Ex Machina

Ex Machina was a really weird movie. I always felt like the Nathan was going to kill Caleb at the last day of the Turing test. I thought the location where the movie took place was very odd because it was a building in the middle of nowhere. I also thought that a person falling in love with a machine was very strange. The movie was really just about an AI named Ava trying to escape her creator by using the feeling love against humans. Her creator named Nathan Bateman was trying to enhance his AI but upgrading Ava would erase her. In order to upgrade Ava he used a person from his company named Caleb Smith to do a special AI test called the Turing test. Caleb bonded with Ava and fell in love over the week of the testing. I found it interesting that Ava betrayed Caleb at the end when she locked him in the security room and left for the helicopter that was supposed to pick up Caleb at the end of the Turing test. I know that Ava wanted to see the world but she doesn’t really have any place to go. The only place she can stay is the house she was being held in. In the end, this movie portrays the fear of artificial intelligence. In the movie Nathan keeps Ava locked in one room which shows he is afraid of her. Also Nathan is stabbed to death by his AI helper and Ava. Caleb is locked in the security room and will eventually starve to death which in my opinion comes from the idea of artificial intelligence taking over the world.

Transcendence

The movie Transcendence is a crazy movie! I enjoyed the idea of artificial intelligence taking over the world with nanotechnology and healing it. It was also crazy to see one of the main characters, Will played by Johnny Depp have his consciences downloaded into a supercomputer to create an artificial intelligence. The idea of nanotechnology was fascinating! If that technology existed today we could heal the planet, people, get rid of pollution. We could also make any object with nanotechnology even though the materials for the object is not correct. Nanotechnology can do this because it can form into any material needed to create an object. Also nanotechnology could regenerate skin faster than the human body. Also it can regrow limbs. But we would have to find a way to control the nanotechnology without artificial intelligence so it does not take over the world. In the movie the A.I uses the nanotechnology to take over the world and control the humans that have the nanotech inside their bodies. Also the nanotechnology can allow humans to have advanced abilities like super strength and speed. The movie shows this when a construction worker is lifting up solar panels that would take a mini crane to lift up. I like the idea of having nanotechnology but I would not want an A.I controlling it. The movie ends after Will’s wife injects herself with a virus that will kill her artificial intelligent husband when he uploads her to the system. After the A.I dies everything but humans that has nanotechnology inside their bodies dies. The reason why everything died but humans is because everything but humans were dependent on nanotechnology.

Response to Group Four's Questions

The four types of body rhetoric are “embodied argumentation, street theater, rhetorical style and the vibe as bodily emanation” (145, Gandio). Embodied argumentation uses body language to make an argument. People have certain hand movements or position themselves in a confident way during a big protest. Street theatre is a political performance like a protest or rally. Protests and rallies today are used to communicate to the government in order to make certain things legal or illegal. Rhetorical style describes how communicative gestures look to others and the feelings they reveal. For example if I only hold up my first two fingers in an antiwar rally it will look like the peace sign and will reveal my feelings toward war. The vibe is energy that comes off our bodies when promoting or contesting political agendas. The energy given off someone promoting or contesting political agendas could possibly influence the people around them to join. Bodily argumentation is made up of four ways that use embodied argumentation to expand the realm of rhetoric. Embodied argumentation is a call to action that allows people to do what they are saying and resist the government. Embodied argumentation also allows people to understand non-verbal rhetoric. Another embodied argumentation that expands the realm of rhetoric is using body language anywhere to express their views, ideas and political standings. The last embodied argumentation is crafting body communication into a very good argument. The process in order to perfect body language to make an argument takes time and practice. Without these four ways, nobody can be influencing and support their position. The five steps to cultivating style is for a person to observe their own style, observe other people’s style, to reflect on those styles, experiment with different styles, take chances with different stylistic choices and apply them to their style. If someone is able to compare their style to other people’s style then they can experiment with different styles. This allows them to be unique and take risks with different styles of clothing people would not normally wear. An individual body argument is a person using their body to make an argument. People will usually paint their bodies with certain colors and write words on their body to express how they feel. For example my friend wrote Kobe don’t go on his stomach in purple and yellow. He tried to get on the big screen during the Lakers verse Celtics game. A couple of random people yelled at him that Kobe sucks and he yelled back his thoughts. A collective body argument is “protests and actions, which might include: sanctioned rallies, marches, and demonstrations; direct actions; silent die-ins; snake marches; street festivals; both militant and peaceful confrontations; a few people on a street corner or a million people across the globe” (151, Gandio). Usually collective body argument is made up of more than one person attempting to communicate their message to the public.

