Category: Arts & Culture | Page 10

Audiobook education. Smartphone screen with audiobook application on paper books black background. Ebook e learning electronic internet mobility concept.

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News
Date
May 23, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Amazon, Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Books, Technology}

Audiobook Voice Actor: Storytelling Should Stay Human

_{Handing the narrative baton to a machine can bankrupt stories of their human element} _{News
May 23, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

New AI systems have carved inroads into many industries, not least of all those involving voice and audio. Now the audiobook business is in trouble; since AI has the increasingly good ability to mimic the human voice and generate words, many voice actors and readers have watched the demand for their contributions steadily fall. According to a report from Tech Explore, voice actor Tanya Eby, who has been in the business for 20 years, has seen her workload drop “by half.” Several of her colleagues report similar trends in their own work. AI startups like DeepZen, based in London, cheapen audiobook projects tremendously, making it a challenge for human actors to stay viable. DeepZen technology takes several different human voices Read More ›

Office building top view background in retro style colors. Manhattan buildings of New York City center - Wall street

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Peter Biles
Date
May 21, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Transhumanism

Tagged
Arts & Culture, capitalism, HBO Max, immortality, media, New York, transhumanism, TV shows, Wall Street}

HBO’s “Succession” Goes Transhumanist

_{The popular show about a family owned media empire hints at the desire to live forever} _{Peter Biles
May 21, 2023

3

Arts & Culture, Transhumanism}

[Warning: Spoilers Ahead] The highly-watched HBO show “Succession” tells the story of a media empire ruled by a cantankerous, manipulative businessman, Logan Roy, and his three children who are hardly any better. Most of the show is a commentary on the corrupting effects of wealth and the power dynamics involved in the media empire’s core leadership. In the dramatic fourth season, Logan Roy dies from what seems to be a stroke while he’s flying to Norway to discuss a giant merger deal with another media mogul. From there, the three Roy children, Kendall, Roman, and Shiv (along with a half-brother Connor who doesn’t care as much about his place in the kingdom) scramble to figure out the leadership, direction, and Read More ›

Manhattan project, development of nuclear weapons, history of science of the 20th century. Art collage with a nuclear explosion

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Peter Biles
Date
May 20, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Technology

Tagged
Atomic bomb, film, Movies and TV, Oppenheimer, Technology, World War II}

“I Can Perform This Miracle”

_{The new "Oppenheimer" trailer gives a chilling hint of the atom bomb race} _{Peter Biles
May 20, 2023

1

Arts & Culture, Technology}

Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, and Interstellar, is breaking ground in the historical film genre with his upcoming film Oppenheimer starring Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, and Emily Blunt. The film, currently slated for release in July, has a chilling new trailer that gives a larger sense of the movie’s scope, and the profound moral dilemma at the heart of the creation of the atomic bomb. J. Robert Oppenheimer was the theoretical physicist largely responsible for the develop of the bomb in World War II. The new trailer emphasizes the United States’ fierce “arms race” with Germany. In the trailer, Oppenheimer says, “We’re in a race against the Nazis. And I know what it means Read More ›

Futuristic dystopian city with flying cars and dark green atmosphere - digital 3d illustration

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Gary Varner
Date
May 20, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
Arts & Culture, Consciousness, Dystopian, Gary Varner, Movies and TV, Robots, Sci-fi, Science fiction}

Ghost in the Shell, Part 3

_{There will always be a ghost in the shell} _{Gary Varner
May 20, 2023

7

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

In the previous review, Major had realized the horrible truth. Ninety-eight people died so she could live in her new body. Horrified by this, she retreats to the ocean just outside the city and floats under the water for some time. When she emerges from the depths, she finds Batou waiting for her on the boat. Major asks if he’s here to kill her, and in his own charming way, Batou says tells her he’s not. After a brief conversation, Major asks Batou to take her back to the city because she needs to know more. Batou agrees and the Major returns to shore only to be arrested by the Hanka cooperation’s men. After this, Hanka’s CEO, Cutter, discuss the Read More ›

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Peter Biles
Date
May 14, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Artists and AI art, Arts & Culture, Authors, ChatGPT, novels, OpenAI, Writers}

Make Literature Human Again

_{Should the AI novel be embraced or avoided?} _{Peter Biles
May 14, 2023

5

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

I’ve been writing avidly since the first grade. Thumbing through a children’s nature magazine in the classroom one day, I discovered a crisp image of a red fox standing in the snow. I’d seen pictures of foxes before, but something stood out to me about this one to the point that I felt like I needed to write about it. If you’re looking for advice on owning foxes as pets, see my manual on the topic. (Full disclosure: my first-grade self was absolutely convinced having a fox for a pet is out of the question.) Years later, that fundamental impulse hasn’t left. Writing stories, novels, essays, news reports, and poetry has always been a fundamental way to try to do Read More ›

