APRIL 2014
TRANSCENDENCE
This post is about the film "Transcendence" with
John Depp. "Transcendence" is
the film's name for what is otherwise termed "The
Singularity".
I have been reading science fiction for many decades. Man's
knowledge and application of the laws of nature expands
geometrically. Some authors have speculated that at some point in
the future this expansion
reaches a point at which the rate of discovery expands hyperbolically
due to the development of artificial intelligence.
That point in time is given the name "The Singularity" or
"Transcendence".
John Depp and his wife are scientists. John is murdered, and his
mind is reincarnated in a computer. Very shortly thereafter, he
moves his mind onto the www. Having all that processing power at
his fingertips (figuratively speaking) he embarks on a green/health
knowledge revolution. He develops energy technologies that are
pollution
free, and finds ways to (and) stops fatally injured people from
dying.
At the same time he enhances their physical strength and connects them
directly to the www. Like being mentally online.
Enter the well meaning Luddites. These are headed by a former
research scientist who became horrified at the idea that a computer
should be intelligent and was paranoid about the possibility that this
would mean the "end of mankind's culture as we know it." (As an
irrelevant aside, I wonder whether similar Luddite reactionaries
existed when man moved from Hunter-Gatherer to an Agrarian culture?)
The people whose lives Depp had saved are now connected to the www can
directly. They know of and understand the green and health
benefits of Depp's work, and so
(as would be expected of any sane human) align with and support his
actions. This provokes the Luddites to engage in a killing
spree, which Depp and those he saved resist in a totally nonviolent
fashion. At one point, one of the Luddites remarks "They have not
killed anyone".
The film ends with the Luddites apparently triumphant, as a
reincarnated Depp absorbs a virus that kills him when the lead Luddite
threatens to kill his friend unless he does so. That also results
in the death of his wife who had earlier been deliberately shot by the
Luddites. The film ends with the lights of civilisation closing
down, city block by city block.
Or do the Luddites triumph? There are hints that Depp possibly
lives on. Perhaps in a remote and isolated computer. And
perhaps he had obtained sufficient data to reincarnate his wife.
I would look forward to a sequel. Unfortunately I am not
confident that the lesson of the film will be clear. The Luddites
in our culture appear to be in a majority. I regret that the
world appears to be on
the brink of a new dark age. During that time, the 19th and 20th
centuries may well look like "civilisation lost" as Caesar's Roman
Empire must have appeared during the dark
ages.
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