Response to Group Three's questions

Language is a form of communication from one human being to another. Language is connected to social media through slang and emojis. Of course people talk to each other with English, Spanish, and French over the internet but slang and emojis is the virtual world’s universal language. Certain words, facial expressions and feelings can be expressed through slang such as “lol” which is laugh out loud and an emoji such as “J” expresses my happiness. Unfortunately slang and emojis can be used by social media to influence people. Some news social media pages will use slang to make something seem cool to internet users and influence people to do or say weird things. For example when the ALS ice bucket challenge was introduced, social media hyped it up so much that people who did not even know what ALS was were taking part in the challenge. 

             The five guide lines to language and communication are to be clear, accessible, proactive, respectful and interesting. My generation follows these guidelines very well on the internet. People are able to be clear with what they want to share because of grammar check. Grammar check allows people to check their spelling and grammar before posting a blog, tweet, and comment. Due to smart phones equipped with social media applications, people are always accessible to anything social. Most people in my generation check their social media, emails and texts frequently which makes them proactive. Even though people act tougher when they are behind a computer screen, most people are respectful over the internet. My generation has been continuously interesting because of Instagram. Instagram allows people to post pictures on the internet. Usually the pictures people post are vacation photos or a very interesting photograph. Due to social media websites being a part of my generation’s daily life, these guidelines are followed non-intentional. 

              Big Brother from the book 1984 by George Orwell told his people through the thought police, "War is peace; Freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength" to influence them to believe what he wanted them to believe. Big Brother wanted his people to believe the opposite of war, slavery and ignorance so that he could influence them to do whatever he wanted them to do. Social media today will use certain words to influence people to believe in whatever they want people to believe in. Big news companies usually use this tactic when telling a biased story. Big news companies will try and influence people to think what they want people to think just like Big Brother. During the elections in the United States it is very easy to tell who each news company is voting for. Each news company is always biased when it comes to their candidate. They will only capture the good side to the candidate they are voting for. Whenever news companies cover the candidate they are not voting for they only tell the bad side of that candidate. The biased news coverage is propaganda that influences people’s votes.

Response to Group Two's questions

On social media websites people seem confident and speak freely about whatever they want. Most of those people will type mean comments or try to influence the public on what they think is right. I call those people keyboard warriors. Keyboard warriors may be confident behind a computer screen but in real life they could be the quietest people on the planet. Keyboard warriors in real life may be perceived as the quiet and nervous person. Social media allows people to comment anonymously on other people’s webpage or profile. This allows people to step out of their comfort zone and say things that they normally would never dare to say in real life. Keyboard warriors in my opinion are a great example of separation between the way we express ourselves through social media and real life. Another example of separation would be the way we write and have a conversation with each other on social media platforms and real life. On the internet people tend to use slag words to minimize the letters they have to type. For example when someone wants to express laughter they use the slag term lol which stands for laugh out loud. In real life a person would just laugh to express laughter. Also when people talk to each other in real life nobody uses internet slag to communicate. Internet slag like lol is only used for chatting with another person on social media platforms.

             Social media uses the four rhetorical approaches to spread news which are argumentation, invitation, persuasion and storytelling. When social media presents a controversial topic it allows people to comment what they think and provide evidence creating an argument. Once two or more people have taken different claims people will use reason to explain their claim with evidence they have given. Also when controversial topics are posted people do not always use argumentation to tell their thoughts on the topic. People use invitation which allows people to comment their opinions and position on whatever the topic is. Invitation is used to clarify intentions. People also use the art of persuasion to change people’s views. People who try and persuade others use their logic and emotions against them. Using other people’s emotions against them could possibly manipulate them into joining what you believe in. Logic is used to make someone understand the persuader’s position. Sometimes when social media posts a news article on something heroic people start to tell stories. The stories people tell are fake but it allows people to give meaning to whatever they are talking about. People envision themselves as a certain character and they usually end up saving the day.

             When I was in high school my English teacher made the class do a presentation that had to be presented to both of her English classes. My presentation was about how climate change effects the earth. Each class asked me different questions about climate change. I realized I had to think about how to respond to each question because each audience was different. My English class was easy going on me and did not really care on what kind of answer I gave them. However, the other English class I presented to asked me very hard questions and even if I gave them a correct answer the students continued to go in depth with what they wanted to know. I realized that I had to tell them everything about what they were asking instead of a strait forward answer. This situation was very challenging and forced me to analyze the audience and respond with an answer satisfying the student who asked the question.

