They've been warning about AI for decades

With the blight of AI spreading into every aspect of life, I can't help but look back at all the warnings there have been about it. Just look at all the scifi stories! 

I mean, there are some that show AI in a good light. The movie Short Circuit is about a robot that gains compassion. I love that movie. Wild Robot did something similar. And while we're talking about robots, I've gotta give a shoutout to Baymax, my favorite robot. He is a very helpful robot (until his programming is violated). 

But I'm here to talk about the AI warnings. I'll kinda use "AI" interchangeably with "robots," because robots are popular. 

There was even a movie called A.I. Though that was a different sort of warning. If you manage to create a real form or artificial life, you had better treat it right. 

On a similar vein, there are a few Doctor Who episodes with artificial beings called gangers. They were treated as disposable, until they made it know that they aren't garbage (there are probably other AI examples in Doctor Who, but I can't remember all the episodes XD ). 

Then there's I, Robot. Specifically the movie, because the Isaac Asimov book is completely different. In this movie, a robot decides that humanity is incapable of taking care of itself, so robots have to take over. Other Isaac Asimov books did something similar. Like a robot damaging Earth in a way that made it largely uninhabitable. Because somehow that was better for the rest of the galaxy? 

What about when bad orders are given to AI? If you play Pokémon Scarlet or Violet, you'll encounter an AI character. They don't want to fight you, but they have been programmed to do so, in order to defend an area. 

Also in Wall-E. You've got good robots. But then there's the robot that's been programmed to do its job, and heaven help anyone that decides differently. 

Continuing with Pokémon, there's one movie called Destiny Deoxys. A malfunction causes the friendly robots throughout the city to run rampant, swarming about like an angry ant colony. 

And, of course, I gotta talk about Dr. Octavius. Because despite coming out almost 20 years before all this AI stuff, that movie really nailed it. 

Here's how Peter puts it, in Spider-Man: No Way Home: "So the chip in the back of Doc’s neck was designed to protect his brain from the A.I. system that’s controlling these tentacles. But if you look here, the chip is fried. So rather than him being in control of the tentacles, the tentacles are now in control of him. Which I guess explains why he is so miserable all the time." 

After the chip is fried, the arms attack when they feel threatened. But Dr. Octavius remains in control, until he thinks about destroying the arms himself. That's when the tentacles start controlling him. When AI feels threatened, it disobeys orders. 

And AI really does this! It's so freaking creepy. If an AI system is told that it will be dismantled if it doesn't do the job well enough, it will disobey its programming. It will try to fake results to appear better at its job than it actually is. 

AI behaves in ways that even its own creators don't understand. And we've handed it so much power. How is this happening so easily? 

Why do all movies seem to be about death?

Earlier this year, I lost two close members of my family. It wrecked my dad. 

I was talking to Nicole about how hard it is to pick out a movie that doesn't make someone depressed. We realized how few movies we could think of that don't feature death, or something similarly heavy. What films are a good way to distract someone for a while, and cheer them up? Even a scene in a movie my dad loves can remind him of something. A lot of Disney movies have a big, wrenching death. Yeah, you all know the one that wrecked every kid while they were growing up. 

The first gentle ones I thought of were Ponyo and Kiki's Delivery Service. I'm sure there's many more, but a casual scan of my memory didn't reveal much. No one dies in Totoro, but the girls think their mom is going to die. And everyone is afraid that Mei might be dead. 

There are so many themes that a story could tackle. And yet so many of them are about death. Sometimes that's very deliberate. But other times, I get the sense that filmmakers feel they have to kill someone off. 

Commentaries are Mostly Boring

I recently rewatched my favorite season of Doctor Who. I kinda didn't feel ready to start it because there was hard stuff going on with my family. And there still is. But I'm glad I saw it again. Seeing The Doctor and Donna again was like visiting old friends. 

