Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryScience Fiction

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transparent invisible person on the city street. ai generated

Invisibility Isn’t Science Fiction; It’s Interesting Engineering

Things are visible only when light strikes them but light can sometimes be manipulated so as not to strike them, with remarkable results.

Invisibility is one of those interesting concepts that started out as imagination: What if I were invisible? Or— in the hands of a storyteller — what if my character were invisible? Tolkien famously made it a power granted by the Ring in The Lord of the Rings. The concept is used in science fiction too, for example, in the form of the cloaking device: However, as science fiction writer Douglas Adams (1952–2001) noted satirically in Life, the Universe, and Everything, in everyday life, “The Somebody Else’s Problem field is much simpler and more effective, and what’s more can be run for over a hundred years on a single torch battery. This is because it relies on people’s natural disposition not Read More ›

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desert landscape with sand being shaped into sharp dunes by the wind.

Dune, Part Two: Paul Becomes a Hero — Very Reluctantly

Some departures from the book work better than others. The “reluctant hero” trope simplifies a complex political situation but at a cost

Last time, we discussed the opening of Dune’s sequel, ending with Jessica drinking from the Water of Life. Already, she has experienced a number of changes. At first, they don’t seem to alter the story much; however, once Jessica becomes the Fremens’ Reverend Mother, the alterations start to steer the plot further and further from the book. Introducing a conflict about the Bene Gesserit religion These consequential changes first appear when Paul is waiting for his mother to wake up from a comatose state after drinking the Water of Life. In the sequel, the Fremen are divided about whether or not the Bene Gesserit religion is true. This was not the case in the book. There might’ve been some debate Read More ›

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sandstorm in the desert. Generative AI,

Dune Part Two Succeeds Brilliantly — But Dooms Plans for Part III

The difficulty is that the changes made for the film have warped the core story so much that it’s going to be nearly impossible to follow the source material from here on out.
For example, if the Bene Gesserits are the true power behind the throne, why do they need a Kwisatz Haderach to cement their power? Read More ›
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dramatic sand storm in desert, background, digital art

Dune 1984 Offers A Strong Finish to a Unique Adaptation

I’d go as far as to say that, while not all of David Lynch’s adaptations worked, the film is, overall, better than the book
The rainstorm Lynch introduces at the end, implies, refreshingly, that there was more going on in Dune than just the plans of men. Read More ›
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Sand dunes in Sahara desert, Libya

Dune (1984) vs the Classic Sci-Fi Novel: What Worked, What Didn’t

For some scenes, the film was an improvement on the book; for others, writer David Lynch might better have stuck with the original

Last time we talked about the opening of Dune 1984. The Hollywood Strike has delayed the sequel to the current remake till March but the classic is worth revisiting in the meantime, both for its successes and failures. The 1984 writer, David Lynch, made various changes to the story that gave the viewer a clearer understanding of what was going on than Frank Herbert’s classic 1965 novel did. After the first two scenes, which help establish the situation in the world of Dune, the Reverend Mother flies to Caladan to test Paul Atreides with the painful Gom Jabbar. I’ve agreed with his choices so far. His opening showed the viewer why the Reverend Mother chose to visit Paul when she Read More ›

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Astronauts exploring an asteroid 3D rendering elements of this image furnished by NASA

Where Did Dune 1984 Succeed? Where Did It Fail?

The Hollywood Strike postponed the release of the sequel to the new film version of Dune until March so, for now, let’s have another look at the 1984 version
The decades-old film retelling relied on some risky techniques but they turned out better than we might have expected, given the scope of the plot. Read More ›
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Quantum portal to a world of wonder and mystery, where the laws of nature are strange and unpredictable. wormhole, time travel illustration.

Alien Resurrection Part 4: The Good, the Bad, and the… Bizarre

In a single moment, Purvis becomes one of the most heroic characters in the entire franchise
Alien Resurrection might help you forget Alien 3, and that alone makes it worth watching. Read More ›
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astronaut in space with stars and moon, spaceship under attack, 3d illustration

Alien Resurrection (1997) Part 3: Call Up the Reluctant Robot

Amid the harrowing crew escapes, Call survives being shot because she’s a robot. She somehow has sentience and hates being a robot
No one can pull ideals from a system of numbers. How could a robot decide what is objectively moral when all its decisions are based on a set of probabilities? Read More ›
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AI chatbot robot assistant sitting at desk using computer as artificial intelligence. Business concept. AI generated

What AI Will Probably Really Do to White Collar Businesses

The tech media are full of scare stories but we can look at what happened when advanced technology hit blue collar industries as a guide

If you read the tech media, you may sometimes find yourself wondering if you (or they?) Are living in a sci-fi movie? Consider these news tidbits: “even in situations designed to prevent it from happening, chatbots invent information at least 3 percent of the time — and as high as 27 percent.” (New York Times) “Eighty-nine percent of machine learning (ML) engineers who work with generative AI say their models show signs of hallucination, according to survey results published Wednesday from ML observability platform Aporia.” (Fortune) Elsewhere, we are told, some AI could act as sleeper agents: “A sleeper agent is an AI that acts innocuous until it gets some trigger, then goes rogue.” At TechCrunch, we learn “Anthropic researchers Read More ›

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Spaceship, inside of engine

Will the Driving Force for Space Exploration Be a Religious Cult?

