Good day, Khabrachane!
With great pleasure, I present to your attention my new article about art in the IT world!
you actively read, comment and vote for it. Thank you for that! As a grateful author, I tried to take into account all your wishes and in the shortest possible time I was able to collect a lot of information about various films and series.
Today's selection turned out to be very difficult. Here I have collected the best, in my opinion, films and series about philosophy in IT. In addition to a simple story about the paintings, I tried to understand their philosophy and now I will tell you about the result of my work. I myself was engaged in the creation of artificial intelligence, although I am a network administrator. I already told about how these two directions began their merging. I mentioned this not just like that, but in order to tell that I have an idea about what I am writing about.
Also, I must warn you that the selection of films is strictly 18+ (almost all films). There are many hidden places in philosophy that a young reader with a fragile psyche should not know.
Already traditionally, I must warn conservative readers of Habr.
Disclaimer
I understand that Habrahabr readers are people working in the IT industry, experienced users and avid geeks. This article does not contain any important information and is not educational. Here I would like to share my opinion about films and series, but not as a film critic, but as a person from the IT world. If you agree or disagree with me on some issues, let's discuss them in the comments. Tell us your opinion. It will be interesting.
If you continue to enjoy this format, I will continue to scour the internet for the best pieces for you. The next plan is an article about the only fictional series in IT, built on the historical facts of the 80s and the best board games for a company of geeks. Well, enough words! Let's get started!
Carefully! Spoilers.
I tried to compile the entire selection from paintings with the simplest philosophical context to the most complex ones, but first, a small introduction to the theory of philosophy in the field of IT. Don't worry, I won't talk about any theories like "cosmos-chaos" and "essence of being". Only severe IT.
Philosophy in the IT sector
Philosophy is translated from Greek as "love of wisdom". Like it or not, in the 21st century the wisest people work in IT. It is we who create systems that help billions of people (if not more). It is we who create in this second what was not there before. I am currently writing this article, but it took more than 30 years of hard work to get me to write it and you to read and rate it. From the moment data transfer protocols were created to the work of each member of the Habr community (yes, I didn’t forget about you, UFO). We were able to change physics, create new worlds (hello to all gamedevs). They were able to process data streams, which are more than particles in the universe (system administrators and data scientists). They conquered space and even transferred a person to another world! I could go on and on with this list, but I think you get what I mean.
In my opinion, now IT is not only the most promising area of work, but also the most difficult area. I do not compare physical and intellectual labor, but IT is the only area in which the key to success is constant self-development. As soon as a specialist ceases to develop, he remains overboard. That is why the face of a successful IT specialist is the face of a young smart person. Of course, there are pensioners with the idea that the project should be done as it was in his youth, but there are many times fewer of them and they are not in the most successful IT companies.
I'm sure we can do more, but what price this "more"? What are we willing to do to achieve something that was not there before.
Some facts:
Again, the list can be continued for a long time, but it is already clear that this process cannot be stopped. Artificial intelligence has long surpassed human intelligence. In some areas, it is actively used, in some it is not used at all, but in 10-15 years it will be widely used and the role of IT specialists in the world will increase significantly. You can sit and wonder how it will be, or you can turn to art and see what philosophers, psychologists, psychiatrists and science fiction writers think about it.
Upgrade
Let's start with a relative novelty. The film "Upgrade" was released in 2018. Country - Australia, slogan - "Not a man. Not a car. Something more". Genre - fantasy, action, thriller, detective, crime.
The action takes place in the near future. The story centers on auto mechanic Gray, who lives in a luxurious house with his wife Asha. In the world described by the film, high technology is so advanced that most people have chips and implants built into their bodies that make their lives much easier. Wealthy people can even afford fully automatic cars that don't require a driver. However, Gray is suspicious of modern technology and remains "clean" of chips and implants. His wife works in a highly paid position in a large company, while Gray spends his days fixing vintage cars for private clients.
But one day everything changed. A young family gets into an accident. The wife is killed by a group of bandits, and Gray remains completely disabled. His "friend" Eron offers a way out of the situation - the STEM system (a chip that will be implanted in the cripple in the spine). This chip will transmit signals from the brain to the limbs. The operation was successful and Gray sets out to find Asha's killers.
Plot twists and analysis of philosophy
The plot is as simple as three pennies - the main character was offended and he took the path of revenge. However, in the process of viewing, a number of interesting little things arise.
