A pressing issue for the times that we are currently living in is concerning the potential risks surrounding artificial intelligience. Could the increasing rise in robotics lead to a brand new civilisation, and one that could in time turn against us in order to become the dominant species?
It's a concept that has been explored far and wide in cinema, with titles such as 'The Matrix' (1999) and '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968) often being among the first to be mentioned. However, many of these films tell a tale that is far in our future and perhaps not as easy to envisage as actually being possible. But when considering some of the predictions from one of the leading experts in artificial intelligience, Ray Kurzweil, films such as 'Surrogates' (2009), 'I, Robot' (2004) or even the recently released 'Transcendence' (2014) may not seem so far fetched. That is; if you give any merit to Kurzweil's predictions.
A much more realistic and relevant vision is portrayed in 'Colossus: The Forbin Project' (1970), a film rumoured to be on course for a remake. It tells the story of a new supercomputer (codenamed "Colossus") put in place by the US department of defence to regulate its weapon systems and detect any threats automatically. Almost immediately after going live, Colossus detects a similiar system in Russia and requests that the two be allowed to communicate. This inevitably becomes the turning point for humanity, and the rest of the film plays out as you might expect.
Though it does paint a potentially bleak vision of the future, these views are coming from the persons in the narrative that haven't fully considered the results of their own project. The humans end up feeling repressed, but any negative retaliation from the supercomputer only comes from actions where the the humans have attempted to restrict its own right to be free.
The outcome is left to our own imagination, but the film serves as a warning to those who are at the cusp of turning this fantasy into a reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment