^CategoryArts & Culture

Motion Blur Stretcher Gurney Patient Hospital Emergency

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post

Author
News
Date
September 11, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Science}

When the AI Call Center Can’t Handle Crises —Sci-Fi Saturday

_{It’s not clear whether this is a bug or a feature but it is certainly something that could happen.} _{News

September 11, 2021

19

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Science}

“Lifeline” at DUST by Harry Jackson (September 6, 2021, 7:57 min) Jess, and her trial for a job at a high-tech call centre. When her competitor suddenly collapses, her only means to save him is a state of the art computer system. The problem is, the art is in a terrible state. Review: It’s a very good story. It illustrates the huge problem that any electronics-run system faces: Problems that only human intelligence can resolve. Gwyneth Keyworth, as Jess, sees that her co-worker Nathan Bryon is apparently collapsing at his desk. But she cannot call an ambulance because the high-tech call center does not allow that option. It’s not entirely clear why Jess does not use a private cell number Read More ›

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post

Author
News
Date
September 11, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Anaximander, Extraterrestrials (ET), Wade Roush}

Ancient Philosopher: There Might Be Life Forms Not Bound to Earth

_{Surprisingly, a philosopher may have thought of it first over 2500 years ago} _{News

September 11, 2021

2

Arts & Culture, Science}

Wade Roush, author of Extraterrestrials, discusses the views of Anaximander (c. 610—546 B.C.E.) Anaximander, a philosopher who lived in Miletus in modern-day Turkey, contributed one key idea. He was the first to propose that Earth is a body floating in an infinite void, held up by nothing. For someone who lived 2,200 years before Isaac Newton, this was a stunning insight. The philosopher Karl Popper called it “one of the boldest, most revolutionary, and most portentous ideas in the whole history of human thought.” Anaximander also thought Earth was a cylinder with the continents arrayed on one flat end, so he wasn’t right about everything. But he did invent the idea of space, a place with no absolute up or Read More ›

Mystical dark blue foggy forest with snowflakes.

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post

Author
News
Date
September 4, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Philosophy, Science

Tagged
Reality (vs. perception), Tim Nackashi, Time is a Place (film)}

If You Met Someone in a Dream Every Night… ? Sci-Fi Saturday

_{In a sci-fi short, a paramedic must confront a question about the nature of reality} _{News

September 4, 2021

18

Arts & Culture, Philosophy, Science}

“Time is a Place” (2017) by Tim Nackashi (uploaded at DUST November 24, 2018, 7:08 min) Two strangers, a woman and a man, are haunted by a recurring dream they seem to share night after night. Their illusory time together in the dream is more freeing than anything in waking life. She has not told him that in reality, she is a paramedic who discovered his unconscious body at the scene of an accident. Review: The film started out as a mess. It was unclear whether the characters are dead or alive — but, under the circumstances, that must matter. It remains unclear until the very end. But the basic idea is, in principle, intriguing: What if two people share Read More ›

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post

Author
News
Date
September 4, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Alberto Fairén, Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Donald Brownlee, Guillermo Gonzalez, Jay Richards, Peter Ward, Privileged Planet hypothesis, Rare Earth hypothesis, Rogue planets concept}

Could “Rogue Planets” Hold the Key to Extraterrestrial Life?

_{A new paper asks us to think about the possibilities of planets that have been kicked out of a predictable orbit.} _{News

September 4, 2021

3

Arts & Culture, Science}

A new paper asks us to think about the possibilities of planets that have been kicked out of a predictable orbit: In a new paper, Alberto Fairén from the Center of Astrobiology in Madrid, Spain, and I look into the possibility that planets wandering through interstellar space could also host life. These “rogue” planets may have been ejected out of their original solar system during the early, chaotic phase of planetary formation. There are two general types of rogue planets: gas giants like Saturn and Neptune, and rocky Earthlike planets. While the chances for life on gas giants is extremely remote, rocky migrating planets could in principle host microbial life. To do that, they would need internal heat from the Read More ›

Full moon on desert mountain peaks at sand storm

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post

Author
News
Date
September 4, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Environment, Science