3D rendering of abstract blocks of mathematical formulas located in the virtual space

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Peter Biles
Date
May 13, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Mathematics

Tagged
AI, C.S. Lewis, Euclid, Intelligent design theory, J.R.R. Tolkien, Literature, Mathematics, New York Times, novels}

Math, Mind, and Matter

_{The surprising similarities between mathematics and literature} _{Peter Biles
May 13, 2023

4

Arts & Culture, Mathematics}

Last October, legendary American author Cormac McCarthy, who wrote Blood Meridian and The Road, released a pair of interconnected novels called The Passenger and Stella Maris. The books arrived after a sixteen-year silence from the desk of McCarthy. The books deal, per usual, with themes of mortality, fate, and the “God question,” and are predictably lyrical, vivid, and dark. But McCarthy plows new ground in these sibling novels. The books are about mathematicians. It’s fiction about math. The story revolves around the complex relationship between a brother and sister: Bobby and Alicia Western. Bobby is a deep-sea diver with some history in the field of mathematics, while Alicia is a once-in-a-generation math prodigy. Not Estranged, but Akin After reading these books myself, I marveled at McCarthy’s ability to Read More ›

Technology in human and machine concept as advanced tech or robots taking over humanity and people merging with a cyborg or computers idea

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Gary Varner
Date
May 13, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
AI, Arts & Culture, Consciousness, Science fiction}

Ghost in the Shell, Part 2

_{What’s the harm in human hacking?} _{Gary Varner
May 13, 2023

6

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

In the first review of Ghost in the Shell, the Major had just escaped Kuze’s attempt to hack her mind and had found his location. She, Batou, and another member of Section 9 rushed off to find Kuze before he could escape. Major tracks Kuze’s signal to a Yakuza club, and after fighting some thugs, they find the source of the signal in the basement level of the club, but Kuze isn’t there. All he’s left behind is a hologram which threatens them and disappears. Major then realizes the basement has been rigged to blow and pushes Batou out of the room. However, she isn’t fast enough. Major is caught in the explosion, and Batou looses his eyes in the Read More ›

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Gary Varner
Date
May 6, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Sci-fi, Science fiction}

Ghost in the Shell, Part 1

_{It's the remake of arguably one of the most influential sci-fi moves in the genre} _{Gary Varner
May 6, 2023

6

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

[Warning: Spoilers ahead] In the last review, we discussed Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson. That got me thinking of another movie starring Scarlett Johansson, the 2017 remake of Ghost in the Shell. The original Ghost in the Shell is arguably one of the more influential sci-fi movies in the genre. The dramatic visuals found in The Matrix have been attributed to the 1995 anime, and given the culture’s increasing fascination with AI, the concepts discussed in the original and the remake are more relevant now than when the anime was first released. Sadly, the 2017 remake was bogged down in a trite controversy regarding race-swapping which is when a character’s race is changed to appeal to American audiences. Read More ›

Aerial view of Tokyo cityscape with Fuji mountain in Japan.

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Peter Biles
Date
May 4, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Communication, fiction, Human exceptionalism, Japan, Literature, Microsoft, Personality}

Novelist Haruki Murakami: Writing Involves Trust

_{Writing powerful literature is a human endeavor written for a human audience} _{Peter Biles
May 4, 2023

4

Arts & Culture}

I just finished a book by the renowned Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami called Novelist as a Vocation. Murakami is the author of 1Q84, Norwegian Wood, and Kafka on the Shore, among many others. As a young novelist myself, I wanted to learn a professional’s thoughts on the trade and also get a sense of his philosophy of writing, which in the age of AI, feels increasingly valuable. Most of the book was composed during or before 2015 but was just published last year, and is basically a compendium of essays on the novel-writing process, how Murakami got started, and the broader literary landscape. Connecting With Readers Murakami’s thoughts on his readership and audience particularly stood out to me. He confesses Read More ›

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Gary Varner
Date
April 22, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness, film, hollywood, Movies, romance, Technology, television}

Her, Part Two

_{What happens when you’re dating the AI secretary} _{Gary Varner
April 22, 2023

6

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

Last time, we began talking about the movie Her, a story of a man falling in love with his AI and compared it to the abysmal season three of the Orville. Unlike the Orville, which insisted that the viewer take the romance between the robot and the human seriously, Her treats the subject as a what-if scenario, playing the whole situation straight and letting the viewer draw their own conclusions. Theodore had just finished uploading the AI onto his computer, which called itself Samantha, and was impressed by how human-like the operating system seemed. Samantha begins organizing Theodore’s computer and helping him around the office, but it doesn’t take long for a romantic relationship to develop between them. When Theodore Read More ›

Man and flames, inspired by Fahrenheit 451. Gegenrative AI.

