Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

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wide-angle-shot-of-a-desolate-movie-set-at-dusk-old-western-817066301-stockpack-adobe_stock
'Wide angle shot of a desolate movie set at dusk, old Western style buildings and vintage film cameras'
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post
Peter Biles
Date
November 20, 2024
Categorized
Arts & Culture
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Why Do We Have So Many Live-Action Remakes?

Whether a cartoon or live-action, what we really want is a good story
Peter Biles
November 20, 2024
3
Arts & Culture

A couple of days ago, I chanced upon a trailer for the live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon. The original film, based on the book of the same name, premiered in 2010 and follows the heartfelt adventure story of a young Nordic lad, Hiccup, and his friendly dragon Toothless (who does, in fact, have teeth). The original movie got great reviews and remains one of my personal favorite animated films. It has memorable and funny characters, a good storyline, and is well animated. So why do we need a live-action version of the movie? A Loss of Originality Disney led the charge with its realistic remakes with live-action representations of Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, and Cinderella, Read More ›

spooky-silhouettes-of-aliens-and-bright-light-in-background-3d-rendered-illustration-stockpack-adobe-stock
Spooky silhouettes of aliens and bright light in background. 3D rendered illustration.
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post
Gary Varner
Date
January 27, 2024
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Arts & Culture
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Alien Resurrection, Part 2: Trying to Recover After a Retcon

The writers of the show never seemed to agree on how smart these aliens really are.
Gary Varner
January 27, 2024
8
Arts & Culture
A problem for the franchise as a whole is that there’s been no consistent measurement for these creatures’ intelligence. Read More ›
scary-gray-alien-walks-and-looks-blinking-on-a-dark-smoky-background-ufo-futuristic-concept-3d-rendering-stockpack-adobe-stock
Scary gray alien walks and looks blinking on a dark smoky background. UFO futuristic concept. 3D rendering.
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post
Gary Varner
Date
January 20, 2024
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Arts & Culture
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Alien Resurrection, Part 1: This Movie Pays for the Sins of the Last One

It's better than Aliens 3, but has a host of problems nonetheless.
Gary Varner
January 20, 2024
8
Arts & Culture
Ripley remembers enough about her old life to have misgivings about the military raising the Alien Queen, but of course, she’s ignored, and the army moves on to the second phase of their plan. Read More ›
black-egg-on-a-black-background-the-concept-of-coloring-eggs-for-easter-standing-alone-egg-stockpack-adobe-stock
Black egg on a black background. The concept of coloring eggs for Easter. Standing alone egg
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post
Gary Varner
Date
December 6, 2023
Categorized
Arts & Culture
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Alien Review, Part 2

Herding aliens in space is a bad idea
Gary Varner
December 6, 2023
6
Arts & Culture

Read Part 1 of this review first if you missed it: Alien Review, Part 1 | Mind Matters In the previous review, we began discussing the sci-fi classic, Alien, and we left off with one of the Nostromo’s crewmembers, Kane, waking up after being attacked by a strange creature which had essentially glued itself to his face. Now, the creature is dead, and all seems well. Since Kane appears to be alright, and the crew begins eating another meal, preparing to renter cryosleep for their return journey to Earth. But as they are eating, Kane begins to scream in pain. The other’s try to help him, but they have no idea what’s going on. Finally, another alien explodes from Kane’s Read More ›

galactic-space-elements-of-this-image-furnished-by-nasa-stockpack-adobe-stock
Galactic Space Elements of this image furnished by NASA
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post
Gary Varner
Date
June 10, 2023
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction
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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
Gary Varner
June 10, 2023
9
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

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 ›

modern-apartment-block-at-dusk-stockpack-adobe-stock
Modern apartment block at dusk
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post
Gary Varner
Date
April 22, 2023
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction
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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 ›

alone in a big city cosmos
Back view of businessman suit standing at office looking at night city through panoramic window. Generative AI
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post
Gary Varner
Date
April 15, 2023
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction
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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 ›

old timey movie pic
ON THE BIG SCREEN
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post
Peter Biles
Date
April 6, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture
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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 ›