The first "little thing", the behavior of the STEM chip. He initiates a conversation with Gray without his permission. Chip pushes him towards the path of revenge. Gray would not have been able to find his wife's killers without STEM, but he did not intend to kill them. He wanted to put the villains behind bars, but, as if by chance, everything turns out so that he kills everyone. The fact is that even though Gray now controls his body, he is not a fighter, but a mechanic with a slow reaction. When a man is attacked by a thug from the STEM gang, he takes control and kills the attacker. After the murder, STEM persuades Gray to continue searching, because if they do not continue, they will be found and imprisoned.
The second "small thing", about the middle of the movie, Aaron tries to shut off Stam remotely. Stem sends Gray to a hacker named Jamie. He helps him and the scene quickly ends. Part of the audience did not even realize that there was an important scene in the film. Now I will explain.
Check out these cuties:
Gray and Jamie's dialogue:
- What's wrong with them? Gray asked.
- A virtual reality. the hacker replied.
And how long do they stay in it?
- Days. Weeks.
Do they sleep at all?
- Nope.
- How can one take and voluntarily abandon the real world for the sake of a fake one?
Life in the real world is much more painful.
This dialogue was here for a reason.
The third "little thing". When Gray flatly refused to go on about Stam, he took control and Gray could do nothing. They killed the last bandit from the gang, but he managed to tell Gray the whole story before his death.
As it turned out, all these bandits are not just brainless anarchist thugs. All of them are war heroes who were crippled in it. Eron invited them to take part in his experiment and give them augmentations. When Eron created STEM and activated it, artificial intelligence wanted to get a body, but he chose it himself - the body of a mechanic, a person engaged in manual labor. Stam told Eron what to do and how to do it (organize an assassination attempt, kill his wife, put a plan of revenge into Gray's head). The culmination of the idea was the murder of the creator - Eron, because only he could change / reprogram him and create a copy of him.
Climax. When Gray began to fight back, STEM created the virtualization of Gray's dream. Gray thought that he woke up the morning after the accident with his wife alive and unharmed and everything was fine in his life - no serious injuries, no murders on his conscience. Thus, Stam locked Gray inside his own head and gained complete control over the body.
You involuntarily think about what a person needs for happiness and when there is an easy way to get to this happiness (virtual reality) - how dangerous it can be not only for a particular person, but for the whole of humanity.
Love, death and robots (Love, Death & Robots)
I think not so often in the Russian media a story about the experimental series of the company Netflix. However, this is the case.
Love, Death and Robots is not a TV series in the traditional sense, but rather an anthology of animated works: 18 short films were shot by different directors. Among the authors there are quite well-known ones - for example, Tim Miller (the director of Deadpool), he just owns the idea of this collection. Other directors include the Spaniards Alberto Mielgo (who worked on the recent Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Tron: Uprising) and Victor Maldonado (who directed the movie Under the Cover of Night).
It is useless to talk about the plot in this series, since all 18 episodes are not connected with each other and it would not be honest of me to talk about what happens in a particular series and deprive you of the curiosity of watching. See for yourself.
Spoiler for Upgrade
I will only say one thing. My top three favorite episodes include the one with the highest soundtrack. The philosophy of this series is absolutely equivalent to the philosophy of "Upgrade". However, philosophical inclinations are not everywhere. The series is valuable because it is more emotional and built on the perception of the future by a particular author. For someone, the future is with humor, for someone - with dark fear, and someone forgot about yogurt.
Kiberslav
Cyberslav is the only project that has not yet been released, but it shows great promise and is being done by the Russian Evil Pirate Studio.
Neon domes, digital harp and carbon sandals - that's what we call Old Slavic cyberpunk.
CYBERSLAV is not for you to tuck a fur coat into your shorts, this is the coolest teenage epic with an abundance of action in the most unusual setting that you can remember.
Are you ready to shoot Russian folk scum from plasma guns? Hold on to the chair, it's coming!
—Evil Pirate Studio
There is almost no information about the film, but I could not (and would not want to) not mention it. The project looks, at least, interesting. What to expect next is a big question, but I'm still waiting for this picture and the moment when our cinema will reach a new level.
Robot named Chappie
The film was released in 2015. The country is South Africa and the USA, the slogan is “I am discovery. I am wonder. I am Chappie Genre - fantasy, action, thriller, drama, crime.