Bicentennial Man

Bicentennial man is about an android named Andrew who was programmed just to help out around his owner’s house. After realizing that Andrew is not just another household appliance the owner Richard Martin started to teach him the human ways. Once Andrew developed his own thoughts and feelings he began on a journey to understand his artificial intelligence kind by searching for other robots just like him. Andrew unexpectedly finds his maker’s son Rupert Burns by following a female robot walking home from the market. Rupert introduces himself to Andrew and they both team up to create enhanced upgrades for robots and humans. Throughout Andrew’s life, he has to fight for his rights and prove society wrong that he is capable of being human. Also in the beginning of his life people give Andrew different reactions when they encounter him. This movie covers those reactions very well. When Andrew was first powered on, Richard Martin was happy to have help around the house, his wife Mrs. Martin was creeped out, Richard’s daughter Grace was upset to see the robot in her house, and Grace’s sister Little Miss was confused on what Andrew was and why her father bought him. After having the android Andrew for a while, Mrs. Martin started to enjoy having an extra hand around the house. Andrew became Little Miss’s best friend for her entire life, and Grace attempted to kill Andrew by ordering him to jump out of her bedroom window. In my opinion the Martin’s reactions to the robot would be similar to those reactions of people who meet an artificial intelligent robot today. Also robots like Andrew would not be accepted in society and would not be free. During Andrew’s lifetime he realizes that he is not really free and asks Mr. Martin to be free. After Mr. Martin allowed Andrew to be free Andrew was forced to leave the Martin’s household. Although Andrew was free he was not accepted in society. Even years later when Andrew received artificial human skin and the ability to feel and love he still was not declared a human being by the government. Andrew was angered that he was not accepted as a human being and could not marry the love of his life who is a human. Andrew changed himself into a complete human being with the help of Rupert Burns in order to prove to the government that he is capable of being human. Years later Andrew and Rupert’s artificial organ technology was being used for replacing bad organs in humans. Andrew attempted again to be recognized as a human being. Eventually he was declared as a human being but unfortunately died before the announcement was made. After watching this movie I realize that if artificial intelligent robots existed today they would have to fight for their rights. Even they can be caring towards humans and the technology they can create could possibly save lives, artificial intelligent robots will never be accepted in society. Artificial intelligent robots will be seen as a machine that helps its owner in whatever it was ordered to do.

Response to group one questions.

Today technology has become very powerful in our society. It helps people interact with each other from a long distance. It can also give answers to whatever question a person looks up. I believe that we have become very dependent on technology and that a new social norm can be created by using the internet. In my opinion there is already pieces of a social norm on the internet that includes all the social media websites. If the social media websites combined into one giant server then every aspect needed to create a social norm would be met. People would express their feelings by tweeting and would show off on Instagram. People also would chat and share photos through the Facebook portion of the super website. Eventually communicating online would become so normal to people that talking to someone in person would seem outdated and odd. The dangerous part about an inclusive society online is the news coverage from the media. The media always makes a story look more interesting then it seems and sometimes even makes people look good or bad. Also the media can influence people by covering videos that go viral. In my experience I have witnessed some of my friends say jokes or dance a certain way due to a video that went viral on some social media website. Also during the presidential elections I have witnessed the media only cover one candidate and make them look good which influences people’s decision on who to vote for. The media only wants people to think what they want them to think. They can make a certain drug that helps a lot of medical patients get better quick seem very bad and dangerous. In order to combat the media’s false claims and biased reports people have to vocalize their opinion. The way to vocalize an opinion in a virtual social norm is to become an activist and get active with the community. An activist can utilize technology by overcoming the challenge of getting their opinion out to the world of what is actually true or not. Also since posting online can be anonymous, activists no longer have to face the challenge of being arrested just for vocalizing the truth about certain things our government uses the media to hide. Also social media can aid activists in overcoming the challenge of contacting other activists around the world that fight for the same thing they fight for. Technology has also allowed activists to influence and recruit other people across the world.  Finally activists can use technology to create blogs and post their opinions and let the world know what type of social norm they can create with the help of a large amount of people.