Physicist Jay Olson, academic visitor in the Department of Physics at Boise State University, offers an interesting take on the future of exploring the universe: Some time late this century, someone will push a button, unleashing a life force on the cosmos. Within 1,000 years, every star you can see at night will host intelligent life. In less than a million years, that life will saturate the entire Milky Way; in 20 million years – the local group of galaxies. In the fullness of cosmic time, thousands of superclusters of galaxies will be saturated in a forever-expanding sphere of influence, centred on Earth. Jay Olson, “Capturing the cosmos,” Aeon, January 8, 2024 What? Star Trek raised to the nth power Read More ›

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AI generated view of the multiverse

The Multiverse: Better in Fiction Than in Real Life?

The multiverse may be “unscientific nonsense” or a “religious” belief, as some physicists assert but the rules of storytelling are not the laws of nature
If the multiverse plot device eliminates the finality of events or choices (“it happened only in X universe”), we won’t care so much about the characters. Read More ›
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Feuer und Eis Adam und Gott

Westworld Episode 10 Review (Part Two)

Welcome to the dark end of the journey

Last time, Teddy had just finished saving Dolores from the Man in Black, who turned out to be William all along. He takes her to the coast because that was where he promised to take her when they were performing their pre-programmed loop. However, the coast is apparently not very far because as Dolores dies in his arms, Teddy starts reciting a campy monologue, and then shuts down while the board applauds the speech. Even when they’re trying to escape their loop, the robots still, somehow, find themselves trapped in yet another one of Dr. Ford’s narratives. Dr. Ford appears, addresses the crowd, then orders for Teddy to be cleaned up, and for Dolores to be taken to a nearby Read More ›

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Black labyrinth background with dof focus

Westworld Episode 10 Review (Part One)

The maze isn't the only thing that's hard to navigate in this episode.

I’ll start out with the most irrelevant plot first because almost no screen time is devoted to it, and it amounts to nothing in the end anyway. Hale successfully convinces the Board to fire Ford, not that he really cares. But Hale has been convinced this entire time that Ford is going to delete the park’s data out of spite. So, after Theresa is killed, she enlists Sizemore, a jaded writer who works for the park, to smuggle the data out through one of the decommissioned robots. This plan doesn’t work; however, because all the robots wake up by the end of the episode, and the data is lost in the vengeful horde. So, it’s a plot point that goes Read More ›

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abstract scene of overcoming the temporary space

The Big Bang: Last Summer, Doubt Suddenly Exploded. Why?

Why did a story that cast doubt on the Big Bang quickly go viral about a year ago? An experimental physicist offers some thoughts
Science is more likely to be a decade-long fuss over the ninth decimal place of the muon than about Contact! or Boldly Go. But real learning is like that. Read More ›
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close up portrait photo of humanoid android covered in shiny white grey and black metallic skin blue eyes glowing internal parts westworld style Volumetric Lighting ultrawide shot sharp

Westworld: Episode 5 Review

Mediocre writing made bearable by talented actors

Episode Five opens with Ford talking to one of the parks older droid’s, something he has grown fond of doing over the years. He tells a story of an old Grey Hound he and his brother once had, and explains that one time, they let the dog off the leash. The dog was used to chasing a fake rabbit around the track, so when it saw a cat, it immediately went after it. But after the dog had caught the cat and killed it, he didn’t know what to do. This story obviously implies that Dr. Ford knows the droids are becoming conscious, and it seems as if he is the dog chasing the car and has finally caught it. Read More ›

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Dark knight illustration, medieval era wizard, fantasy concept. Generative AI

J.R.R. Tolkien on Science Fiction

The master storyteller was more open to sci-fi and tech than the stereotype lets on

In early 2021, literary scholar Holly Ordway published a deep dive into J.R.R. Tolkien’s reading habits. The celebrated author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit was a linguist and medievalist at Oxford for decades until his death in 1973. Based on his immersion in ancient literature, people often assume that Tolkien despised all things modern – including modern books. Even C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying, “No one ever influenced Tolkien–you might as well try to influence a Bandersnatch.” Today’s conception of Tolkien stereotypically portrays him as a curmudgeon who refused to engage with modernity. Ordway, however, pushes back against such an image and lays out a comprehensive case for Tolkien’s interest in contemporary literature, including the Read More ›

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Galactic Space Elements of this image furnished by NASA

The Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Part 3

This movie isn't the best in the trilogy, but it should be doing better than it is at the box office

Previously, we talked about how Rocket Raccoon was injured during a fight with Adam Warlock, and this event sent the Guardians on a quest to save their friend. They manage to fix Rocket, and along the way, the viewer learns about the raccoon’s past. However, now that Rocket has healed from his injuries, Peter, Gamora, and Groot must save Nebula, Mantis, and Drax from the High Evolutionary, since they snuck onto his ship. The High Evolutionary demands that Peter trade Rocket for the three stowaways and sends Peter his coordinates. Peter hatches a plan with the remaining Guardians and some of his fellow Ravagers from the previous films. Meanwhile, Mantis, Nebula, and Drax discover there are children in cages inside Read More ›

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Space environment, ready for comp of your characters.3D rendering. Generative AI

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Review, Part 1

It's a decent movie, but the tone doesn't account for all these characters have been through

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 came out in theaters on May 5th, and while the movie is not the best addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s better than most, certainly better than Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. However, there have been complaints about theater turnout, and these complaints are a testament to the damage movies like Multiverse of Madness have done to the Marvel brand. I’d say we have the Mouse to thank for that. The only consolation to this turn of events is that as the box office numbers for Marvel films continue to dwindle, so do the subscriptions to Disney Plus. I’ll take the victories where I can get them. The Movie’s Tone Needs Read More ›

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

Ghost in the Shell, Part 3

There will always be a ghost in the shell

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

Ghost in the Shell, Part 2

What’s the harm in human hacking?

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 ›