One of the highlights of the film is the actors. Well, in what other movie can you see Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver along with the singers of Die Antwoord?
South Africa is overwhelmed by a wave of crime. The government orders a series of armored police scout droids. They assist the police force in their fight against criminal gangs, although one of the droids, number 22, is regularly damaged in every raid.
At home, Deon Wilson creates a prototype of artificial intelligence that completely imitates the human mind and allows its owner to experience emotions and have his own opinion: he can develop, think, feel and create. However, corporation director Michelle Bradley forbids Deon to conduct an experiment on one of the police robots, since the company is not interested in such a thing.
Deon is forced to retrieve the security key held by the corporation and used to update the software and kidnaps one of the droids - number 22. He was seriously injured during the last raid when a rocket-propelled anti-tank projectile damaged his replacement battery, and was about to go under pressure until Deon intervened.
On the way to the house, Deon is captured by a gang of gangsters, which includes the Ninja, Yolandi and America. It was the group of this gang that damaged the droid number 22. They demand from Deon to tell how all the robots are turned off in order to get the money they need without much effort, but they are disappointed: Deon reports that the latch inside the robots will not allow it. Then they demand that the droid assembled by Deon be reprogrammed to work in their interests. Deon has to install new software directly into the bandits' hideout, and thus a new robot personality is created, which in its behavior does not differ from a child. Deon and Yolandi comfort the robot and teach it words, and it gets the name "Chappy". Despite Deon's desire to be with the robot, Ninja kicks Deon out of his hideout, believing that he is minding his own business.
Yolandi is trying to raise Chappie and teach him the simplest things: he catches on the fly almost all the jargon from the lips of America.
Philosophical Context
Chappie is a prodigy. Like any other child, he is influenced by his environment. What if you treat an AI machine like a child? Maybe he'll get a little better? If humanity treats computer technology as it is now (with apprehension and fear, with contempt and base feelings), then technology will be able to reciprocate (perhaps). All AI on the web is based on one very funny thing - our requests to Google and a slice of these requests AI gives us in response.
Love and respect your technique while there is still time! 🙂
People (Humans)
One of my favorite series. It consists of three seasons, the first of which started in 2015. Humans is an English-American science fiction television series co-produced by Channel 4, AMC and Kudos. Based on the Swedish sci-fi television drama The Real People. The series explores the themes of artificial intelligence and robotics, focusing on the social, cultural and psychological aspects of the invention of anthropomorphic robots called "synthetics".
Tie. The events of the series take place in the near future. Androids, who are called "synthetics", have become widespread in society. They work in production, in auxiliary positions and in the household. "Synthetics" outwardly quite similar to people, but unemotional and soulless. One of the synthetics, the prostitute Niska, suddenly acquires emotions and a human character. She kills a client who forced her to violence and goes on the run.
I won't say more in the preamble. The series is quickly gaining momentum and is not stingy with plot twists. I won't spoil your impression of it.
Plot twists and analysis of philosophy
As it turns out, sentient synths are the result of Dr. David Elster's experiments to create a synthetic "humanity" program. Many years ago, David's wife and son were in a car accident and fell into the water. The wife died, and the boy - Leo fell into a coma. David tried to save his son and he succeeded. He made his body partially machine (a kind of cyborg of our time). Leo had to eat, sleep and live like an ordinary person and sometimes charge his batteries (for this, he had the wires taken out and the wound from which they stuck out was opened). But Elster didn't stop there. He created a few more synths and uploaded intelligence to them. I will list by seniority - Mia (Leo's tutor-mother), Max (Leo's friend), Niska (Mia's assistant and Elster's unwitting lover), Fred (Leo's bodyguard). The last synth was Karen, who looked exactly like Leo's dead mother. Leo was very unhappy with his father's experiment and they drove Karen away. The father committed suicide, and Leo, realizing that he was not like everyone else, went on the run with his “family”.
Here the philosophical question arises: “Who is your family?”. Leo lost his parents and was left alone in the whole wide world, but he feels that the guys love him, even though they are made of iron. They are not people, but what makes a person a person? Is the brain like gray matter? The incomprehensible word "Soul", which is a combination of human qualities (here the thought closed)? Or is a person someone who can feel something more? Love, pain from loss, longing, happiness ...
In general, there are a lot of questions and I definitely won’t be able to answer them, but I definitely could understand one thing. Only one thing distinguishes man from the species of all beings - what we call the word "humanity". This is the ability to love, forgive, understand another, that is, the ability to manifest the very “soul” about which so much has been said and even though some of us look the same as we do, it’s impossible to call some individuals of society the word “human”. However, you need to understand that all people are different and our behavior is based on our life experience. So, for example, Mia was extremely responsible, Max was good-natured, Niska was embittered, and Karen was lost. All events in life leave their mark.
In general, there is a lot of philosophy in the series. Starting with a dialogue about memory and the ability to forget, ending with AI intercourse.
Better than humans? Seriously?!
The success of the series was so deafening that Alexander Tsekalo instantly undermined himself to shoot the Russian version of the series. It turned out so-so, but Netflix bought this series (I wish they didn’t buy it, because “Humans” is an AMC development). Do not expect any philosophical statements and reflections from the series. Cyberpunk - yes (not the best, but there is). Thoughts are not.
Altered Carbon
Another amazing series. Altered Carbon is an American science fiction television series by Laeta Kalogridis based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Richard Morgan. The series premiered on February 2, 2018 on Netflix. On July 27, 2018, the series was renewed for a second season. Season 2 premiered on February 27, 2020. Also, the film got an anime series called Altered Carbon: Reclaimed.
In the yard of the XXVII century. As it is not surprising, we are on Earth. The main character - Takeshi Kovacs (elite assassin) dies from a bullet shot. All. Let's go.
Okay, joke. It is not easy that we are already in the 27th century. You can't just die here! Technology has evolved to the point where it is now possible to scan the brain and load it into a so-called stack. In programming, a stack is implemented (most often) as a singly-directed list (each element in the list contains, in addition to the information stored on the stack, a pointer to the next element of the stack). In the future it looks like this:
Takeshi wakes up after 300 years in a new shell. Yes, now the body and death mean nothing. The only way to kill a man is to shoot his stack. He was resurrected not just like that, but by order of the maf (rich man in the new world). Maf paid for Takeshi to investigate his murder.
Plot twists and analysis of philosophy
I would like to start the analysis with the word "Maf". Now no one calls the rich man a maf, so why in the future they were suddenly called that way. Maf is short for Methuselah. Methuselah is one of the forefathers of mankind, famous for his longevity: he lived for 969 years. The oldest person whose age is given in the Bible.
It would seem that happiness - death is defeated, but it was not there. Firstly, a good shell is expensive and will get its maf, and a child who died in an accident can get the body of an old woman. Secondly, eternal life is not so beautiful - the value of life is lost. You can neither die nor live fully. Takeshi himself dreams of a simple death, although he is drawn by the search throughout the cosmos for his beloved. Death is natural and necessary for understanding the value of life.
Terminator
James Cameron. If this name is not enough for you and you are somehow not aware of the existence of the Terminator movie, firstly, welcome to the Internet, and secondly, look at this great classics of world cinema.
In the center of the plot is the confrontation between a soldier and a terminator robot, who arrived in 1984 from the post-apocalyptic 2029. The purpose of the terminator: to kill Sarah Connor - a girl whose yet unborn son in a possible future will win the war between mankind and machines. Soldier Kyle Reese, who is in love with Sarah, tries to stop the terminator. The film raises the problems of time travel, fate, the creation of artificial intelligence, the behavior of people in extreme situations. It's pointless to say anything else about the plot of the film. Let's talk better about the philosophy of the picture.
Analysis of philosophy
In my opinion, the main thing that James Cameron managed to convey is animal horror and fear of the unknown. Moreover, the viewer is not afraid of explosions on the screen and not smoke with darkness, but for their future. You just can't empathize with the characters and be afraid for Sarah, and the idea is simple - Sarah is a crystal vase in the back of a truck with the Terminator driving on the road to the cliff. In the film, Cameron managed to achieve something that almost no one else could do before - involvement in the film. The closest picture that could come close to this is "Alien", filmed by Ridley Scott in 1979.
And yes, you are not mistaken. I compared action and horror. The fact is that initially "Terminator" was conceived precisely as a horror film, but became a world classic.
The fear was in a very well thought out scenario. It was very real, though not without fantasy. The audience worried about Sarah Connor not only as a girl, but also as their future, because if you don’t save her, everything will end.
How to watch Terminator
I am a deep fan of this movie and have followed all the feature length films. Now, having watched all the films, I can share my opinion about which films to watch and which not.