Tagged
Constantin Kormann, Genesis (film), Robotics (in film), Science fiction}

When the Robot Discovers Nature — Sci-Fi Saturday

_{On a ruined planet, a dog robot get caught in a time warp} _{News

September 4, 2021

18

Arts & Culture, Environment, Science}

“Genesis” (2020) at DUST May 2, 2021 Constantin Kormann(4:00 min, animated) Our protagonist lands on a foreign planet, finds an alien artifact and travels back into a time, where the planet was covered by a lush forest. Review: The “protagonist” is actually a dog robot who finds itself trapped in a time warp. The big question would, of course, be — why go back to techno-civilization, especially if you are just a dog anyway? Cute. But what happens when the battery runs out? Curiously, we think we should make robots like the animals we know. Think of Boston Dynamics’s controversial police “dogs.” Nature seems to have thought of everything first — an argument, if you like, for intelligent design. Anyway, Read More ›

Oumuamua is a mildly active comet, and the first interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System.

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post

Author
News
Date
September 4, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Philosophy, Science

Tagged
Avi Loeb, Matthew Bothwell, Oumuamua}

What Space Object ‘Oumuamua Says About How Science Works

_{The space object, thought by at least one famed astronomer to be an ET lightsail, prompts thoughts about how scientists decide what to believe} _{News

September 4, 2021

4

Arts & Culture, Philosophy, Science}

The subtitle of Matthew Bothwell’s wrap-up on ‘Oumuamua is most informative: An alien-made artefact or just interstellar debris? What ʻOumuamua says about how science works when data is scarce. At least one astronomer, Harvard’s Avi Loeb, insisted that ‘Oumuamua must be an “extraterrestrial light sail.” And few suggested that that couldn’t possibly be true. Right. What do we do when we are not sure? Bothwell, author of the forthcoming Invisible Universe, offers some thoughts. W all imagine ET in our own image: Victorians of the late 19th century, living in the era of ambitious engineering, looked at Mars and saw globe-spanning canals – evidence, they believed, of a grand industrial civilisation mirroring their own. In the Cold War 1960s, as Read More ›

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
August 30, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Creativity

Tagged
Art (criticism), Artificial intelligence (and works of art), Claques (promoting art works), Featured}

It’s AI Art — But Is That Really Art?

_{Much depends on the claque that agrees that it IS art} _{Robert J. Marks

August 30, 2021

4

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Creativity}

There are reports that AI has created wonderful music and great paintings. But who judges whether a creation is or isn’t art? 19th century writer Margaret Wolfe Hungerford claimed that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”1 So any analysis of AI art or music will be subjective. One person’s modern art masterpiece can be viewed by others as like a child’s finger painting. The same is true for music. The delightful chaos of Charles Ives music is interpreted by some as noise. The value of all art can cannot be quantized but, indeed, “is in the eye of the beholder.” The degree to which art is held in high regard can be emotionally manipulated. A great example is Read More ›

Picture of a young man having an asthma attack

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post

Author
News
Date
August 29, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Medicine and Health, Science

Tagged
asthma, Disability (psychology of the person), Gail Bean, Nicole D. Watts, Outcast (film), Rod Emelle, Royce Adkins}

How Much Can Will Power Do Against Nature? – Sci-fi Saturday

_{Despite his career-ending disability, Aaron — as an alternative to accepting life as a bystander — is trying to use his skills to take down a gunrunning gang} _{News

August 29, 2021

18

Arts & Culture, Medicine and Health, Science}

“Outcast” (2020) at DUST by Royce Adkins (August 16, 2021, 12:29 min) A former super soldier with chronic asthma fights to prove his worth. Review: The film opens with a gritty scene in a hospital where a veteran medic (Rod Emelle) tells a veteran soldier (Aaron) that if he doesn’t start using his asthma meds right, they will kill him quicker than his respiratory problems. Not too many spoilers, one hopes, but despite his career-ending disability, Aaron — as an alternative to accepting life as a bystander — is trying to use his skills to take down a gunrunning gang. His friend Imara (Gail Bean) is wants to dissuade him from the role of lone wolf lawman. As the story Read More ›

Green sprouts on blurred city background, environmental concept

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post

Author
News
Date
August 28, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Environment, Information Theory, Science

Tagged
Dystopia, Information (vs. matter and energy), Kernel (film), Olly Skillman-Wilson, Science fiction}

It’s 2075! Our Motto: “Ignorance is Bliss” — Sci-fi Saturday

_{This animated short asks us to consider a future world in which information is reduced to a sort of haze} _{News