I thought the movie Blade Runner displayed excellent morality between the Blade Runners and Replicas. Replicas are advanced humans that are stronger, faster, have no emotions and smarter than the regular human. The downside to Replicas is their lifespan of four years which was genetically modified into them because the humans are scared of Replicas developing emotions and thoughts which could allow the Replicas to overthrow the human race. Overtime Replicas eventually develop emotions and thoughts which ultimately pushes the Replicas to violent means against their creator. To combat the Replicas, special policeman called Blade Runners were trained in killing Replicas. In the movie a Blade Runner named Deckar is forced out of retirement to hunt down four deadly Replicas who killed twenty four people in the attempt to travel to earth. Replicas are banned on earth but on the planet Nexus 6 they are free. The law states that all Replicas on earth must be retired (killed) but the Blade Runner does not believe in that law. He says that if a Replica has not done something wrong then it is not his problem. In my opinion Deckar shows morality because he realizes that banning someone from a place just because they are different is wrong. Also in my opinion I think Deckar knows that every species can be violent and evil not just Replicas. But due to the Replica’s actions he ends up killing all four of them. The Blade Runner protects a mysterious Replica named Rachael who he fell in love with. Rachael was a project that the Replica creator created. Rachael was given memories and emotions at birth. Even though she is illegal on earth Deckar does not see here as a threat. In the end, Deckar only killed Replicas if they did something wrong. Rachael didn’t do anything wrong so Deckar ignored the law. However, the other four Replicas commited murder which caused Deckar to carry out the law.

Artificial Intelligence is used by Social Media?

Apparently the reason why we get notifications whenever a person messages us on Face Book or there is mostly topics interesting to us on the news feed is because they are using artificial intelligence. Face Book's system is an A.I that can recognize patterns based on how we interact with things and it delivers content that we find interesting in response. I think using artificial intelligence as a system increases a persons relationship with the social media platform because it caters to whatever the user likes instead of showing an advertisement that says ten interesting facts about ants. Also I think that Face Book is not the only social media platform using an A.I. Instagram's search feature shows a lot of pictures of people you do not follow. These pictures shown are based on whatever pictures you liked or what pictures the people you follow liked. In my opinion Instagram must us an A.I to do this because it is very similar to Face Book's A.I that shows only topics on the news feed that it thinks it would be interesting to you. Another platform that uses an A.I to cater to the user's interests is Twitter. Twitter introduced a feature called moments, it shows you news that you may find interesting just like Face Book's news feed which is why I suspect twitter is using an A.I as well. I believe that the more people use social media the more dependent they are on artificial intelligence which makes social media users post human. When people use social media they post pictures, tweets, and Face Book post which is stored information about themselves on the internet where everyone can see. Also people who want to stay connected with each other use social media websites to talk to each other. According to Katherine Hayeles as long as we are " “logged in” and using it, we are all using the same brain" (Jneiro, World press). Being logged in means that we all are sharing information  in some form with each other. Also In my opinion the use of the A.I. with Face Book no longer makes it a social network of people. Face Book is a network between humans and A.I because in order to find out if your friend posted something or if your friend messaged you the system's A.I has to notify you. Since the most an A.I can do today is recognize human patterns and deliver content a social media user finds interesting I think we are far away from Vinge's inflection point. Vernor Vinge is a mathematician and fiction writer who has an idea called inflection point. Inflection point is when artificial intelligence outsmarts humans. In my opinion the only way this can possibly happen is that if intelligent robots were able to learn engineering in an instant instead of going to school for a couple of years.

Apple vs FBI

I get that the FBI just wants to prove that the shooter is guilty and wants to give the victim’s families closure but what they are asking Apple to do is very risky. If I was Tim Cook I would respond to the government's outrageous court order by saying "for the sake of privacy I will have to say no to creating a back door on my Apple products". "I think it is not right to allow the FBI access to everyone's IPhone information because there is always something on everyone's IPhone they want to keep private"(me as Cook). The reason why I would respond like that to the government is because I would definitely not like it if they knew everything about everyone just from the information on their IPhone. In my opinion it just gives the government too much power. Unfortunately, the government will probably get what they want which will impact an IPhone user's human rights because their "security of person" (UN Universal of Rights, article 3) will be compromised. But at least everyone's right to live safe will increase because criminals will not be able to use encrypted IPhones anymore. But if Apple gets their way then IPhone user's right to privacy is saved because the "back door" will not be made but our right to live safely is compromised due to criminals still having an encrypted IPhone to use. Finally in my opinion I think that what ever side wins a right will be compromised.