Pandora
Forest on Pandora, home of the Na'vi
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post
News
Date
January 19, 2023
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Arts & Culture
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Avatar 2 Surpasses Spider-Man at the Box Office

The long-awaited sequel proved the skeptics wrong and scored big at the movie theaters
News
January 19, 2023
2
Arts & Culture

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, surpassed Spider-Man: No Way Home in box office records and now stands at No. 6 of all time highest grossing films. The sci-fi visual wonder is the sequel to the first Avatar installment, which was released in December 2009. Critics doubted whether the franchise could rebound in popularity after a 13 year absence in the movie theaters, atop further concerns about the relevance and viability of moviegoing in the “pandemic era.” The doubters were quelled by the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and with Cameron’s blockbuster success, might be silenced for good. Despite ever increasing streaming options, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, and Peacock, people still seem interested in Read More ›

Robotic filmmaking. Talented robots shoots television movie or motion picture. Creative filmmakers robotic crew director, assistant with spotlight and cameraman behind the scene. Automated process of creating video content. Red wall studio background.
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post
Analysis
Date
January 15, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance
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Can AI Help Hollywood Predict the Next Big Hit?

AI analysis sifts the past finely. But how well does the past predict the future?
Analysis
January 15, 2020
6
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance

AI does pose at least one threat to filmmaking. It could intensify the very tone-deafness that studios hope it can fix: Too much reliance on ever more finely grained analysis of the patterns in past data could blind decision makers to the real risks, volatility, and opportunities in the future. That’s a recipe for losing money and inflicting “Oh, not that again!” on audiences.

Read More ›
digital graphic hologram
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post
Adam Nieri
Date
November 23, 2019
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How To Be Human: A Mind Matters Short Film Review

This new film turns a conventional sci-fi storytelling premise upside down
Adam Nieri
November 23, 2019
5

Most AI sci-fi chronicles the struggle of sentient artificially intelligent (AI) beings grappling with how to become human. That makes sense from the viewer’s perspective. If I firmly believed that our humble video game algorithms would evolve into thinking, feeling beings, then I would, of course, conclude that they would struggle as they grappled with their newfound humanity. But a recent DUST release, How To Be Human, takes that narrative—and turns it upside down. Rather than an AI struggling to become human in a human-dominated world, we watch a human struggling to be more like an artificial intelligence in an AI-dominated world. Kimi (one of the protagonists) undertakes a journey in which she sheds all those things that make her Read More ›

the-manual-face
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post
Adam Nieri
Date
March 22, 2019
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Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture
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A Mind Matters Review: AI Week at DUST, the sci-fi short films channel

Films you have time to see and think about
Adam Nieri
March 22, 2019
4
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Looking for a good “robots, AI, ‘n sci-fi” fix to round out your weekend? Mind Matters has you covered for animations and shorts. For starters, check out DUST, a YouTube channel dedicated to short sci-fi. Its recent AI WEEK (February 11–18) offered “A collection of curated short films dedicated to artificial intelligence and its connection with humanity.” When I say “short,” I mean that the longest is about 30 min; the others are much shorter. So if you have just a few minutes to kill while downing a bowl of spicy curry ramen, I would recommend giving them a watch. For AI narratives, they’re not as clichéd as you might fear. Sunspring | DUST AI Week Runtime | 8:15 Cleanliness Read More ›

Detroit-Become-Human-3
Character from Detroit: Become Human with blue chemical on face disintegratingn
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post
Adam Nieri
Date
February 15, 2019
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Technocracy
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A Closer Look at Detroit: Become Human, Part I

Gaming culture provides a window into our culture’s assumptions about artificial intelligence
Adam Nieri
February 15, 2019
5
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Technocracy

In the game, Detroit has transcended its current economic despair, emerging as the epicenter of the android revolution. Cyberlife, headquartered there, has become the first company to engineer and produce fully autonomous, general purpose AI androids for consumers.

Read More ›