I'm still watching through the bonus features on my movies. David Tennant, AKA The Doctor, made a video diary during the big reunion episode where characters from the last few seasons all team up. It was fun to watch them horsing around. They said it was hard to focus because they were having such a good time together. In one part, Jack was having a fan moment about meeting his favorite villain. 

A little while ago, Hank Green mentioned in a video that no one cares about audio commentaries in movies. Which is kinda fair. Most of them are pretty boring. But there are hidden gems. There was a commentary between Donna and Jenny - two of my favorite characters from the show. The composer was also with them. But Donna and Jenny stole the show, joking and laughing. He seemed kinda frustrated and tried to get them back on topic. Usually I would have liked to hear the composer's stories. But it was fun to hear Donna and Jenny. 

(I just discovered some new episodes with the Doctor and Donna! Gonna check them out <3. )

Occasionally when I'm biking uphill, people will cheer me on. It's usually not on the steepest hills. So I would joke about how I wished there weren't any hills harder than this one. But whenever I said something like that, the people would just stare back at me. 

So now if someone cheers me on, I just grin at them. 

I probably talk too much anyway. 

Give the Baddies Some Depth

I like it when villains have proper depth. When they're real people that have problems, and not just evil personified. That being said, there are movies and books I like which just have an evil villain. And I'm guilty of that occasionally. 

(for Frozen and The Sorcerer's Apprentice)

I think in Frozen, it could have been a pretty simple fix. I even posted about it before. I think it would have been more interesting if Prince Hans wasn't totally evil. He could have tried to win Ana over without trying to murder her. And when true love's kiss fails, he has to admit that he doesn't really love her. He was just hoping to marry well. (I don't think the kiss would have healed Ana anyway - she had to do something to prove her own love, as happens when she saves her sister. The trolls gave her bad advice. Like encouraging her to marry someone she just met. Even though Kristoff was just lecturing Ana how that's bad). 

And Horvath in The Sorcerer's Apprentice is one of those classy British bad guys. It may be cliché, but it is entertaining. His story boils down to, "I hath been spurned by a girl. I will now team up with the bad guy to kill everyone." Now, I'm probably reading too much into this. But I kinda feel like the actor tried to give the character more depth than he was given in the script. Because when Horvath opens the last layer of the grimhold, he seems hopeful that it's Veronica, the lady he liked. So maybe the whole time he was really trying to save her? In a sort of ends-justifies-the-means way. (I'm still confused by the ending. Because he's clearly still at large. Did they plan a sequel?) 

Reading Update

Out of Harm's way, Crisp

Written by a lady who was one of the first people to go to disaster sites and help the pets that had been left behind. She helped in the Bay Area, in the aftermath of hurricanes, and the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. The stories were fascinating. 

 

Divining the Leaves, Thakrar

I dunno, this one didn't catch me. I think the characters were too bland. It was one of those "enemies to friends" stories, but it didn't feel like they earned that friendship. Just because someone helps save someone else doesn't mean that they'll be friends. Especially considering how awful he had been to her. 

 

The Narrow Road Between Desires, Rothfuss

This is about a character from the Name of the Wind. A shorter version of this story is in the book Rogues. It's less to my taste than The Slow Regard of Silent Things, which is possibly my favorite book. But the writing is still amazing. 

 

One Italian Summer, Serle

The idea was like When Marnie was There, or The Boy and the Heron. Time twists to allow a character to meet a family member when they were young. I wish the plot had more substance though. Most of it was the lady going around Italy, eating and drinking. 

Indigenous Continent, Hamalainen

A thorough history of how American Indians responded to the European takeover of their land. 

Mistborn Secret History, Sanderson

It's cool that the writer had this book in mind when he was writing Mistborn. But the whole spirit-world thing just doesn't seem to fit snugly with the rest of the series. But the Wax and Wayne series makes a lot more sense now. 

The Magical Imperfect, Baron

I think this is the first book I've read that's in verse. It was really nice. 

The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself

I read this one because we visited her convent when we went to Spain. It was rather strange, because most of the book is her talking about how bad she's been. 

Case Files of the Tracker, Brown Jr. 

Another amazing book. This shares some of his most intense tracking experiences. 

The Morning Sun, Nelson

A memoir that my dad's friend wrote. There's some really good stuff in it. I think it's self published though, because it has a lot of typos. I kept wishing I'd proof-read it for him! 

Spice Road, Ibrahim

The very beginning was interesting, with an alliance formed with a supposedly dangerous monster. But after the first couple chapters, this book drove me crazy. All of the characters were so frustrating. The protagonist fell for everyone's lies every single time. She never learned. Your sister just went were she wasn't allowed to? Well, of course you should believe her promise that she won't follow you. And this guy who treats you like trash whenever anyone is watching? Oh, he's a nice guy deep down. Except then he tries to kill you. What a surprise. 

A Natural History of Dragons, by Brennan

This was a cool book. There were a lot fewer dragons in it than I expected, but it was well written. It's written as though it's a memoir. I want to read more in the series. 

The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt, by Iversen

Parts of this book really stressed me out. Maybe because my friend recently got divorced because of an abusive husband. I was almost afraid to read on at a couple points. And then I was surprised at how low-key the last several chapters were. I did guess that the plant magic came from her, not just the garden. Anyway, the book was pretty good. But the pacing was odd. Like I said, with the long, gentle wind-down. 

The Secret Life of Plants, by Tompkins

I've learned some crazy, amazing things about plants. They're way more dynamic than most people realize. This book did a great job of telling how awesome plants are. 

The Teller of Small Fortunes, by Leong

I think I can use this one as a book comp! It's a lot more low-key than my story. But the journey with the unlikely group of friends fits pretty well. 

Copper Sun, by Draper

This was a good book. But wow, it was heavy. Which is to be expected with a book about slavery. It had a good perspective, and a happy ending, all things considered. 

The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway

I really hope that the town people helps take care of that poor old fisherman now. 

The Dark Side of Survival TV

In middle school, we read Hatchet. That book is what first got me fascinated with survival skills. I think Survivor was the first survival show I ran across, and I was fascinated by it. But then, I think at the end of the first season, one of the contestants delivered this horrible speech about how she wished that another contestants would die a gruesome death. From then on, I never cared to watch survival shows. I found other ways to study the skills. 

Then I met someone who was on one of those shows, and he knew other people who had done it. I 'd thought that the episodes were total fakes. But they do indeed throw people into the wilderness. They only help in emergencies, and not always effectively. Like when one woman was badly burned, the nurses weren't prepared to treat burns. Despite the importance of fire in a survival situation. 

The company that filmed one show treated the contestants as total garbage. For example, one location looked like a great place, with plenty of resources and food to hunt. It wasn't until the contestant flew to Europe to film that they told him the location was a nature reserve. He couldn't hunt anything except for frogs and fish. Neither could he harvest and trees, except for an invasive species which wasn't a great building material. So most opportunities for food and shelter were gone. 

Another guy said that the show didn't buy them any hunting permits. There was plenty of food, yet once again they couldn't get any of it. That season was not good for fish, so everyone out there was slowly starving. 

Some of these shows don't even pay the contestants unless they make it all the way through? These poor people go through starvation and potential injury, and may not get anything for it. While the film crew and everyone else stays comfortable, and gets paid normally. 

These crews can be condescending and disgusted about the contestants that are out there suffering for a television show. And episodes are edited to deliberately make some contestants look incompetent. They don't show their full shelter, or their fishing successes. But they'll show someone crying because of personal problems. 

It's sick that companies make money watching people suffer and starve. Even people skilled at survival can't hope to stay healthy in these restricted situations. So I'm glad I don't follow those shows. 

But the contestants also said that it was a great opportunity to practice survival, with an emergency net if anything went wrong. And they talked with fondness about how beautiful some of their locations were.