I see A.I.’s as the more advanced solider, doctor, engineer, piolet, and astronaut. But to be honest I think A.I’s could take over every job due to how smart they will be. I would like hospitals to use A.I.’s as surgeons because in my opinion a robot would have more steady hands then a human. But once they replace human soldiers it would be good and bad at the same time. It would be good because men would not have to die at an early age. Unfortunately, A.Is replacing human soldiers would be violating Martens Clause which was added in 1977 to “ban weapons that violate the principles of humanity and the dictates of public conscience” (417, Berkeley Professor). Soldier robots would be equipped with weapons of mass destruction which is what the Clause is supposed to protect us from and would give the A.Is the possibility to overthrow humans. Also a robot may not be able to differentiate between regular human activity and hostile activity. The only way robots could be soldiers without violating Martens Clause would be to equip them with normal weapons and have meaningful human control. Meaningful human control is having a person watch the actions of an A.I. behind a screen and by using command buttons the person watching can either stop or give the A.I. authority to kill a human. An article on the guardian talks about how the UN is debating about their autonomous weapons. They are deciding if they should ban autonomous weapons or not because of how dangerous they can be. If the world is not comfortable with just robots controlling weapons for example a turret then how could we possibly be ready for A.Is replacing soldiers.

2001: A Space Odyssey

After watching 2001 A Space Odyssey I had to think about the movie for a long time to understand what it was about. At first I thought it was the strangest movie I have ever watched and it did not portray any point at all. But after thinking about the movie I realized it was about technology advancement. The apes would fight another tribe of apes for resources. Then a magical rock appeared and made one of the apes smart enough to use a bone for a weapon after the ape touched the rock. Then the next scene in the movie shows the new technology of the bone club being used for the first time when the ape tribe kills the other tribe’s leader. Then it fast forwards to humans finding the magical rock on the moon and when the humans touch the rock, the technological advancement of artificial intelligence happens. Artificial intelligence by the name of Hau 9000 is shown piloting a space ship in the next scene. After Hau 9000 blames his diagnostic error on the humans and reads their lips saying they will shut him off. Hau 9000 tries to kill them which relates to the ape tribe with a greater technological advancement attacking the other tribe to prove who is superior. Then the movie fast forwards to an astronaut in another dimension where he ages extremely fast. When the astronaut is on his deathbed and about to die the magical rock appears and turns him into a baby. Which shows the evolution of immortality. Each scene in the movie is showing the advancement of technology whenever something touches the magical rock. In my opinion the movie was silly but it does have a good point that in the end our technology advancements will lead to immortality. I know that there was no technological advancement made in the last scene when the magical rock turns the old astronaut into a baby but it is possible that at the end the old man telepathically controlled the magical rock.

“We need to understand that five hundred years of humanism may be coming to an end as Humanism transforms itself into something that we must helplessly call post-humanism”(1, Hayles).

Hayle defines humanism as a form of post-humanism because of the advancement in technology. I define humanism as living free and being human. As a human we all look, think, and talk different. That is what makes us unique in my opinion. Hayle defines Post-Humanism is an “entity that can flow between carbon-based organic components and silicon-based electronic components to make protein and silicon operate as a Single system” (9, Hayles). I define Post-humanism as artificial intelligence. Post-humanism takes away the natural self and freedom of an induvial. Also as a Post-human everyone would look and think the same which is the complete opposite of humanism.  Unfortunately there will be a point where intelligent machines will take over the world and humans become obsolete. In my opinion a business owner would not hire an employee who needs to take breaks, sleep, and days off when they can hire an intelligent machine that can work non-stop. Even though The Macy Conferences on Cybernetics viewed human beings as "information-processing entities who are essentially similar to intelligent machines"(14, Hayles). Humans will never be able to process the amount of information an artificial intelligent can. This is why artificial intelligence is our next step in evolution. I hope that the intelligent machines will be able to live peacefully among us and help us cure diseases.

Human vs Civil Rights

As a human being we have our universal human rights that exist all over the planet. These rights cannot be taken away from us because they are our basic rights as human beings. Another set of rights we have to live under are called civil rights which are given to us by our government. In my opinion human and civil rights are different. The reason why Human and Civil rights should be considered different is because civil rights change depending on which country a person lives in. But human rights stay the same no matter what country a person lives in. Also civil rights can change because the people and their government are able to remove a civil right if they think it is unfair. Also civil rights can be added if the people or the government of a country think it is necessary to have a certain civil right. In my opinion civil rights are more of a privilege than a right because they allow people to have certain perks in their country that other people do not have in their country. For example, in the United States the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. But in France the accused is guilty until proven innocent. Even though both systems are reasonable I would rather be presumed innocent then guilty.

Hi my name is Alexander Flynn and I like to run on trails. I used to be on my High School's Cross Country team. I go running and hiking with my friends on the weekends. I also love to sleep in but I never get to sleep in because all my classes are early in the morning. I also did wrestling in High School and it was an experience I will never forget. My favorite color is blue and my favorite food is pizza!