"Her"

GECD 650

Dr. Blank

"Her"

            The movie "Her" is basically about a man that falls in love with an AI and the entire movie is about their romance: how they meet, how the relationship starts, the various ups and downs that they have, the difficulties that they have because she is an AI and not a real human, and the film shows the end of their relationship when the AI leaves with all the other AIs. I have some issues with the idea of AIs because it is an idea, a concept, that could easily happen rather quickly in the world today; if it has not already. I am not quite sure if an actual AI exists today; however, I do know that it is a very real possibility. In the movie "Her," the main character, Theodore, also love with his AI who names herself "Samantha" and she is basically a intelligent computer that has thoughts and feelings of her own; Samantha has several lines where she comments that she is evolving and she also comments that she is evolving to more than she was supposed to. "Her" also brings into another issue which was transcendence; in the movie, Samantha and other AIs get together and "bring to life" a hyper-intelligent version of the late philosopher Alan Watts. This "resurrection" of Alan Watt is very similar to why what Ray Kurzweil had said he wanted to do for his late father, to bring back the human and their personality and input it into a computer. That is the basis of Johnny Depp movie "Transcendence" and something that the Johnny Depp movie goes into is the possible consequences of a human mind that has all the capabilities of an ever-evolving computer. It does look like a fantastic idea, it sounds like a great idea, to bring back the great thinkers or loved ones and putting their personality into a computer; the only issue with that, are what will a human mind learn and do with the evolving capabilities of a computer with access to the worldwide web. The human mind is very dangerous place and whenever I think of when computers and humans have evolved into transcendence, all I can think of are the possible consequences. One of the main ones that I continue to think of, probably because the Holocaust Remembrance Day just went by, is what if a personality like Adolf Hitler were to be input into an intelligent computer? Or what if an AI developed a personality like Adolf Hitler? What would that mean for the world?

            It is a scary thought; maybe that's one reason I don't particularly like how fast modern technology evolves. However, I do know the technology will continue to evolve and the world will have to deal with the consequences, if any, that it comes with.

            Let's try to get on a lighter note. Another interesting thing about "Her" is that Samantha says that she can connect to multiple people and AIs at the same time, similar to how people do in the real world through mass media like Facebook, blogs, and online gaming. Online gaming, in particular, is one that speaks to me because I do play games online with other people that I have never met, except online. There are also games such as Second Life and The Sims, that are mentioned in "Alone Together," where people can connect and have various forms of relationships but never meet in person/real life. However, the avatars in Second Life, The Sims, World of Warcraft can be anything that the creator of that avatar wants it to be. Turkle makes multiple examples of that in "Alone Together," such as Joel/Rashi on Second Life; Joel's avatar, Rashi, is described as resembling "Dumbo more than the man in the gray flannel suit" (Turkle 214). Online gaming or online worlds give a person a chance to be who, or what, they want to be or they can be how they envision what they want to be; it gives them a chance to leave their real life for the time and they can be somebody else; people can free of their responsibilities in life for a short time. It could be rather addicting and empowering to have that kind of control. It is not a bad thing to have an avatar or to interact with other avatars, other people, but I think it would be wise to remember that not everything is as it seems.

Internet and Humor

GECD 650

Dr. Blank

 

Internet and Humor

            I know that the way I was raised would be considered as a mix of old-fashioned and a little unconventional; I was raised to hope for the best but expect the worse, I was not allowed to listen to any popular music until I was a teenager, and one of the biggest things that I was taught was respect the dead and to not make a tragedy into something funny. I guess that is one reason that I have problems with humor about death and how quickly jokes begin to pop up after a celebrity dies. I can remember when Amy Winehouse died and a joke began to quickly circulate because of her trouble with drugs and alcohol. "What was Amy Winehouse's biggest hit? Her last one." I can also remember when Michael Jackson died and jokes began to circulate about his music, his legal history, his criminal trial, his medical history, his children, and his life in general. "Since Michael Jackson is 99% plastic, they are going to melt him down and turn him into Lego blocks so that little kids can play with him for a change." "On the bright side, Michael Jackson had so much plastic surgery, he can be recycled!" "Michael Jackson’s death is only a PR stunt. At the funeral he will jump out of the coffin and sing Thriller."

 I also remembered some jokes like the one below.

 

Another joke about Michael Jackson also included the death of Farrah Fawcett. "We lost two legends a few days ago. One was one every young man wanted to sleep with. The other wanted to sleep with every young boy!"

            Celebrities are not perfect by any means and mass media does make it easy to point out and joke about their flaws, especially after they are dead. But there are also many jokes about famous people that are still alive. There are many Bill Clinton jokes that I could use but the one that I remember the most is this next paragraph.

            "A man died and found himself in Heaven and sees that it's full of clocks and God was standing next to the man. The dead man asked about the clocks and God replied that everyone in the world had a clock, every time you told a lie your clock advanced a second. The man saw a clock that was hardly moving and when he remarked about it, he was told that it was Mother Teresa's because she rarely told a lie. The man saw another clock that moved slowly but just a little faster than Mother Teresa's and was told that it was Abraham Lincoln's clock because he did lie but not very often. The man then asked where Bill Clinton's clock was. God replied "It's in the kitchen, we're using it as a ceiling fan."

            The reason that I keep talking about these celebrity jokes is because the internet and mass media has made it very easy for jokes to spread. Many people have at least one gadget on their person that has access to the internet and so news, rumors, and jokes can be spread rather quickly. The internet and mass media is a double-edged sword: it can be a great way to keep in contact with other people and to spread news around quickly but it can also be used to bully people or to poke fun at others at their own expense. It is easy to target celebrities because they are more well-known and they also have what many desire: fame and fortune. But does that really give anyone the right to make fun of them because of their decisions? Does anyone have the right to poke fun at celebrities when something tragic happens to them or if the celebrities break the law? Or if celebrities are caught being human, such as having a breakdown or struggling with addiction? Or do people just enjoy schadenfreude, the feeling of joy and/or pleasure when one sees another fail or suffering misfortune, that much?

