[LINK] Transcendence (2014) -- A movie about "technological singularity"

post by shminux · 2013-03-21T16:51:00.007Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 20 comments

Transcendence is an upcoming movie, starring Johnny Depp:

Two leading computer scientists work toward their goal of Technological Singularity, as a radical anti-technology organization fights to prevent them from creating a world where computers can transcend the abilities of the human brain.

It could be fun to speculate what the spin will be and how many standard pitfalls they will hit. I also wonder which side I would be rooting for. From the scarce descriptions available, it does not seem to be based on the idea of recursive self-improvement, but rather on mind uploading.

20 comments

Comments sorted by top scores.

comment by atucker · 2013-03-21T17:38:58.734Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Given that Johnny Depp appears to be on the Singularity side (as the uploaded human), I suspect that they'll be portrayed sympathetically, even if the ending isn't exactly happy.

comment by RomeoStevens · 2013-03-22T00:09:41.247Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

High concept sci-fi regularly goes from pre-production to the trash bin, wake me when principal photography gets started.

Replies from: Elithrion
comment by Elithrion · 2013-03-22T00:22:29.444Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Shooting is apparently scheduled to start April, so you probably don't have long to wait.

Replies from: RomeoStevens
comment by RomeoStevens · 2013-03-22T00:35:59.690Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

without a director?

Replies from: Elithrion
comment by Elithrion · 2013-03-22T00:38:15.738Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Imdb lists Wally Pfister as director. The shooting date is also from its Q&A thing.

Replies from: RomeoStevens
comment by RomeoStevens · 2013-03-22T01:30:40.414Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

awww crap, cinematography was a huge glaring weakness of Nolan's films. This does not bode well.

Replies from: Eliezer_Yudkowsky, None
comment by Eliezer Yudkowsky (Eliezer_Yudkowsky) · 2013-03-22T02:38:38.584Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

This never boded well in the first place.

Replies from: ESRogs
comment by ESRogs · 2014-01-02T00:56:13.213Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Why do you say? Are you expecting this to be a net negative contribution to the public consciousness of AI risk?

Replies from: Eliezer_Yudkowsky
comment by Eliezer Yudkowsky (Eliezer_Yudkowsky) · 2014-01-02T01:10:57.095Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I'll be very surprised if it's not.

Replies from: chaosmage, gmaxwell
comment by chaosmage · 2014-01-07T17:42:46.752Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

The trailer includes a sequence where some nanotech wizardry starts to devour things in order to build hardware, so this isn't a movie about the fate of just a few people like The Lawnmower Man, but talks about the end of the world in earnest.

At least one of the people behind the movie expects superintelligence to be "likely to happen in our lifetimes" and got Ben Goertzel involved somewhere in the sidelines.

Have you taken these points in account in your prediction?

Replies from: Eliezer_Yudkowsky
comment by Eliezer Yudkowsky (Eliezer_Yudkowsky) · 2014-01-08T02:21:28.420Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

They do not alter it.

comment by gmaxwell · 2014-04-21T07:19:28.449Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Now that the movie is out, how would you rate your prediction in hindsight?

Replies from: Eliezer_Yudkowsky
comment by Eliezer Yudkowsky (Eliezer_Yudkowsky) · 2014-04-21T17:44:41.901Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I haven't seen the movie and have no intention of seeing it, but from others' reviews I'd rate it as correct.

comment by [deleted] · 2013-03-22T04:42:44.965Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

.

comment by Elithrion · 2013-03-21T18:02:31.158Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Apparently an early script summary leaked. Spoilers:

Nppbeqvat gb gur fhzznel, n tebhc bs nagv-grpuabybtl greebevfgf nffnffvangr Jvyy, Riryla hcybnqf uvf oenva vagb n cebgbglcr fhcrepbzchgre. Nygubhtu fur ng svefg svaqf gur rkcrevzrag frrzf gb unir tbar jebat, orsber gbb ybat Riryla svaqf Jvyy erfcbaqvat va pbzchgre sbez.

Fur tbrf ba gb pbaarpg Jvyy gb gur Vagrearg fb ur pna uryc znxr shegure fpvragvsvp oernxguebhtuf. Jvyy nfxf Riryla gb pbaarpg n zvpebcubar naq n pnzren hc gb gur pbzchgre fb ur pna frr naq fcrnx gb ure nf jryy.

Jvyy perngrf n onpxhc bs uvzfrys gb rirel pbzchgre va gur jbeyq, naq sheguref uvf jbex guebhtu npprffvat bayvar vaqrkrf. (Xbfbir gbyq GurJenc guvf cybg cbvag vf ab ybatre va gur fpevcg.) Jura gur nagv-grpuabybtl betnavmngvba svaqf bhg, gurl gel gb fgrny gur fhcrepbzchgre naq qrfgebl vg, ohg Jvyy ab ybatre arrqf gur pbzchgre gb fheivir.

Replies from: Vaniver, lukeprog
comment by Vaniver · 2013-03-21T21:33:13.254Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Fb, guvf fhzznel fbhaqf n ybg gb zr yvxr Tubfg va gur Furyy.

Replies from: Cthulhoo
comment by Cthulhoo · 2013-03-22T08:34:53.710Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Be gur ynjazbjre zna.

Replies from: MichaelHoward
comment by MichaelHoward · 2013-03-22T13:14:52.171Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Be gur svefg rcvfbqr bs Znk Urnqebbz...

comment by lukeprog · 2013-03-21T19:16:46.333Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Chris Nolan is executive producer.