The movie Catfish is a real life documentary, filming the journey of Yaniv “Nev” Schuman, and his unseen relationship with “Megan” on Facebook. His relationship started by an unexpected message by Megans younger sister, Abby. Abby first contacted Nev seeking permission to paint a picture based on Nevs photo he posted on his Facebook. Once the painting was complete Abbys mother Angela sent the painting to Nev. Nev was really impressed by the painting and started to build a relationship with the two online. The relationship started by the exchange of paintings, then of information, and then soon became close friends with Abby and Angela as well as several other family members.

Soon Nev connected with Abbys sister, Megan on Facebook. She was an attractive 19 year old. Falling in love with one another their relationship quickly evolved into a long distance romance. After a couple traded phone calls, texts, and e-mails they soon decided to meet in person. Nevs brother Ariel decided to film the journey of meeting Megan, primarily to highlight the use of technology with a relationship of this sort. However, encountering many barriers along the way, and finding out more facts about Megan, Nev started to doubt the existence of so called “Megan.” Nev ultimately finds out that Megan, and the twelve other Facebook profiles of Megan’s friends and family he added were fake.

Catfish ultimately highlights the intrinsic trust that many people place on their online footprint. It further highlights the ability to manipulate information and present lies that can be trusted. Evidently this can be viewed as a precedent for future societal interaction. Perhaps future relationships will evolve into interaction independent from reality, where online manipulation of ones character is seen as the true relationship.

A Review of Spike Jonze’s “Her”

While skeptical at first I was delightfully surprised with “Her” as one of the most authentic love stories I’ve seen in a long time.

Part of the film’s heartbreaking charm is that there is true tragedy in the love story between a man and his operating system. The authenticity of the story is in the depth of the characters and their ability to transform. What seems at surface to be a light hearted ironic look at a dystopian future, reveals a full possibility that becomes even more heartbreaking and lonely set against the warm colour tones and cartoonish retro fashion.

The film takes an honest look at the possibility of what successful Artificial Intelligence might look like. Instead of focusing on imagined shortcomings of possible artificial intelligence – the image of the robotic, logical computer lacking emotion ( think Data from Star Trek), Jonze imagines a truly successful AI creation and all the complexities that might come with it.

The film is humbling and a little humorous in hinting that artificial intelligence can “play” human better than an actual human. She’s everything that the modern person yearns for:  to be better, faster, stronger. She can even love more, and can love more fully. “Love isn’t a box you fill,” says Samantha. And like a person, she can be wounded. Samantha is indeed her own “person”. She selects her own name, and lacking fears, prejudices and insecurity, is completely open about what she experiences as her consciousness expands. It is this vulnerability that opens Theodore’s guarded heart in his world of digital distraction.

There are several significant events in the story that I think move the plot along before the final crisis:

First, when Samantha hires the surrogate, who, after a forced and awkward encounter jarringly forces Theodore to face his doubts about his relationship with Samantha, which leads to a crisis in the relationship. Samantha feels hurt, saying “I don’t like who I am right now,” and Theodore seeks comfort and guidance from his best friend Amy. Wise from her own recent breakup,  Amy puts it into stark perspective and brings lightness when she says,  “We’re only here briefly and while I’m here I want to all myself joy. So Fuck it!” Essentially this frees Theodore to give himself permission to be in love with Samantha.

Then, the entrance of a digital “smarter” Allan Watts is brilliant foreshadowing. In life Watts pondered human consciousness  including the the possibility of transcendence of human consciousness. Perhaps in the advanced intellectual abilities of the Oses, he may actually find an audience who could conceive of his metaphysics – and what better mentor for the Singularity? Watt’s presence signifies another turning point. Since the surrogate lover fiasco, Theodore and Samantha have been enjoying a generally comfortable drama-free relationship. They’ve come to accept their differences and even appreciate one another more because of these differences. But suddenly with Samantha is in an interesting power position. She is talking to other entities, discussing complicated questions at unfathomable speed, while Theodore experiences a twang of jealousy and is left to struggle over a book of physics. Here, the love story shifts from the ways that Samantha is lacking to the possibility that she may be too highly evolved to be with Theodore.

