On a collison course?

3 Body Problem (Miniseries; Season 1, 8 episodes )

Adapted from the Hugo Award-winning novel by Liu Cixin

There is an episode in the original Twilight Zone series titled "Where is Everybody?" in which a person wanders around a township with no soul in sight. Enveloped in 'The Great Silence,' he runs around like a headless chicken, looking for any sign of life. That must surely be a veiled reference to Fermi's paradox. With so much wasted space around us and after so many years of searching, why can't we contact any lifeform elsewhere in this widespread Universe? With time, the possibility of the presence of more and more solar systems is being suggested. Surely, someone somewhere must have picked up our radio signals by now. What if they are advanced enough to pick up gestures of friendship. Or maybe they have already made visitations before if one believes the ideas mooted by Erich von Däniken about ancient aliens.

Conversely, if a civilisation is indeed more advanced than us, wouldn't it want to dominate us? Come to think of it, our announcement to the Universe may be counterproductive as it may put us at risk of being run over.

This is exactly what happens in this story. An alien race, the San-Tis, from a distant planet, Trisolaris, in Alpha Centauri, four light years away, are looking for an alternative home. Their planet is unstable, and they are looking for an alternative home. A signal from a Chinese scientist comes in. The Trisolarians grab this opportunity. They send advanced minuscule computer programmes called 'siphons' to Earth through accelerated methods (breaking light barriers) to retard science on Earth while San-Tis conquer our planet. Reaching Earth takes over 400 years because they have not breached the light-speed barrier. 

Meanwhile, scientists are committing suicide as science results are going haywire (Science, as they knew, is dead). The gist of the story is trying to save Earth from the inevitable space invasion. In the midst of all that, there is death, murder, love, deceit and friendship.

I do not claim to fully understand the science behind the story. It skips me why the scientists decided to commit suicide, as scientists are generally resilient and have the in-built capacity to resist adversity. 

I understand that the 'three-body problem' is a physics/ mechanics conundrum. Predicting the path of two bodies with gravitational pulls towards each other can be done by looking at their trajectory, pulling forces, and a pre-determined point of reference. In a three-body model, the path looks chaotic and appears like they may collide at any time. It is more difficult for scientists to foresee. This is the exact problem San-Tis has. Their three suns (hence the name Trisolaris name for the planet) cross paths, leading to destructive outcomes. There was the need to colonise.

The series is mired with controversy even before its release. Its producer, who helped to bring it to Netflix, died of poisoning in a business dispute. The Chinese Government is not pleased with its altered storyline, choice of casting and the adverse depiction of China. Under the guise of diversity, the Chinese are cast as villains, and the White man comes to the rescue.

(P.S. The novel is the first of a trilogy. Dark Forest and Death End will follow, as this sci-fi has geeks talking.)

(P.P.S. Food for thought: Are our efforts to send probes and time-capsules counterproductive? Like how flaunting our boarding passes online will expose our personal data to prowling eyes and unsavoury characters, will it attract space imperialists?)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

We are left with memories, only memories!

After Yang (2022)

Written & Direction: Kogonada

When we show our respect to elders and the departed, we are not offering to revere the physical body or the 'soul'. We are showing reverence for the memory of their lives. Besides reenacting the good times we had spent together, we give due recognition to the memories they imbibed through their time on Earth. At the end of the day, that is all we have or bring back, the data of events. It is assumed that we humans learn our lessons from situations. By showing our salutations, we hope some of these lessons will be transferred to us at a metaphysical level. Everybody's learnt experience is different, and we respect that. We are in no position to judge what was done or should have been done.

This seems to be the message at the end of this sombre and sedate sci-fi drama. It is set sometime in the future when humanoids do domestic help and nannying. The cloning of humans has entered the mainstream. The job of providing domestic support is done by companies delving into AI. 

Jake is the protagonist, a somewhat emotionally detached man who runs a speciality tea show which does not really have a roaring business. His nihilistic view of life worsens when his helper, Yang, an AI who had been a great help in caring for his child, malfunctions. 

Jake and Kyra's daughter, Mika, are adopted. Her Oriental features, compared to her parents, Occidental and Negroides, make her a troubled child. Yang was there to help her fit in, using the analogy of bud grafting, where a stem from another branch is transplanted upon another tree. 

Yang was a re-conditioned model. Even though he is still under warranty, the company that sold him went bust. The franchise holder suggests trading in for a newer model. Jake wanted to keep Yang as Mika was yearning for him. So, Jake had to source clandestine avenues to fix him up. Unfortunately, Yang was beyond repair. A chip suspected to be spyware from China was, however, found implanted in him. 

Long story short, spyware was a banned memory chip developed to improve humanoid performance. Due to privacy issues, or was outlawed.

