the events of the 1st book Dune.

It was a war so devastating that AI is forbidden by a religious taboo. In the fictional "OCB bible" is written: "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind"

That is why in Dune there are the "Mentats" ie "human computers", men highly trained in mathematics and logic with chemically enhanced brains...

BTW. Dune film is being rebooted. Denis Villeneuve, an awesome director, is in preproduction phase
 
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daimos

macrumors regular
Feb 23, 2009
212
179
I’ve been meaning to rewatch Battlestar Galactica (2004). It can easily beat the best shows of today.
 

400

macrumors 6502a
Sep 12, 2015
760
319
Wales
Don't suppose the bomb in Dark Star has a mention (did look on page 1)? Rather nice little way it starts to think about things.

Edit. Truly horrific alien in it as well.... (and Dan O'Bannon)
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,492
26,607
The Misty Mountains
I’ve update the post 1 list with titles mentioned in this thread, that I pepreviosly missed. If I missed your, please let me know. PM is ok.

This non-fiction book probably provides more realistic insight into the two (somewhat different) subjects of artificial intelligence and intelligence amplification than most stuff of the fictional kind. (But then some would probably find it to be a rather boring "history book" that lacks the obligatory car chases, explosions, and sexy, scary fembots necessary for attaining "blockbuster" status.)

In it, Pulitzer-Prize-winning New York Times science writer John Markoff explores the question "Will these machines help us, or will they replace us?"

Here is the thing about A.I. If it runs amuk, it is because we programmed it to do so and we enable it. In the quest for human interaction with a machine, I can easily imagine this happening. :)
 
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