Movies  

The upcoming science fiction movie Transcendence, starring Johnny Depp looks to examine how uploading may pose a great existential threat to human life.

The new trailer for Transcendence reveals that uploading  a brain may be fraught with danger. In a scenario akin to James Barrat's Busy Child scenario, an uploaded super-intelligent entity wants to get out of the box, and onto the internet.

In Transcendence Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) is the foremost researcher in the field of artificial intelligence, working to create a sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions.  His highly controversial experiments have made him famous, but they have also made him the prime target of anti-technology extremists who will do whatever it takes to stop him.

Related articles The Transhumanist Reader  Ken Hayworth In Depth on Uploading and Brain Preservation  Gary Marcus Urges People To Think About The Threat of Artificial Intelligence

However, in their attempt to destroy Will, they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed—to be a participant in his own transcendence.  For his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), both fellow researchers, the question is not if they can…but if they should.

Their worst fears are realized as Will’s thirst for knowledge evolves into a seemingly omnipresent quest for power, to what end is unknown.  The only thing that is becoming terrifyingly clear is there may be no way to stop him.

Transcendence will open in theaters on April 18th.

SOURCE  Transcendence

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 Artificial Intelligence  

On the eve of a technological breakthrough, an insignificant janitor and a prominent engineer are faced with a decision that will alter the course of humanity: the release of the first aware computer system into the world.

In this gritty short film, 1.7 billion lives are at stake as time is running out to sort out the difference between ethics and heroism. With the technician gone, a self-aware machine takes a chance and offers a janitor the opportunity to save humanity and change history.

A choice has to be made, but with dire consequences of self-aware human-level artificial intelligence.  This short by Henry Dunham delivers big ideas with a simple set up that highlights the impact of effective writing while utilizing irresistible suspense.

Related articles Jason Silva Looks At Artificial Intelligence  Short Film Written By AI Is Rather Funny  Spike Jonze's 'Her' Looks At Artificial Intelligence and Love

Dunham was inspired to create this short once he felt that he finally had access to the equipment that allowed him to produce the short with the exact cinematic vision he felt was appropriate for the story. What Dunham does is take what others might stretch out to a diluted full feature and boils it down to the key elements to create a gripping short.

With The Awareness, we have all the elements of a full feature: a character estranged from his family, an egomaniac tech genius, a rogue machine, cops and guns. However, by focusing on creating a short from these variables, Dunham in no way leaves out the gut-punch ride, instead he just saved us 80-minutes of waiting for the good parts.  In fact, once the story really picks up the writing is strong enough that this short really grabs you with just a janitor and a monitor screen.



SOURCE  Short of the Week

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