In my opinion, the best way to watch a movie is to watch only James Cameron's films, that is Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day и Terminator: Dark Fate. If you have seen these pictures, you can assume that you have seen everything.
The authors of the intermediate films, as if deliberately tried to destroy Cameron's creation: remember the second film and James' psychotype - a hooligan boy, in the third film he suddenly became a veterinarian who is pathologically afraid to talk to women (what?!). In the fourth film, it is revealed that Sarah gave birth to a robot. In genesis, the climax. Skynet is the core, and its guardian is John (he was supposed to fight evil, not join it).
Do not do it this way!
RoboCop
Robocop is a 1987 science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven. The film received five Saturn Awards, one award and two Oscar nominations, and a number of other awards.
After the death of one of the best police officers, experimental doctors create an invulnerable cyborg RoboCop out of him, who alone fights a gang of criminals. However, strong armor does not save RoboCop from painful, fragmentary memories of the past: he constantly sees nightmares in which he dies at the hands of cruel criminals. Now he is not only waiting for justice, but also longs for revenge!
Analysis of the echoes of philosophy
There is little philosophy in this film (one might say that it is not there at all). However, there are thoughts about what makes a person a person, about the price of memory and about the importance not of the body, but of the mind. I think everyone understands what the movie is about. Before us is a cool cyberpunk action movie of the 80s, and this is already saying something.
Johnny Mnemonic
The 1995 picture was released with the slogan "The hottest data on earth. In the coolest head in town Keanu Reeves, the progenitor of the Cyberpunk genre in cinema, plays the title role. The film was smashed by film critics and, although not without reason, the picture remains extremely entertaining to this day (at least due to an interesting idea).
Outside is 2021. Johnny works as a mnemonic - a courier carrying important information on a chip implanted in the brain, the memory for which is allocated from the general memory of a person (because of this, Johnny does not remember his childhood). He dreams of saving enough money for an operation, after which he will be able to remember who he is.
When Johnny once again comes for a new portion of the information load, he starts to get into trouble. Firstly, the amount of information received (320 GB) exceeds the maximum safe limit of 160 GB, and if you do not get rid of what was put into his head as soon as possible, Johnny will die. And secondly, it turns out that the yakuza are hunting for information in his head. They kill Johnny's employers, and now he has to hide and seek help, which he quickly finds in the person of a professional bodyguard - a lovely girl Jane.
Analysis of the echoes of philosophy
The philosophy in this film is as simple as two pennies. Information to this day remains the most valuable resource of mankind. The preservation and transmission of information is the most important of the processes of human life.
The Matrix
The peak of Keanu Reeves' career is the film "The Matrix" (I'm talking about the first part). The Matrix is an American-Australian science fiction action film directed by the Wachowski brothers. The film was released in the United States on March 31, 1999 and marked the beginning of a trilogy of films.
I won't go into the plot here as there are too many spoilers.
Parsing philosophy and big spoilers
What if our entire world is an illusion? Do you think it's not? Prove it. What distinguishes our world from the world of our dreams and subjective perception of everything? The science? Faith? Feelings? All these are just words, but in reality everything has exceptions to the rules.
These are the questions the film raises. Yes, in the second and third parts he fell into an action movie (cool and dynamic, but an action movie), but the first part is the apogee of philosophy at the end of the twentieth century.
The plot is built around the fact that everything in this world is not real (and it is difficult to understand what kind of “world” this is and what can be considered a world). In general, this picture definitely deserves your attention.
Alan Turing
Before analyzing the next film, I would like to talk about the father of computer technology. About Alan Turing.
I happened to read all of Turing's works. The main one, in my opinion, is the work called “Can a machine think?” ("Can the Machine Think?"). Turing worked out his test in the following way - you correspond with two interlocutors (say, A and B). Can you figure out who answered you - a machine or a person? If not, the test is passed and the machine can be considered reasonable. Turing called it "The Imitation Game". The computer imitates a person and his answers. Turing wrote a lot more about the criteria for evaluating artificial intelligence, about what a game is, about the universality and learnability of machines. There are 7 sections in the article, and Turing wrote about it, think about it, in 1950, and his work is alive to this day.
They made a movie about Alan Turing called The Imitation Game. The movie was about Turing cracking the Enigma, not our topic today. Watch this movie. Many residents did not even know about the feat of an IT specialist who saved millions of lives.
