4 ms·

Have revisited 2001 recently. Particularly the scene just before Intermission. Where HAL is reading the lips of the astronauts in the pod. It just really holds

by indescions_2018 9y ago

Have revisited 2001 recently. Particularly the scene just before Intermission. Where HAL is reading the lips of the astronauts in the pod. It just really holds up. Apart from the genius editing and sound design. It feels even more a cautionary moment for modern minds on AI. As it must have been to American audiences during the height of the Vietnam War era. Ridley Scott's original Alien and Blade Runner remain immensely watchable 30+ years on. Perhaps even more so. Which makes it high time not to just complete Clark's monoliith films. But write the next chapter in "Dystopian AI" cinema. One in which a super-intelligence doesn't merely write off the necessity of humanity. But actively yet surreptitiously nudges us to produce more powerful versions of itself ;)

coldacid 9y ago
If you're into anime, you might enjoy watching Beatless. It's a wonderful and scary view into what an AI dominated future may hold for us.
potench 9y ago
You should watch the “Autofac” episode of Electric Dreams.
firasd 9y ago
Ghost in the Shell (1995) takes an interesting path away from the usual 'Frankenstein'-type AI narratives .
cromwellian 9y ago
Try thto Person of Interest TV series, from season 2 and especially 3, onwards it is all about super intelligence combined with super surveillance. https://youtu.be/SmUO0v7VYTo https://youtu.be/SmUO0v7VYTo
- shkkmo 9y ago
  I totally missed your comment when writing mine, I should have refreshed the window :)
- psyc 9y ago
  Can’t recommend this highly enough for its complex (for TV) treatment of strong AI.
  - davidgould 9y ago
    I tried a few episodes and thought it was stupid. I'd love to be wrong, so please tell me it gets better. I'm willing to give it a second chance.
    - akvadrako 9y ago
      It has a certain campy style that not everyone appreciates or can ignore. That doesn't get better.
    - DanBC 9y ago
      People tell me it gets a lot better in S02 and S03. I couldn't get past the first season. I couldn't suspend my disbelief for it to be watchable.
      - cromwellian 9y ago
        Season 3. Especially season 4 and 5 are almost entirely about battling super intelligence while avoiding super surveilence. The crime of the week mostly subsides and it is all about super intelligence battles.
    - Naritai 9y ago
      The "crime of the week" never really gets any better, and since it was an ABC drama it needed to hew pretty closely to that formula. From S02 onwards they start building a mythology about the machine and where it comes from etc, but since it's a 22-episode season it'a _really_ slow burn.
    - psyc 9y ago
      There are 5 seasons, and the AI story reaches greatness in the 3rd or 4th IIRC.
shkkmo 9y ago
> But write the next chapter in "Dystopian AI" cinema. I think Person of Interest is the most interesting exploration of Dystopian AI to hit popular culture in a while. I thought it was fascinating how they turned the gimmick of a standard episodic procedural crime solving TV show into the all encompassing theme of a serialized TV epic. Person of Interest starts pretty slow, but his ability to progress the show without losing his audience is the reason why Jonathen Nolen was trusted to produce as ambitious a TV show as Westworld for his next project.
hetman 9y ago
I recently watched the original Blade Runner with a bunch of friends; none of us had seen it before. Immensely watchable was certainly not the general opinion. A few of us decided it was worth watching only because it set the background for the new Blade Runner. We're probably missing some cultural element that meant it didn't elicit quite the same reaction as it did for you and I'm very curious what that might have been.
- macintux 9y ago
  There are at least two very different cuts of the original, so take that into account when different people have different reactions.
- patrickg_zill 9y ago
  Did you watch the theatrical release (has a lot of background music) or the director's cut (doesn't have much background music)?
- terminado 9y ago
  Stand Blade Runner next to nearly any action, super hero, or "science fiction" movie made after 1999, and Blade Runner wins or ties, every time. For several reasons. But it's not enough to just be better than the cotton candy fluff of recent movies, since that's not a real competition. It's a solid movie that stands on its own, even despite some quirky flaws in the delivery and editing of the performances. It's not Rocky Horror Picture Show, where you and your friends have a party, and participate. It's more of a sleepy, quiet time movie like Taxi Driver. Like Taxi Driver, and any other classic movie, it gets better with repeated viewing, as more details tie together. It's not a mind blowing movie, but for it's time, it dealt with a lot of new themes in extremely subtle ways, without excessive treatment. The future was cast as a recognizable, ordinary reality, taking on a tone that really only draws a cult following, but warrants substantial appreciation. Movies like this don't get made anymore because risking a budget on cult appreciation doesn't land well in a pitch, especially amid the modern environment of implicit piracy, if it's fair to label shared viewing as such. Whether it was the first movie to feel vaguely cyberpunk-ish or not, doesn't matter much anymore, but Blade Runner had a deep gravitational pull that influenced visual concepts of the near future well into the late nineties. Without a sequel, all of the open-ended background trivia that was never elaborated upon, left open a whole universe to imagine, and this is where the cultural resonance ties in. The people who enjoyed the movie were left free to speculate about what really went on in the off world colonies, given the curiousities revealed by film. I wish more movies were like Blade Runner. It's a rare item. It's not a movie you watch once. It's not a blockbuster. It's not a movie you turn off, when it finds it's way onto your TV, however that manages to happen.
klenwell 9y ago
Wasn't that film Her? I thought that was a brilliant film, too.

coldacid 9y ago

If you're into anime, you might enjoy watching Beatless. It's a wonderful and scary view into what an AI dominated future may hold for us.

potench 9y ago

You should watch the “Autofac” episode of Electric Dreams.

firasd 9y ago

Ghost in the Shell (1995) takes an interesting path away from the usual 'Frankenstein'-type AI narratives .

cromwellian 9y ago

Try thto Person of Interest TV series, from season 2 and especially 3, onwards it is all about super intelligence combined with super surveillance. https://youtu.be/SmUO0v7VYTo https://youtu.be/SmUO0v7VYTo

shkkmo 9y ago
I totally missed your comment when writing mine, I should have refreshed the window :)
psyc 9y ago
Can’t recommend this highly enough for its complex (for TV) treatment of strong AI.
- davidgould 9y ago
  I tried a few episodes and thought it was stupid. I'd love to be wrong, so please tell me it gets better. I'm willing to give it a second chance.
  - akvadrako 9y ago
    It has a certain campy style that not everyone appreciates or can ignore. That doesn't get better.
  - DanBC 9y ago
    People tell me it gets a lot better in S02 and S03. I couldn't get past the first season. I couldn't suspend my disbelief for it to be watchable.
    - cromwellian 9y ago
      Season 3. Especially season 4 and 5 are almost entirely about battling super intelligence while avoiding super surveilence. The crime of the week mostly subsides and it is all about super intelligence battles.
  - Naritai 9y ago
    The "crime of the week" never really gets any better, and since it was an ABC drama it needed to hew pretty closely to that formula. From S02 onwards they start building a mythology about the machine and where it comes from etc, but since it's a 22-episode season it'a _really_ slow burn.
  - psyc 9y ago
    There are 5 seasons, and the AI story reaches greatness in the 3rd or 4th IIRC.

shkkmo 9y ago

> But write the next chapter in "Dystopian AI" cinema. I think Person of Interest is the most interesting exploration of Dystopian AI to hit popular culture in a while. I thought it was fascinating how they turned the gimmick of a standard episodic procedural crime solving TV show into the all encompassing theme of a serialized TV epic. Person of Interest starts pretty slow, but his ability to progress the show without losing his audience is the reason why Jonathen Nolen was trusted to produce as ambitious a TV show as Westworld for his next project.

hetman 9y ago

I recently watched the original Blade Runner with a bunch of friends; none of us had seen it before. Immensely watchable was certainly not the general opinion. A few of us decided it was worth watching only because it set the background for the new Blade Runner. We're probably missing some cultural element that meant it didn't elicit quite the same reaction as it did for you and I'm very curious what that might have been.

macintux 9y ago
There are at least two very different cuts of the original, so take that into account when different people have different reactions.
patrickg_zill 9y ago
Did you watch the theatrical release (has a lot of background music) or the director's cut (doesn't have much background music)?
terminado 9y ago
Stand Blade Runner next to nearly any action, super hero, or "science fiction" movie made after 1999, and Blade Runner wins or ties, every time. For several reasons. But it's not enough to just be better than the cotton candy fluff of recent movies, since that's not a real competition. It's a solid movie that stands on its own, even despite some quirky flaws in the delivery and editing of the performances. It's not Rocky Horror Picture Show, where you and your friends have a party, and participate. It's more of a sleepy, quiet time movie like Taxi Driver. Like Taxi Driver, and any other classic movie, it gets better with repeated viewing, as more details tie together. It's not a mind blowing movie, but for it's time, it dealt with a lot of new themes in extremely subtle ways, without excessive treatment. The future was cast as a recognizable, ordinary reality, taking on a tone that really only draws a cult following, but warrants substantial appreciation. Movies like this don't get made anymore because risking a budget on cult appreciation doesn't land well in a pitch, especially amid the modern environment of implicit piracy, if it's fair to label shared viewing as such. Whether it was the first movie to feel vaguely cyberpunk-ish or not, doesn't matter much anymore, but Blade Runner had a deep gravitational pull that influenced visual concepts of the near future well into the late nineties. Without a sequel, all of the open-ended background trivia that was never elaborated upon, left open a whole universe to imagine, and this is where the cultural resonance ties in. The people who enjoyed the movie were left free to speculate about what really went on in the off world colonies, given the curiousities revealed by film. I wish more movies were like Blade Runner. It's a rare item. It's not a movie you watch once. It's not a blockbuster. It's not a movie you turn off, when it finds it's way onto your TV, however that manages to happen.

klenwell 9y ago

Wasn't that film Her? I thought that was a brilliant film, too.