“Working on a cloud”- Dan
I wouldn’t say I am working on a cloud at this point in time- It is more like… I am working on about 100000 tasks on limited sleep and limited natural light (cheers Macbook screen).
It was nice to take a break from doing all that task work and to attend this week’s lecture, which was based on the topic of technology and media materialism. There were two particular points that were highlighted today that really got me thinking…
Are machines becoming too intuitive/intelligent?
What could go wrong if technology was permitted to develop itself?
If my iPod classic was permitted to develop itself, would it develop an emotional intelligence? Would it realise how needy I am? Would it develop legs and run from me? Would it tell all the other iPods to stand clear?
In all seriousness, if technology was allowed to develop itself, would it (in particular robots) develop an emotional intelligence that was so strong and real that it would become more human than humans or indistinguishable from mankind? Dan mentioned Bladerunner as an example of such development, but the first example that came to mind was Her.
The film, directed by Spike Jonze, is situated around the relationship between Theodore and his developing relationship with his intelligent operating system. Theodore falls in love with the IOS, who along the way discovers that she can develop feelings too. (I wont give any more away coz spoiler alert plus you should really watch it).
The video Dan showed us, entitled ‘Kara: Quantic Dream‘ encapsulated those same ideas that build the foundations for both Her and Bladerunner- dystopian themes and ideaologies.
Would emotionally intelligent robots progressively become more emotionally intelligent and eventually become emotionally indistinguishable from humans in that sense?
The idea of emotionally intelligent robots is a little freaky, but I wouldn’t mind if all this technological self-development meant that I could find an emotionally intelligent robot version of Kit Harrington that I could keep…
Who knows what technology will do/be/think/represent in the future. I guess all we can do now is dream AND of course draw up mental blue prints and concepts for sick inventions.
Here is a funky little technology themed song that I used to sing heaps and heaps as a kid (who didn’t need an iPhone or device to have fun)
Jamiroquai with Virtual Reality
