From: Spike Jones (spike66@attglobal.net)
Date: Sat Jun 30 2001 - 23:42:46 MDT
Anders Sandberg wrote:
> To sum up: Home Alone meets 2001...
The more I ponder this film, the more it actually grows on me.
Shelly talked me out of one of my original complaints,
the linear progression instead of exponential. She noted
that the child in "cryogenic" suspension had been given
up as lost by the medics. Yet a few months later he was
revived. A cure was developed in that much time. So
maybe they did have a clue about accelerating change.
I have mixed feelings about AI, but consider one of the strong
points, or optimistic attitudes regarding friendly AI. Unlike
West World, in this film there is no indication that the AIs
ever actually raised a hand to harm a human. The pool
thing was an accident: the AI didnt intend to actually
harm his orga brother, he just was trying to get away from
the other wretched little orga kids.
At the end, when the mechas were discussing the late
orgas, there is no indication that there was ever any
direct *conflict* exactly, or at least no active attempt
on the part of the mechas to fight the orgas. There was
no apparent disdain on the part of the mechas for the
orgas that I could tell, indeed just the opposite.
One could imagine a soft ending for humanity where more
and more orgas chose mechas as companions and lovers.
They simply failed to reproduce in adequate numbers, finishing
their mortal lives peacefully with dedicated mechas attending
to their every need to the last breath. Now, that kind of
ending for humanity wouldnt be so bad, eh? After the
last human perished, life would go on, and this planet
would have a shot at a true universal utopia, with our
mind-children carrying on without us. Seductive vision, eh?
I change my rating on AI to about 3 stars outta 5. spike
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:08:24 MST