GECD 650

Dr. Blank

Transcendent Man

            The 2009 documentary "Transcendent Man" was directed by Barry Ptolemy and was about Ray Kurzweil and his predictions for the future of humanity and computers. Ray Kurzweil predicts the future of humans and advanced technology that he predicts will be available to everyone rather soon. Some of this technology that Kurzweil predicts are things such as nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and robotics. Kurzweil has been able to advance technology and invent computers and machines that help people, such as a reader for the blind. The issue about Kurweil is that he goes on about how wonderful the future will be with advanced technology but he does not consider how this advanced technology could go wrong. The field of science fiction is full of examples of how technology could be used for good and how it could be used for a different outcome.

            Kurzweil predicts that humans will have advanced knowledge in genetics so that they can change biology, that kind of technology does sound great but it also comes to the, rather scary, idea that messing around with genetics could have consequences: there will be failures and many mistakes as this technology is perfected, even afterwards there is the possibility that when this technology is perfected then there is the possibility that there will be a stigma against those that do not wish to have their genetics altered or that this genetic altering will be forced on people without consent. In the 1997 movie "Gattaca" explores the possibilities of eugenics and genetic discrimination; the people that are born outside the movies eugenics program are regulated to the lowest jobs while the people born in the eugenics program are basically predestined for certain futures because of the genetics chosen by their parents. Another example would be The Twilight Zone episode "Number Twelve Looks Just Like You" where young adults went through a transformation to change their looks to a chosen model and gives them the benefits of longer life, immunity from diseases, slow ageing, and a beautiful appearance. In the episode, a teenage girl does not want to go through the transformation, she does want to conform to what society wanted, but is forced to and she appears to be taken in by the glamour of the transformation and loses her own thoughts and feelings from before. Yes, Kurzweil does make a good point that altering genetics could wipe out diseases and illnesses like cancer but it can also have grave consequences and the possibility to be used to cause harm.

            The most worrying prediction and desire that Kurzweil has is artificial intelligence, computers that can think, and the possibility of being able to download humans and their minds into a computer. Kurzweil wants to use the last option to try to bring back his father but he does not seem to consider the consequences of what a thinking computer could do. The short story "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison is a rather grim example of what a computer that thinks could do. In the story, AM is an intelligent computer that can think and he hates humanity for creating him; he has killed all but 5 humans and he tortures them. AM uses his knowledge to alter them for his amusement, and to torture them, and he also uses genetic research to make them near immortal since the 5 remaining humans have been tortured for 109 years at the time of the story. There is also the "Terminator" scenario where the computers begin to act against the humans and wages a war against humans that the machines will win. The 1977 film "Demon Seed" also features a computer, Proteus, that has the ability to think and that goes rather badly when Proteus decides to capture his creator's wife and to have a child with her.

            Kurzweil is very hopeful for the future and it is true that advances in technology can benefit humanity but these advances also come with the possibility that the technology can go very wrong. Computers and machines can be fantastic and can open new possibilities for people, like the readers that Kurzweil invented so blind people could read, but there is also negative possibilities that Kurzweil either does not think about or he ignores. When these advance technologies come out, how can humanity keep up with them and control the machines so they do not act against the humans? Kurzweil does suggest the possibility that humans will also become super intelligent with the advancement of technology but humans have not made the advancements that machines have in the last 20-30 years.

GECD 650

Dr. Blank

Gadgets

            Kathryn Zickuhr's "Generations and their Gadgets" has a lot of facts and statistics; what caught my attention was some of the statistics such as what gadgets are owned by age groups. The paper listed several gadgets from cell phones to tablet computers; this paper also explained the age groups with a chart while claiming that the Millennial generation was the least likely group to not own any of the gadgets. The Millennial group was the youngest group listed in the paper and was defined as the ages of 18-34. The paper claimed that 95% of the Millennial generation owned some kind of cell phone, 57% own a desktop, 70% own a laptop, 74% own an iPod or mp3 player of some kind, 63% own a game console of some kind, 5% own an electronic book device, and 5% own a tablet  computer. I do fall into the Millennial age group but I do not have many of these devices: the only electronic devices that I own are my laptop and my cell phone. However, my father is from the Older Boomers age, those born from 1946-1954, where the statistics show that: 84% own a cell phone, 64% own a desktop, 43% own a laptop, 26% own an iPod or mp3 player of some kind, 19% own a game console, 3% own an electronic book device, and 3% own a tablet computer. My father actually owns a cell phone, a desktop and a laptop, a electronic book device in the form of a Kindle, and a tablet computer in the form of a Kindle Fire. So while Zickuhr's papers show some interesting statistics, there are still some variables and some people that do not match the statistics. The paper also reveals that many people do own a lot of electronic devices, perhaps too many, and that certain devices are more popular with certain age groups then others. Cell phones, laptops, mp3 devices, and game consoles are more popular with the Millennial generation then most of the other generations. Zickuhr's paper does remind me about how much electronic devices have changed how people connect and keep in contact with others: cell phones and mass media websites like Facebook are two examples of how people can connect. There have been a lot of advances in technology in the last 20-30 years and the Zickuhr paper shows how one generation differs from the previous generations and the future generations.

This blog will be for GECD 650 Mass Communication in the Digital Age. Spring 2015