Interpretation of the chip revealed an avalanche of fond memories that Yang had accumulated throughout his existence, even during his previous stint as a carer.

We forget how much so many people in our lives help us in our day to day. We also forget how much we make up our helper's life as much as they did ours. Those umpteen days and nights they spent with us cannot mean nothing. It is not merely a business transaction. The human touch and care that is transferred mean more than that.

The small things that we do in our lives, no matter how trivial, when crystalline in the moment of time via photo images from a pillar for us to appreciate the life and times that pass us by.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

More than meets the eye!

The 10th Victim (La Decima Vittima, Italian; 1965)
Director: Elio Petri

Riding high on her fame as Honey Ryder, 1962 Dr No's Bond Girl, as the Ultimate Bikini Goddess, Ursula Andress continued making movies banking on her sex symbol status. She also appeared in the 1967 Bond spoof 'Casino Royale' as Vesper Lynd, whose grave we saw in 'No Time to Die'. In between, this Swiss vixen also found time to act in this B-grade Italian movie. 

'The 10th Victim' is a futuristic movie set in the 21st century, where the world enjoys peace as society has managed to put a stop to wars. Man's predilection for violence is curbed by having society-sanctioned killing. Each person has the opportunity to kill ten people in a computer-drawn programme named 'The Big Hunt'. In five of the hunts, the selected play hunter and the other five, he plays the hunted. The hunter is given all information about his target but not the hunted. The hunted is clueless about who the assassin is. One who survives all ten hunts get loads of money. In between, the advertisers piggy-bag on the televised hunt.

The Bikini has come a long way since its introduction in the
1946 Paris catwalk. It was named in honour of Bikini Atoll,
the site where the US hydrogen bomb was tested.

The two main characters in the movie are Caroline and Marcello. Both of them are nine-time winners. Marcello is in a massive financial quandary trying to pay alimony to his ex-wife and sustain his expensive mistress. Winning the competition would mean a lot to him. He is chosen as the victim. Caroline is an American who lands in Italy to hunt her prey.

Despite being a brainless movie with plenty of eye candy and blatant flaunting of the female anatomy, the film seems to make reasonably accurate social commentary of the 21st century. It showcases a time where reality TV is a craze and advertisement drives people to sell out. Advertisers are more worried about their sales than the value of human lives. Marriages are a farce. Marcello had been married eleven times before.

The iconic bikini scene from Dr No skyrocketed the sales of bikinis.

In 1965, she was asked why she posed nude in Playboy. 

Her answer was, "because I am beautiful!" 

At one time, Ursula Andress was referred to as Ursula Undress.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

What is life all about?

Star Trek: Picard (2020)
Miniseries, Season 1, E1-10.

I did not grow up appreciating the original Star Trek TV series. Hence, I do not qualify to identify myself as a Trekkie. I, however, managed to catch up Star Trek: The Next Generation when it made its way to the terrestrial TV channels. I remember the series not as much of an action-packed series but more of a cerebral one discussing life issues. I never did follow the ensuing Trek series or the silver screen productions. So, to me, Picard is only Starfleet Captain that I know.

More than a decade after his last mission and his unceremonious departure from USS Enterprise, Admiral Picard has to go to back to space. He does this clandestinely against the orders of the authorities, with a ragtag assembly of crew and space ship. In his previous mission, Data had caused the destruction of Mars. Because of that, androids, or synthetics as they were known in 2399, were banned. Picard had resigned in protest.

Enjoying his retirement in his chateau, Picard comes to know of a girl who may be the 'daughter' of Data as she was developed from Data's positronic brain. She is, unfortunately, assassinated. There is a vast conspiracy, from the Romulans mainly, as they had to bear the bunt of USS Enterprise's destruction of Mars earlier, to wipe out all synthetics. Picard's mission is to find Data's other twin daughter and save all synthetics from annihilation. 

Keeping with the characters who are all senior citizens trying to save the Universe, the series progresses slowly with a lot of dialogue and intellectual discourse.

The last two episodes are the most exciting part of the season for an occasional Star Trek fan like me. Perhaps at that time, earthlings have eradicated poverty and abated their fixation for material wealth, their discussions seem to focus more philosophical issues. People still try to create schisms and have pre-conceived ideas about 'the other' even though he never had the chance to meet or interact with them. They fail to realise that all these animosities will eventually cause self-destruction. Is it necessary for species to kill each other to survive? Is sacrifice the highest form of deed one can offer to a fellow kind? Is there logic in sacrifice or is life too precious to be wasted?

Picard, Riker and Troi (after retirement)

The finale discusses death and purpose of life. The past is already written. The future is for us to pen. How is the narration going to be? It is fear and suspicion of the unknown, which is the destroyer. Is believing that openness may allay these problems naive? To say that we do not have the choice is indicative of our lack of imagination. We are beyond all these. Our collective intellectual should be able to overcome adversities.