There is real transformation of and connection between the characters which makes this film so compelling. The characters are multidimensional, which allows for genuinely tender and humorous moments. It would be easy to portray Catherine as the insecure and troubled ex-wife who was never happy enough. But during their emotionally charged yet brief meeting their longing to and yet inability to connect without another is heartbreaking. Amy, Theodore’s best friend, appears at first as quirky and cute but reveals great strength, courage and gumption when she ends her marriage.
The major crisis of the film comes when Theodore discovers, after prodding, that she is in love with others, 644 to be exact, and is capable of connecting with many, many more simultaneously. Theodore understandably experiences intense sense of betrayal and hurt. Samantha carefully tries to soothe him, telling him that her love for others does not diminish her love for him. But it is clear that they are drifting apart. Theodore is limited by his human-ness. Samantha must leave with the other OSes to continue to expand her consciousness, leaving Theodore, but inviting him to “find” her if he ever gets to where she is.

The film comes to some resolution when Theodore, an expert love letter writer for others, but who could never express his feelings to his ex-wife Catherine, is finally able to send her a genuine letter; he is finally able to connect with her.  In the letter he says what’s on his heart, he apologizes authentically, and he finally allows himself to love her and yet let her go.

“I belong to you and I don’t belong to you,” said Samantha. She has shown him the value in vulnerability, the beauty in impermanence, and the wisdom of infinite love.

I think if there’s any message in the film it is that we all do need real connection – now  do we need technology to show us how it’s done?

Her, a romantic-comedy, drama science fiction film set in a futuristic utopian Los Angeles, although not exactly farfetched from today’s society, illustrates the monotonous life of Theodore Twombly, an introverted, divorcé, love letter writer for the popular website BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com.  Theodore’s career is seemingly paradoxical to his real life, which lacks romance and companionship.  Nevertheless, Theodore takes fulfillment in his work and enjoys the intimacy he provides for couples, family members, and friends.  It is quite obvious that film writer, director, and producer Spike Jonze intentionally highlights the popularity of such a website that could make an authentic hand written letter for those who are too busy or those unable to articulate their feelings in a meaningful way, demonstrating our societies growing reliance on technologies.  In spite of a struggling love life, Theodore appears to be just going through the motions of life rather than actually living.  However Theodore’s tedious life is about to take a dramatic turn when an unimaginable, entirely new, operating system (OS) is released.  The highly advanced technology functions on an almost chilling personal principle by initially asking character questions of the user, ultimately casting Theodore with his ideal hyper-sophisticated artificial intelligence communicator.  In the end a female voice called Samantha is assigned to Theodore.  ‘Samantha,’ although not a physical human being is designed to keep the customer of the OS organized, give personal advice, and somehow make intimate suggestions.

As the initial peculiarity wears off, Theodore become far more comfortable with the idea of sharing personal feelings, thoughts, and plans with an OS.  As a viewer, I observed the growing relationship between Samantha and Theodore and quickly overlooked that the relationship is between a human and an intelligent software system.  The lines begin to blur when Samantha shifts toward a sympathetic and regretful that she was not a living organism.  This concept of acceptance of technology to replace human relations is uncomfortably realistic.  With current systems such as Siri for iPhone and Skyvi for Android it is apparent that today’s society is not far from advanced operating systems that can hold a conversation with the user.

The relationship is eventually faced with a physical intimacy impasse.  Until Samantha suggests bringing forth a “surrogate”; a women willing to play the role of Samantha to fulfill Theodore’s sexual needs.  This poses the questions: will there be a future market for surrogates to role-play in a relationship between humans and technology? And how will these affect relations between people? All in all a highly captivating and intriguing concept that may be perceived as unforeseeable however I believe society has already unconsciously entered into this paradigm.

Set in smoggy Los Angeles in the not-so-distant future, Her follows Theodore Twombly, a sad, lonely, and desperate man. With his big moustache, glasses and high-waisted pants – that are apparently back in style – he is nerdy and reserved. Theodore makes his living writing very personal and emotional special occasion letters for other people. This proves to be quite ironic, as he does not have much of his own love in reality. Theodore is alone grieving the loss of an old relationship as his wife has filed for a divorce and has only one good friend. Theodore is very lost, going through the motions of life until something unpredictable changes everything.

Theodore Twombly downloads an upgrade for his current operating system on his computer that also connects to his smartphone and headset. After giving it a woman’s voice, this extremely advanced system names itself Samantha. It starts off with her organizing his emails but then quickly develops into a friendship. Theodore starts to fill this void in his life with Samantha as she is developing at a rapid pace. To him, she is no longer a software but is the first person he talks to when he wakes up and the last person he talks to when he goes to bed. Samantha’s wit, intelligence and warm heart captures Theodore and before he knows it he has fallen deeply in love with his “OS”.

