BEFORE: Still dealing with post-Comic-Con matters - yesterday I unpacked the office supplies out of my suitcase, and today I had to go to my post office to pick up a certified letter, which was from our boothmate in California sending me a check for the extra badge I arranged for his cousin, who videotaped our panel for us. It's my fault for not pointing out that it was best to just send plain mail to my house - sending it via certified mail nearly guaranteed they'd try to deliver on a day I was at work, forcing me to take a subway two stops and then walk for a mile and a half to get the letter. I tried to pick up the letter at my nearest post office last week, only to be told that I was visiting the post office in a different zip code, and my nearest post office is therefore not the one that handles my mail, the one very far away is. Of course.
Then I took the subway to Brooklyn, to visit a friend who I've known for almost 20 years, an animator who's so bogged down in clerical things that she's having trouble finding time to work on her creative projects. She asked if I could take a look at her operation and figure out what she's doing wrong. After she described her situation, I realized that, like my boss, she really needs someone like me taking care of business matters so she can focus on her animation. I promised to help her find someone part-time to help her get organized, even if that person turns out to be me - we agreed to revisit this in a month or so. Then I took the express train into Manhattan, because one of my co-workers is leaving this week, and we all went out to Barcade for beers and games of Ms. Pac-Man. They had no idea I was so talented at video-games, but hey, I've been playing them since the mid-80's.
Wow, did you ever find yourself busier on your day off than you are on a typical workday?
Points to you if you predicted that Johnny Depp would carry over from "The Astronaut's Wife" in some way.
THE PLOT: A scientist's drive for artificial intelligence takes on dangerous implications when his consciousness is uploaded into one such program.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "Her" (Movie #2,022)
AFTER: I'm calling this a follow-up to "Her", but in some ways it's like the reverse of that film, which had a computer software that acted like a human. This film features a man who gets turned into computer software - or does he? That point seems a little bit debatable. The plot synopsis says that Will Caster's consciousness gets "uploaded" - but is that even possible? Not with today's tech, no, but perhaps this is set in the near future, like "Her" was. Er, is. Will be?
My basic understanding of computers, which admittedly is not that much above the average, suggests that if you make a computer program designed to mimic a man's thoughts and speak with his voice, you haven't created a new version of him, you've created a piece of software that merely thinks it is him, and it could be mistaken. It could be self-aware, but programmed incorrectly, or unable to discern its own true nature, and therefore making conclusions based on a misconception. Hey, it happened to HAL in "2001", didn't it?
Before his "uploading", Dr. Will Caster is the foremost expert in A.I., working to create a sentient machine that will possess both the world's knowledge and also some form of emotion, while his wife is working on nano-technology that will clean the earth's water system and rebuild its forests.
Together they see a chance to combine their areas of expertise, and (plot point redacted), leading to Will becoming the apparent consciousness within the machine.
I will say they kept me guessing - was the computer program really him, or a version of him, or was it just designed to look and sound like him? One presumes that if his consciousness could be uploaded, then so could his humanity and ability to discern between good and evil, but if he only consists of a set of programs that are mimicking the man he was, then all bets are off.
But the downside is that for a long time, we're not sure who to root for. Should we be glad that the "Deppus Ex Machina" has access to Wall Street's computers, so he can raise money for the supplies he needs to fix the world, or are the implications of his day-trading worse than the problems he's trying to fix? Once Caster (or his software avatar) have the power to do whatever he deems in need of doing, what are the effects on anyone standing in his way?
Or should we be rooting for the Luddite army that wants to stop him, the ones who carry forward the logic of letting a computer program change the world around, the people who would rather maintain their basic freedoms than have smog and pollution under control. It's a tough call.
It's kind of a shame that everything here is portrayed in such extreme terms - the computer program is either going to save the world or take control of it. The use of nano-technology is either the best idea ever, or it's a crime against nature. Can't there be some middle ground? Why can't you say, let the program fix the hole in the ozone layer, delete the world's polution, program away all the plastic floating in the ocean, and THEN find a way to disconnect it?
Also starring Rebecca Hall (last seen in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"), Paul Bettany (last seen in "Avengers: Age of Ultron"), Morgan Freeman (last seen in "Eyewitness"), Cillian Murphy (last seen in "Cold Mountain"), Clifton Collins Jr. (last seen in "Pacific Rim"), Kate Mara (last seen in "Random Hearts"), Cole Hauser (last seen in "A Good Day to Die Hard"), with cameos from Xander Berkeley (last seen in "Volunteers"), Lukas Haas (last seen in "Everyone Says I Love You"), Wallace Langham (last seen in "Hitchcock").
RATING: 3 out of 10 solar panels
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