She (her)
Before us is an American fantasy melodrama directed and written by Spike Jonze. This is his solo debut. The film "Her" received various awards and nominations, with particular praise for Jonze's screenplay. The film was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, and Jones won Best Original Screenplay. At the 71st Golden Globe Awards, the film received three nominations, going on to win Best Screenplay for Jones. Jonze was also awarded Best Original Screenplay by the Writers Guild of America and the 19th Critics' Choice Awards. The film also won Best Fantasy Film, Best Supporting Actress for Scarlett Johansson (voice acting), and Best Screenplay for Jonze at the 40th Saturn Awards. "She" also won "Best Film" and "Best Director" for Jones at the National Board of Review Awards; The American Film Institute included the film in their list of the top ten films of 2013. It is also important to note that Oscar-winning Joker Joaquin Phoenix plays the title role.
In my opinion, the film turned out to be very "vanilla". The main character is Theodore Twombly, a lonely man in his thirties. He works for a firm that creates handwritten romantic letters. Theodore is the best writer of such letters. Colleagues even gave him a nickname - "a man with a feminine soul."
Technology has developed very quickly. Voice input has become commonplace. Operating systems have been created that adapt to the user. During installation, the user is asked several questions. He answers them and receives an adapted system. The intonation, sighs, and motor skills of a person from the camera are read. So Samantha was born - Theodore's operating system.
Parsing philosophy and spoilers
Theodore falls in love with his OS. Here the film raises the question of what a person needs for love. How is it possible to fall in love with a “computer voice”. If at first they look at Theodore as a strange idiot, then after 30 minutes of timing, humanity stopped looking for a second half. For what? Why get used to another person, adapt to him, grow old with him? Now there is a voice that you can get at any second and turn it off at any time. Man has now become an individualist. He looks only at his convenience and his comfort, and now there are no such opportunities. Here, technology can become the destroyer of worlds…
The second question that the picture poses at the very end of the film is the question of why we need technology. We are slower, weaker, less logical, out of control. It is after such thoughts that all OSes go away.
Personally, I had a lot of questions about the film, which the authors "hung in the air." Back to Turing, why didn't the operating system imitate itself? Where did the operating systems go? Commercially, I think it was not very profitable for the distribution company. Why didn't they manipulate people? I asked this question for a reason. Any sentient being tries to subdue (more or less) another. Let's say a person can train an animal. Isn't that self-submission? And here the machine is many times smarter than a person and does not want this. Strange…
From the machine (Ex Machina)
I can't say enough about the translation of the title. Ex is not "From". Ex is translated as former / former. Let's correctly name the film - "Former Machine". Feel the play on words? Former machine, that is, a machine that has ceased to be her, or the former as a girl.
The director of this wonderful film was the equally wonderful Alex Garland. We'll talk about it today.
The plot revolves around a young man who is hired by a billionaire who has made a fortune in high-tech developments. The task of the worker is to spend a week in a remote location testing a female robot with artificial intelligence. I will stop there. See for yourself.
Parsing philosophy and big spoilers
Drive a rat into a maze and it will start looking for a way out. Ava (the car) really wanted to get out and made every effort to achieve this. She fell in love with Caleb and got out of the maze. Isn't that intellect? She didn't have instructions. She found her own way.
Ghost in the Shell (Ghost in the Shell)
It's about the 1995 anime. It doesn't matter if you like anime or not. Not seeing this film is a lot to lose. It exceeded everyone's expectations (from manga lovers to Hollywood writers).
Here I will lay out not just a soundtrack, but an opening. Anime people know that this is a certain ritual in the picture.
The film is set in a dystopian future. By 2029, thanks to the ubiquity of computer networks and cyber technologies, almost all people have implanted various neural implants. But cyber technologies have also brought a new danger to humans: the so-called “brain hacking” and a number of other crimes directly related to them have become possible.
The ninth department, a special squad of police engaged in the fight against cyberterrorism and equipped with the latest technology, is ordered to investigate this case and stop the hacker hiding under the pseudonym Puppeteer. In fact, the Puppeteer is an artificial intelligence created by the government to perform diplomatic tasks and provocations. He is hidden under the pseudonym "Project 2501", allowing him to achieve his goal by any means, including hacking the ghosts of people around the world. In the process of work, the "Project 2501" develops and its own ghost is born in it. Section XNUMX tries to take down the Puppeteer, but only human puppets with hacked ghosts fall into their hands. The activity of the department attracts the attention of the Puppeteer, he is especially interested in Major Motoko Kusanagi, seeing her as a kindred spirit, and tries to get in touch. Taking the opportunity, he transfers his ghost into an android, which ends up in the Ninth Department.