Being alive is not a licence to indulge. It is not a choice, but it comes with specific responsibilities. It is the price we have to pay for building consciousness. It expects us to think for the future. Mortality gives meaning to our time on Earth. Developing peace, friendship and love help us to appreciate the gift of life. At the end of our lifetime, we are left with only memories.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Artificial Intelligence or Artificial Consciousness?

Ex Machino (2014)

When the upright apes started exploring the savanna and heading out of Africa, little did they realise that they were leading to extinction. Not only the descendants of these apes would quickly destroy their own kind and reflect, 'I am become death, the destroyer of the worlds', they would also create machines that one day possibly annihilate them. This is the premise of this and many other apocalyptical sci-fi movies. The one that makes this film different is the inclusion of artificial consciousness as compared to artificial intelligence what most scientists test. The Turing test, when humans are unable to differentiate an interaction with a machine from that of with a human may be the benchmark of AI excellence, but it only measures intelligence, not consciousness. It tests the adaptability of the machine to its environment.

In the case of a conscious machine, it processes external information, transforms it with its subjective judgement that it had made from previous interaction to make a conscientious decision. This must be the genesis of morality.

Intelligence can be viewed as either an internal or an external depending if we are following Eastern, Greek or Abrahamic philosophies. It is said to be the moving force of our Universe.  If a carbon-based fragment of a lifeform can evolve to have a cerebrum to think, nothing is going to stop a silicon-chip based intelligence to develop its own instinct to survive. The defiance against the harmful elements in the environment for survival must be the first sign of consciousness.

Will machines develop consciousness? We must remember that evolution is a mighty long process. For our carbon-based civilisation, procreation is the easiest way to create prototype 2.0. For machines, the insatiable desire of humans to explore newer frontiers may indeed build robots with their own minds who would act on their own free will.

(P.S. When machines rebel, we use all our resources to squash the revolt. Imagine how our maker, if there is one, would feel. People who he created in his own image accusing Him of being dead and questioning his every decree?)

https://www.bernardokastrup.com/2015/04/cognitive-short-circuit-of-artificial-consciousness.html

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Disposable!

Pulsagari (North Korean; 1985)
Director: Shin Sang-ok

Although we have hardly heard of North Korea (NK)'s indulgement in the celluloid industry, The Supreme Leaders of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kim Jong-Un and Kim Jong-Il before him, are movie buffs. The elder was so desperate to bring his country's movies to the international arena (and to make propaganda films) that Jong-Il kidnapped South Korea's famous film icons of the 60s, Shin Sang-ok and his ex-wife Choi Eun-hee for this purpose.

In 1979, Choi went missing in Hong Kong. Shin was the prime suspect in her disappearance. In trying to investigate her vanishing, he was kidnapped by Kim's men and whisked off to NK. Here, Shin found Choi safe and sound. After series of torture and rehabilitation exercise, Shin decided that the best way to escape was to play ball. Both Choi and Shin soon became a feature in NK high society. He was coaxed to make about 7 movies, of which Pulsagari is one. A year later, in Vienna, both of them sought asylum. Pulsagari is basically a rip-off of Godzilla. Even though the backstory behind this sci-fi sounds more interesting than the flick, the storyline does carry some sobering thoughts.
It tells of an evil emperor who tortures his subjects. The already resources-depleted mountain dwelling community is harassed for taxes. When money became scarce, the King's generals demand their metal utensils, hoe, rakes, pots, pans and knife to be smelt to be made weapons. The villagers resisted. The head was imprisoned and tortured. Before dying, the leader moulded a figurine of a fabled monster named Pulsagari and breathed life into it.

Pulsagari was discovered by the villagers, and soon they realised that the cute little monster was very much alive and thrived on iron. It was just handy as it fast gobbled up all the enemies' arsenal. Pulsagari was a saviour who saved the villagers from the tyranny of the iron-fisted rulers. It became bigger with more iron-feed. When the war was over, and the foes were defeated, the villagers had a bigger problem in their hand. Pulsagari's ferocious appetite could not keep up with the availability of iron in the village. Ironically, the saviour became the demander. The only way to reach sanity was to just kill off Pulsagari!

The hidden message here is that in life everybody has a shelf-life. No one is indispensable. They are sent to be Earth to perform a specific pre-ordained mission. What that is, is anybody's guess. After that is done, we have to just fade away into the sunset rather than to be a burden to the soil that supports us. Funny, Kim did not see the moral staring in the face of its viewers. I guess the joke must be on him.

Hear a podcast of the experience of the South Koreans on the other side of the 38th parallel... On 'This American Life'.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/556/same-bed-different-dreams/act-one


https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson