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

by Shmi
21st Mar 2013
1 min read
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12

Personal Blog

12

[LINK] Transcendence (2014) -- A movie about "technological singularity"
15atucker
9RomeoStevens
4Elithrion
0RomeoStevens
4Elithrion
0RomeoStevens
14Eliezer Yudkowsky
2ESRogs
3Eliezer Yudkowsky
4chaosmage
2Eliezer Yudkowsky
2gmaxwell
2Eliezer Yudkowsky
2[anonymous]
5Elithrion
2Vaniver
3Cthulhoo
2MichaelHoward
0lukeprog
2ESRogs
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[-]atucker12y150

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.

Reply
[-]RomeoStevens12y90

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

Reply
[-]Elithrion12y40

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

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[-]RomeoStevens12y00

without a director?

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[-]Elithrion12y40

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

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[-]RomeoStevens12y00

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

Reply
[-]Eliezer Yudkowsky12y140

This never boded well in the first place.

Reply
[-]ESRogs12y20

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

Reply
[-]Eliezer Yudkowsky12y30

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

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[-]chaosmage12y40

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?

Reply
[-]Eliezer Yudkowsky12y20

They do not alter it.

Reply
[-]gmaxwell11y20

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

Reply
[-]Eliezer Yudkowsky11y20

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

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[-][anonymous]12y20

.

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[-]Elithrion12y50

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.

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[-]Vaniver12y20

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

Reply
[-]Cthulhoo12y30

Be gur ynjazbjre zna.

Reply
[-]MichaelHoward12y20

Be gur svefg rcvfbqr bs Znk Urnqebbz...

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[-]lukeprog12y00

Chris Nolan is executive producer.

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[-]ESRogs12y20

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCTen3-B8GU

Reply
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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.

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49A big Singularity-themed Hollywood movie out in April offers many opportunities to talk about AI risk