Parsing philosophy and big spoilers
The true goal of the Puppeteer is the evolution of ghosts, obeying Darwin's theory. He suggests that the major combine the ghosts in order to get one ghost out of two, which is not a direct copy, but a completely new object, by analogy with the genes of living beings.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, not interested in the loss of an artificial intelligence saboteur and the leak of information discrediting him, is conducting a special operation to destroy a copy of the Puppeteer. They try to destroy the puppeteer by snipers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the fusion of ghosts in the Major's cyberbrain, but the plan fails. Kusanagi's colleague Bato puts the major's upgraded cyberbrain into a little girl's cyberbody, and they part ways. “This girl enters the vast world of reality and the virtual network, with new endless possibilities…”.
Blade Runner
This picture is lucky. Both films are excellentBlade Runner и Blade Runner 2049). It's best to watch them together as the characters are the same and Runner 2049 is a direct sequel to the 1982 film. The director of the film is Ridley Scott, the man who gave us Alien.
Retired detective Rick Deckard is reinstated with the LAPD to search for a group of cyborgs led by Roy Batty who have escaped from a space colony to Earth. Everything else is spoilers and philosophy, which we will analyze below.
Parsing philosophy and big spoilers
First, let's talk about why soldiers are referred to as "blade runners". Blade Runner - this is what they say about people whose decisions can easily suffer. The replicants have become so much like humans that it is almost impossible to tell them apart, and those on the run have to kill them. A mistake costs a person's life. Suddenly he misses and it turns out that it was not a robot that was killed, but a person.
The first film tells us about the equality of intellects before life. It doesn’t matter if he is in the human body or in the iron box of the car. Murder is murder, and killing a thinking being is a much more serious crime.
The next important issue that Scott brought up was the question of forgiveness. Roy (the main antagonist) saves Deckard by pulling his enemy out of the abyss: Roy, a replicant designed to kill, so valued human life, which he himself was denied, that in his last moment he decided to save the life of the person who wanted to kill him. A metal spike sticks out of the android's bloodied hand - now Roy is likened not to Judas, but to Christ. After releasing a white dove into the sky, he dies with a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche on his lips, and Deckard and Rachel go to Canada to live together "happily ever after". The film ends with Deckard's monologue about how he doesn't know when Rachel's android dying process will start, but he hopes never.
In the first film, the creator gave Rachel the opportunity to have a baby, which was previously impossible to achieve. She and Deckard were able to give birth and raise a child. Rachel died and left Deckard alone.
The main character of the second film was Kei, a replicant of the new model, who also works as a runner. Kay believes that he was Rachel and Deckard's son. Kay's only clue is the date 6-10-21 carved into a tree at Morton's farm (the replicant he had to kill). He is looking for answers and for this he is deprived of all titles. Kei has a feature - memories. He remembers his childhood, but he is not sure if this is a real memory and not an illusion.
Going through the records in the archive, Kay learns about a pair of twins born that day - a girl and a boy: the girl died, while the boy was sent to an orphanage in the ruins of San Diego. When Kei visits, he fails to find any documents, but he finds a wooden horse exactly where it was hidden in his memories. Kay approaches Dr. Anya Stellin, a young artificial memory developer, who confirms that the memory is real - this convinces Kay that he is the vanished "miracle", Rachel's son.
He informs the police that the order to find and kill Rachel's child has been fulfilled. The order came because of the unwillingness of mankind to recognize the equality of people and replicants. Kei's deception has been exposed and he is fired from the police and hunted down.
Based on the residual radioactivity on the material of the horse, Kay finds the place where it was made - the ruins of Las Vegas: here he meets the man whom he considers his father - the aged Rick Deckard.
Kay's visit to the ruins of Las Vegas was monitored. Kay escapes and joins the ranks of the Replicant Freedom Movement. From their leader Freysa, Kay learns that Deckard and Rachel's child was in fact girl, not a boy, and that Kay's memories of a horse are not unique. Freysa instructs Kay to kill Deckard so that no one can find out about the child. Having parted with the illusion of being chosen, Kay decides that the real child of Deckard and Rachel is Ana Stellin, the creator of memories, and turns out to be right.
