The idea of an artificial intelligence, AI, or singularity has always interested scientist. This is what the whole book of The Most Human, Human was about. In Transcendence at the beginning of the movie, Max says that "Technology collided with man". This is the constant struggle that we find in movies such as Terminator where the technology and man have this war for who is in control, the creator or the created. What differs in this movie is that the creator is the created.
"Man has always tried to create a God" says Will Caster. This is thought of to be creating something that can help explain to us the un-explainable which we do not understand. This is a paradox. What we create only knows the sum of information that we know. If at this moment there is no person who is able to explain it, then how do we expect a program that is created by a person who does not know to know. What both the movies Her and Transcendence have in common is that they have artificial intelligence in them that has no strings on them. Samantha and Will are connected to the internet and have unlimited information that can be accessed all simultaneously.
A principle that i noticed in the film that is not stated is 'patience'. Doctor Evelyn does not have patience and is constantly trying to get things done to help her husband. Also, the extremist is impatient when demanding that Max upload the virus when he is incapable. This is a virtue that is not held by many in today's society it seems. We always want the newest thing right when it comes out and are willing to pay more even when the device that we have is working perfectly. Will, on the other hand, has patience. Even though he does not have a body, working with PINN, will creates new technology and helps people and know exactly when to let people in on the secret and when not to. He even allows a video of his healed person to be uploaded online when he has the capability to take it down.
Until the last part of the film I was tricked. It seemed like PINN was in control the whole time just using the voice and face of Will to get what it wanted. When asked by the Doctor, "Can you prove you're self aware"? Will responds "Can you?", which is the same response that PINN said when asked before Professor Will Caster died. This gave the illusion that Will was never in the picture. It is only later that we see that Will has always been the system and is accomplishing what his wife always wanted because his life's goal is complete.
People fear what they don't understand. This has always been the case throughout time and is a main reason for many conflicts that have occurred. Hopefully whatever intelligence that we create will be smart enough like Will and care about the world and our welfare.
The pursuit of Artificial Intelligence is lofty, and you're correct in recognizing that we have yet to write the code for a knowledgable system because, our grasp of the concept is still immature. While a computer can make you laugh by repeating a programmed phrase or even recognizing an opportunity to apply humor to a conversation, that does not mean that it understands the joke. As demonstrated by an example in The Most Human, Human, the first man who compared a woman's cheeks to a rose was surely a poet. However, the first man to repeat this comparison was potentially an idiot. The only way that computers can potentially generate art is by rearranging existing patterns by applying a secondary, pre-programmed pattern to the first. Regardless, the application of a new pattern by a computer is repeated from programming, not self generated. This is one of the many obstacles in developing artificial intelligence.
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