BCM325 – Live analysis of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Her (2013)

• 1 Incredible opening. Showcases the dawn of man- us at our most primitive state, until one primate makes a discovery. A bone that can be used as a tool. This discovery is the first major step of evolution, in my opinion this is what the obelisk represents, a major turning point in the evolution of man and our relationship to technology and it’s advancements.
• 2 Amazing edit with the match cut of the bone into the spacecraft. It’s saying look how far we’ve come. Especially prevalent for the 60s as this came out right before the moon landing.
• 3 Although this has got the idea of current space travel wrong, it still predicted a crazy amount for the times we currently live in. For example portable TV devices/Tablets, the way we communicate, and most notably, AI
• 4 another great example of the movies foresight into our time with the inclusion of the videophone sequence, which reflects our current use of facetime/skype

• 5 The excavation on the moon is still one of the scariest and incredibly tense non-horror scenes of all time. Just a Black slab sitting upright under the moons surface, dug up millions of years after its intentional placement. Accompanied by the terrifying score, this scene is shows a higher force we don’t understand encouraging humanity to progress further.
• 6 Progress is made, were now introduced to HAL9000, an advanced AI which acts as the brains of the Jupiter mission and the next major technologic advancement of mankind in the story. Amazing how back in 1968 they were able to predict highly intelligent computers existing capable of thinking.
• 7 Most reliable computer ever made, never distorted information or made a mistake, incapable of error – what happens when given a moral or ethical dilemma arises though?
• 8 This question is applicable to the AI we use today. While chat bots like ChatGPT are cleverly coded to divert from answering moral dilemmas, we can apply this to something like Waymo with the self driving car. When you cant just program something away and a choice needs to be made, what choice does an AI make?
• 9 These ethics come into play when HAL is faced with the continuation of the mission. The choice of the missions priority means HAL is willing to take human lives.
• 10 What a crazy trip the end 20 minutes are. I think its a popular theory to believe the monoliths are a signifier of mankind’s next step in evolution. 1)The Dawn of man first discovery primitive tools, something we can see today in our primate relatives https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/capuchin-monkeys-used-stone-tools-3000-years-oldest-outside-africa. 2) Modern technology and space travel, with the discovery of the monolith on the moon. 3) The monolith orbiting Jupiter signifying the advancement in Artificial Intelligence 4) and Finally the bedroom monolith, signifying a new unknown stage of human evolution.

I think I did quite a decent job at touching on and breaking down some of the main themes of the film here. The science fiction novum and the “new” was explored mainly through the talk of technology used in the film and its comparison to our current reality. For example the videophone sequence and most notably the correlation between HAL9000 and current AI. I think one of the most interesting points I brought up in regards to AI was that of the moral dilemma. What happens when AI is forced to make a decision the could drastically impact human lives? In the film we see this in the malfunctioning HAL9000, who chooses to trick and cause the deaths of the missions crewmates all in the name of the mission. For our current day, I brought up the example of self driving cars like Waymo. What happens when it is forced into a moral dilemma where it needs to make a decision between driver safety or a child the road?

When I asked myself where I could have done better in these posts, I believe my engagement and links back to the class subjects ideas and concepts would have been very helpful in making a more coherent viewpoint to watch the movie through. I believe I explored some of the Novum within the story i.e. the advanced space travel and higher evolution, But I think I focused more on the stories comparisons and contrasts to current technology.

After 2001, we looked at Spike Jonze’s 2013 soft Scifi romance Her. We viewed this film through the lens of AI Predictions and Revolutions. This meant looking at current trends in AI and attitudes towards them and viewing this movie to highlight its similarities to our current technology and possible future reality.

• 1 Opening still so goddamn strong, shows us a world where people with loved ones can’t or just aren’t bothered to think about their loved ones and write meaningful things about them but instead choose to pay someone else to do it for them. Theodore longs so much for connection that he uses this jobs as an avenue for connection. This world also isn’t too far from our own, with people using AI like chat GPT to go as far as writing wedding speeches for significant others.
• 2 Opening scenes shows us how thoughtful, emotional and caring our main character is while also letting us know his longing for a connection. He longs for the kind of connections he describes in his letters. The films shows us his isolation from those around him through elevator shot placing him at the back of the frame while others are in the foreground, and the color pallet of our character wearing red while all other colors of clothing and environments are monotone. These visual cues effectively establish Theodore’s character and set the tone for the film’s exploration of human connection in an increasingly technology-driven world.
• 3 “An intuitive entity that listens to you and understands you and knows you”. People have this kind of relationship to their phones. Algorithms giving users specifically catered content to keep people using apps. In today’s society, many people have developed intimate connections with their smartphones, relying on them for communication, entertainment, and even emotional support.
• 4 (from chat gpt) While the portrayal of AI companionship in “Her” may seem like a futuristic concept, the reality of human-technology relationships is already well-established. Many people form emotional attachments to their devices, relying on them for companionship, validation, and social interaction.
• 5 I asked ChatGPT: Is their relationship real? If so does that mean love just in our heads? Here was it’s response

• 6 Do you think that connection is any less real than if Samantha had a real body?
• 7 The picnic with Theodore’s coworker highlights the fundamental difference between humans and AI. As Samantha says she’s not tethered to time and space the way she would be if she was in a body that was going to die. This divide is the crux of the relationship, Theodore will die and Samantha won’t. No matter how much they love each other (if you can even call their love real), that fact won’t change, and Theodore knows this is reinforced the line “We’re only here briefly and while I’m here I want to allow myself joy, so fuck it”.
• 8 Their relationship turns into something Theodore can’t comprehend as a human anymore. Samantha can talk to thousands of people at once, Theodore can only be in one place and have one conversation at any given time.
• 9 I love that this isn’t a story about how AI is going to take over or how dangerous it is to society, instead it’s a very individual and human story of a man trying to pick himself back up after a broken marriage and find a connection like the one he had, he just happens to find it in an OS/AI that understands him better than a human can. Samantha is specifically tailored for him and it’s easy to see why he falls in love with her, she’s everything he wants, she’s just not human.
• 10 This film could have easily resorted to a sort of sci fi satire of modern relationships but it’s never degrades itself into that. It’s a very human movie about relationships, isolation, love, and most importantly our relationship to technology and how that can keep us from genuine deep and meaningful connections.