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Peter Biles
Date
April 21, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
1984 (book), Aldous Huxley, Arts & Culture, brave new world, Dystopia, George Orwell, Literature, Ray Bradbury, Science fiction, Technology}

Revisiting Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451

_{How can we read and remember the past with the influx of digital noise and distraction?} _{Peter Biles
April 21, 2023

5

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

Which one was right, Brave New World or 1984? Are we living in a hedonistic mirage or a totalitarian face-stamping global regime? The conversation over prophetic twentieth-century texts often homes in on these two admirable books, but another classic dystopian novel pokes its head from behind the curtain, asking to be regarded: Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. It’s the riotous, mega-talented sci-fi writer’s most famous work (though I’d argue not quite his best) and follows the life of a fireman, Guy Montag, whose main job is not to squelch housefires but to burn books, and the houses that hold them. This fireman is a member of a brigade tasked with the destruction of literature. With the destruction of meaning. In the Read More ›

Lonely man in red jacket standing by the lake in winter, with transparent woman figure standing next to him

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Peter Biles
Date
April 17, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Free will

Tagged
Aldous Huxley, Arts & Culture, Brave New World (book), drug addiction, Dystopian, fiction, free will, Futurism, Literature, Science fiction, social media, The New Yorker}

Escape from Spiderhead and the Question of Love

_{Is love more than a chemical reaction and are humans more than machines made of meat?} _{Peter Biles
April 17, 2023

4

Arts & Culture, Free will}

Brave New World, a speculative work by British writer Aldous Huxley, explores a society where people are conditioned via drugs and genetic engineering to live stable, highly pleasurable, but totally meaningless lives. One pop of a pill, and negative feelings like sadness, anger, or envy vanish. In the brave new world, “everyone belongs to everyone else,” and pleasure supplants purpose. A Story for Our Age That book was written in 1932. Fast forward to the twenty-first century and another fictional work, albeit shorter, goes arguably even deeper than Huxley’s magnum opus. The short story Escape from Spiderhead by George Saunders is about a group of inmates being tested by mood-altering drugs in a facility nicknamed “Spiderhead” for its nebulous layout. Read More ›

Back view of businessman suit standing at office looking at night city through panoramic window. Generative AI

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Gary Varner
Date
April 15, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
AI, Arts and Culture, Culture, Gary Varner, Movies, Science fiction, society, Technology, tv}

Her, Part One

_{The 2013 dystopian film proposes an intriguing "what if"} _{Gary Varner
April 15, 2023

6

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

When I was reviewing the Orville, Season Three, I spent a lot of time complaining about the robot-love subplot which consumed far too much of the series. I will probably always find the idea of such a relationship ridiculous, but that doesn’t mean the concept can’t be explored in a thoughtful way. One such thoughtful exploration is the movie Her, where a man falls in love with his AI operating system. Unlike the Orville, which demands that the viewer take the relationship seriously, almost going so far as to call the viewer a bigot if they don’t get on board with the fantasy, Her leaves everything open-ended, treating the whole idea of a man and robot falling in love as Read More ›

beautiful bunch cordyceps,mushrooms in neon light. The last of us style. Generative AI.

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Gary Varner
Date
April 8, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
Culture, Gary Varner, HBO Max, Science fiction, television, The Last of Us, TV shows, Video games}

The Last of Us: Final Thoughts

_{The HBO series is a mixed bag but is still worth the watch} _{Gary Varner
April 8, 2023

6

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

The Last of Us HBO series is a mixed bag. There are parts of this show I really liked and other parts I despised. The main trouble is that there are two full episodes which are completely irrelevant to the plot. Frankly, you could skip episodes three and seven and not miss a thing. These episodes are just fanfare for the critics and add nothing to the story. Particularly episode three. I’ve never seen such a random addition to a series. What’s so astounding is that the flashback in episode three keeps going. About halfway through, the viewer realizes that they really are going to have to watch these two old men live and die, all so Joel and Ellie Read More ›

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Peter Biles
Date
April 6, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Movies, Science fiction, Spider-Man, TV shows}

Future Films: Written and Directed by…AI?

_{AI's abilities in visual creation are remarkably good and are getting better fast} _{Peter Biles
April 6, 2023

4

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

Artificial intelligence is exploding right now. From ChatGPT to Google’s Bard to DALL-E, these new technologies are forcing the question about the place of human agency in a technological society. That includes the world of cinema. Here’s a Scenario Here’s a cheery scenario: you drop by the local Barnes & Noble before seeing the seventeenth iteration of Spider-Man in theaters. The year is 2040. You buy a hot new bestseller written by a chatbot and are impressed by the linguistic originality, even though the novel still follows a pretty crude narrative structure. Then, it’s off to see the show. You’re in the theater with your ticket and popcorn, both of which were given to you by a non-sentient robotic arm Read More ›

Illustration of a Futuristic cyber helmet inspired by music group Daft Punk . Cyberspace Augmented Reality. , Generative AI

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News
Date
April 6, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Futurism, Human exceptionalism, music, robotics, Robots}

Daft Punk and Being Human After All

_{Former member said AI concerns contributed in part to the band's breakup} _{News
April 6, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

Legendary electronic pop duo Daft Punk split ways two years ago after decades of collaboration and are esteemed as pioneers in the creative ways they infused their music with cutting edge sonic technology. However, in a recent interview, ex-member Thomas Bangalter said that artificial intelligence contributed in part to the band’s separation. Per a report from Futurism, Bangalter said, We tried to use these machines to express something extremely moving that a machine cannot feel, but a human can. We were always on the side of humanity and not on the side of technology. -NOOR AL-SIBAI, Daft Punk Says They Broke Up Partially Over Fear of AI (futurism.com) The pop duo notoriously dressed up in robotic garb during their musical Read More ›

Interior of an abandoned hospital corridor. Generative AI

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Gary Varner
Date
April 5, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Arts & Culture, Entertainment, HBO Max, Morality, The Last of Us, TV shows, Zombies}

The Last of Us, Episode 9

_{Getting to the central moral question of the entire series} _{Gary Varner
April 5, 2023

8

Arts & Culture}

The episode begins with another flashback, showing how Ellie was born. Then, we see that Joel and Ellie have finally reached Salt Lake City, and once there, the writers retell some of the classic scenes from the game. During these scenes, it becomes evident that the two characters are much closer now. I’d say the writers did manage to successfully transition Joel and Ellie from an adversarial partnership to a father-daughter like relationship. Before long; however, the two are disoriented by a flash grenade, and Joel is knocked unconscious. When he wakes up, he sees Marlene, the leader of the Fireflies, standing in a doorway with armed guards around her. They made it to the medical facility after all, but Read More ›

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Peter Biles
Date
April 4, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, ChatGPT, Creative Writing, Creativity, GPT-4, human exceptionalism (vs. computers)}

From One Author to an AI

_{What might John Steinbeck think of AI writing a novel?} _{Peter Biles
April 4, 2023

4

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

John Steinbeck was among the most prominent literary figures of the twentieth century, responsible for works such as The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and The Pearl. East of Eden, arguably his best work, is a sprawling novel about two families in the Salinas Valley in California and is often interpreted as a modern-day retelling of the book of Genesis, particularly the story of Cain and Abel. If we were to ask Steinbeck today about AI’s ability to write a good novel, what might the celebrated writer say? Well, an interview with Steinbeck from Paris Review, while it doesn’t have anything to do with computers or artificial intelligence, does reveal a significant aspect of Steinbeck’s own philosophy of writing Read More ›

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Gary Varner
Date
March 31, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
Apocalypticism, Arts & Culture, Gary Varner, HBO Max, Science fiction, Technology, television, The Last of Us}

The Last of Us, Episodes 7 & 8

_{Another flashback for the critics followed by cannibalism} _{Gary Varner
March 31, 2023

7

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

To be blunt, it’s probably best to merge the reviews of episodes seven and eight because episode seven is a complete waste of time. Basically, Ellie moves Joel to an abandoned house and tries to take care of him. He tells her she needs to go back to Tommy’s and let him die, and she almost does it, but then she has a flashback. During the commentary for episode seven, the writers mention that they wanted to make a connection between this flashback and Ellie’s decision to save Joel. But I think the truth is they were more interested in devoting another episode to fanservice for the critics. In this flashback, Ellie remembers Riley, her friend who was attacked with Read More ›

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Peter Biles
Date
March 30, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Applied Science, Arts & Culture, C.S. Lewis, Magic, Netflix, science, Scientism, Technocracy, Technology, The Abolition of Man, TV shows}

The Moral Genius of Arcane

_{The show reveals how pursuing knowledge for the sake of greater manipulation, power, and control can open the floodgates of chaos} _{Peter Biles
March 30, 2023

5

Arts & Culture}

The 2021 show Arcane, based on the video game League of Legends, is fantastic. The animation style, writing, and world-building all merit its 100 percent scored rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Apart from its entertainment value, which is formidable, Arcane explores the pertinent themes of power, progress, and the promises and pitfalls of technological advancement. It does this without heavy-handedness, “instructing by delighting,” in the words of C.S. Lewis. A Powerful Civilization and a Chaotic Underworld The story takes place in the utopian city of Piltover, which prides itself on its innovations in science, technology, and infrastructure. On the lower edges of the city lies the unruly Zaun, an oppressed underworld overrun with crime and an addictive drug called “Shimmer.” The Read More ›