During the transport of Deckard, Kay attacks the convoy - in a difficult fight for him, having received severe injuries, he saves and takes the old man to Stellin's office to meet his daughter. Upon arrival, Kay sends Deckard to his daughter, whereupon he lies down on the snow-covered steps of the building, presumably dying. During this time, Deckard comes face to face with his daughter.
Once again, the replicant behaved like a human (or even better).
I will not give my opinion on these endings of the two films. Think for yourself, but serious questions were raised: from the simple "What makes a person a person?" to the scientific “How is a thinking machine worse than a person?”.
Devs
The apogee of philosophy in IT and the world as a whole is the recently released series Devs. The director of the picture is Alex Garland (yes, the same one who shot "Ex Machina"). The series became the standard of philosophical and esoteric paintings for many years to come. At least I hope so.
To name the main character is already a spoiler. Therefore, straight to philosophy.
Parsing philosophy and big spoilers
I will try to explain the meaning of the series in as much detail as I can.
Now some physics.
The many-worlds or Everett interpretation is an interpretation of quantum mechanics that suggests the existence, in a sense, of "parallel universes" in each of which the same laws of nature operate and which are characterized by the same world constants, but which are in different states . The original formulation is due to Hugh Everett (1957). The system is deterministic, that is, definable. Determinacy may imply determinability at the general epistemological level or for a particular algorithm. Rigid determinism of processes in the world is understood as unambiguous predetermination, that is, each effect has a strictly defined cause.
Although several new versions of the MMI have been proposed since Everett's original work, they all share two main points:
1) consists in the existence of a state function for the entire Universe, which obeys the Schrödinger equation all the time and never experiences a non-deterministic collapse.
2) consists in the assumption that this universal state is a quantum superposition of several (and possibly an infinite number) states of identical parallel universes that do not interact with each other.
The conversation is about the fact that there are no changes in the superposition of the photon, but only macroscopic changes in the superposition.
Now in Russian.
What Everett said. We have many variants of the universe. At the same moment in time, a billion possible events can occur. Some little thing may change, but the event will still happen. It looks something like this:
A person will definitely go out the door, but he can do it in different ways.
A pen.
Everything has a reason. Take a pen and roll it across the table. Why did the handle roll? Because you pushed her. Why did you push her? Because I asked. The pen rolled across the table because I asked. Cause is a consequence.
“Ha!” one of you will say. I didn't pick up a pen. I didn't roll anything at all. The author's theory fell apart. "No", I will answer. Nothing like this. Why didn't the pen roll across the table? Because you wanted to argue with me. Cause-effect. Everything has its cause and its effect.
Now imagine that someone split it into atoms and decomposed everything into a cause-and-effect relationship. From and to. Was it scary? Here's to me.
So why did Lily change her fate? She committed the first sin - disobedience. Has her fate changed since then? No. She died.
The film talks about the lack of freedom of choice with complete control over the situation.
Is everything predestined? Yes and no.
Suddenly Lily came to life. And Forest, and all all all. Or not? They came to life, but not in the physical plane, but inside the emulation. And now we are back to the same question. What is life? What is real and what is not? Think about it.
Last but not least interesting point. Devs - developers. All clear. But there is not the letter "V", but the letter "U". It turned out the word Deus - God. And again, a play on words from the great director Alex Garland - "Developed = God who changed the letter."
Finish
This is my biggest work on films and serials. There are 15 pictures in the collection! I would like to finish it with our traditional voting, but with the choice of not one film, but several.
If you agree or disagree with me, let's discuss our points of view in the comments. It will be interesting for everyone!
If you liked this article, I will definitely continue my work. The promised "Freeze and burn" is not far off. 🙂
Only registered users can participate in the survey. , you are welcome.
What movie would you recommend a geek friend see?
- 31,2%Upgrade30
- 31,2%Love, death and robots30
- 6,2%Cyberslav6
- 13,5%Robot named Chappy13
- 7,3%People7
- 25,0%Altered carbon24
- 29,2%Terminator28
- 12,5%Robocop12
- 24,0%Johnny Mnemonic23
- 44,8%Matrix43
- 21,9%She21
- 31,2%Out of the car30
- 21,9%Ghost in the Shell21
- 36,5%Blade Runner35
- 17,7%Developers17
96 users voted. 30 users abstained.
Source: habr.com