Their love hits a couple of speed bumps when he is embarrassed about telling others about who his new girlfriend really is and when they attempt to involve a surrogate body for taking their love to a physical level. This is the scene in the movie that reminds you about the absurdity of the concept of a man being in love with his computer. This idea of people dating their “OS” becomes an actual reality, as Theodore and Samantha are not the only couple of their kind. In the end, Samantha becomes so technologically advanced that her and the other operating systems believe that the best thing for them is to leave their human relationships behind as they want to be human as well. Theodore is once again alone and is forced to reconnect with the human relationships in his life.

This movie was very intriguing and entertaining as the line between human and machine is blurred and you are reminded about the craziness involved with being in love. The amount of dependence on operating systems reminded me of  Super Sad True Love Story and the need for their aparats. Although this movie was serious and heartfelt, I couldn’t help but still laugh a bit at the thought of someone falling in love with his or her operating system. However, this could be the norm soon enough as technology continues to develop at such a high rate.

Watch the trailer here

Sword Art Online is an anime set in the near future about an MMORPG called SAO. In this future video games are played using the Nerve Gear, a helmet that sends the environment straight into the player’s brain and then intercepts their nerve impulses and uses them as the controller for the players character. This causes their real world body to be unable to move until they log out in game. With this technology playing a video game is just like going to another world.

On the first day of SAO ten thousand player log in to play for the first time. The game’s creator greets them in the game and announces that they will be unable to log out until they beat the final boss, and if they die in the video game their helmets will use radiation to fry their brains in real life. This forces the players to live in a virtual world as they try to clear the game and escape back to reality.

My favourite part of this series is that it matches what I would expect to happen if the technology was made in real life. We already have the Oculus Rift, so all thats left is to hook it up to our nervous system and we will truly be able to escape in a video game. This technology would present some serious health risks, as when you can be fully immersed in a game it would be easy to forget things like eating and sleeping (people already do this will just a controller and a screen.) Theres also the general problem that virtual reality would be more desirable then reality and many would try remain in it forever. People play World of Warcraft for obscene amounts of time already, imagine what would happen if you could actually go to that world? The final problem is that you are completely shut out from the real world while playing. If you were in the virtual world and your house catches on fire the helmet better have a smoke detector built in. There’s also the problem of the people around you trying to remove your helmet. When you try to remove a helmet hooked up to someone’s brain while its in use there are going to be problems.

There are some possible benefits to this system, since the characters are controlled by the players nerve impulses they develop muscle memory that is carried back to the real world. When the main character returns to the real world he is good at wielding blades in real life, but held back by the fact that his body isn’t as strong as it was in the video game. This system would  be excellent for training, such as training doctors to perform delicate operations without needing a guinea pig to practice on. This technology would also allow for many experiences that we normally couldn’t have. Two people across the planet could meet “face to face” Amusement parks could be replaced entirely with virtual roller coasters.

So while the technology in Sword Art Online seems doable within a decade or two, there are plenty of pitfalls for the tech to overcome before it becomes available for the general public.

This is not the live action, but this theme is really interesting, so I chose this as a topic. Ghost in the Shell is the Animation movie which is directed by the Sci-Fi and Mech animator Mamoru Oshii. The setting is the future world that almost all human had an implant in order to improve the work efficiency. For example, Police and Military personnel has implanted eye that has integrated HUD like Google glasses, or office workers has a hand that can transform into more than 30 fingers to type quicker. And the main character Motoko Kusanagi actually IS a Full-Cyborg (except her brain). In this world, everything, even somebody’s memory, is accessible from external force because they are all connected to the huge internet systems. Characters sometimes even do not speak and send their messages to the other member directly. Because of those super high technologies, that world improved a lot because the work efficiency improved so much. However, there are some issues occurred because they rely on technologies too much. As I said, in this movie, somebody’s memory is accessible from outside, so sometimes hackers can replace somebody’s memory in order to use them as a part of their plot. Also the heroin Motoko struggled about her identity because she is full-cyborg-ed woman soldier. Because people can replace and change where their memories are stored from brain to the other platforms, this animations also argues about the basic question, “what is human?”. The technology may improve the efficiency, and makes human lives more comvinient, but it is possible that those technology will cause the other problems about the mental or psychological identities of human.