August 28, 2021

18

Arts & Culture, Environment, Information Theory, Science}

“Kernel” at DUST by Olly Skillman-Wilson (August 25, 2021, 5:12 min, animated) The world has become a place where information is tightly filtered and controlled, expelled into the air like a thick smog. Leonard Paisley is an ageing neurobotanist, his life work to preserve the knowledge of the past in his biome. When some equipment malfunctions his commitment is tested. Review: It’s 2075 AD and freedom of the press is not even remembered. Against a background of futuristic skyscrapers, a billboard advises us, “Not Knowing Is a Virtue.” Another that “Ignorance Is Bliss.” And “‘Tis Folly To Be Wise” Well, at least they are not telling us to Love Big Brother Or Else. Except for the fact that the landscape Read More ›

Time is running out concept shows clock that is dissolving away into little particles. Black and white wall clock

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post

Author
News
Date
August 28, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science

Tagged
2-Bullet Solution (film), 5-minutes, Chris Naylor, Inferno (Dante), Matt Mullins, Sci-Fi Saturday, Science fiction}

A Cruel Experiment Plays With Three Lives: Sci-fi Saturday

_{Rational thought offers no contest, in this minimalist film, to the will to survive or at least get revenge in death} _{News

August 28, 2021

18

Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science}

“2-Bullet Solution” at DUST by Matt Mullins and Chris Naylor (July 26, 2021, 3:32 min) 3 Test Subjects, 2 Bullets, 1 Solution Review: It’s a philosophical dilemma of sorts. Three people, two men and a woman, are experimentally trapped in a chamber slowly filling with a fatal gas. They have two minutes, three guns and two bullets. The survivor will be released. This cast list (presumably in order of appearance) gives a sense of utter minimalism, in that they don’t really have names: Stretch – Caitlin HutsonBeard – Andrew DiBartolomeoEdge – Kosey BaskinVoice – Christina RoseHandler – Matt Baxter Discouragingly, no one discusses options like using the bullets to break a lock. The fight scene (over the bullets) seems unrealistic; Read More ›

Smart car (HUD) , Autonomous self-driving mode vehicle on metro city road iot concept with graphic sensor radar signal system and internet sensor connect.

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post

Author
News
Date
August 21, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Autonomous (film), Autonomous Vehicles, Joe Sill, Science fiction}

Machine World at Its Most Nihilist — Sci-fi Saturday

_{This very short animated cyberpunk thriller portrays a world of autonomous vehicles where faces are very rare} _{News

August 21, 2021

17

Arts & Culture, Science}

“Autonomous” (2020) uploaded at DUST by Joe Sill (June 24, 2021, 4:38 min) Animated. An animated cyberpunk thriller centered around a motorcycle gang of traffickers in a world of autonomous vehicles.Yuri and her brother Nyx face off against the Metro Task Force as they transport an important package to a client. Review: This animated (very) shortfilm sketches drug dealing in Detroit in a world of autonomous vehicles. It’s a mad rush on motorcycles to a pier amid sealed robocars, pursued by cops who are not clearly human. It’s certainly a scary and inhuman world. The story ends, as so many real-life ones do, with a tragic waste of life. But there seems no point to it really. “Autonomous” seems to Read More ›

Crashed Satellite Flying Toward The Earth

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post

Author
News
Date
August 21, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
"Death Ship" (TV episode), Daniel Horvath, Flotando (film), Frankie De Leonardis, Science fiction, Science fiction (and NDEs), Secun De La Rosa}

A Space Mission to Infinity — Sci-fi Saturday

_{After the space station module crash, the astronaut finds himself befriended by a friendly but mysterious neighbor. Who is he really?} _{News

August 21, 2021

17

Arts & Culture, Science}

“Flotando” (2018), uploaded at DUST by director Frankie De Leonardis (August 20, 2021, 7:55): A Russian astronaut awakes on a space station module after a crash. Space debris has left the module severely damaged and isolated. As the astronaut tries to reconnect to the base strange noises turn his attention to the outside. The knocks become closer until a strange character emerges. He’s come to welcome the astronaut. Puzzled, scared, and believing everything to be a hallucination the astronaut tries to focus on his communication efforts, but the character decides to open the hatch and let himself in. The story is about realizing and accepting with a sci-fi tone and a surreal twist. Review: The film is a touch surreal. Read More ›

Eextraterrestrial aliens spaceship fly above surreal terrain

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post

Author
News
Date
August 21, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Extraterrestrials (why undetected), Science fiction, Yung Lin Ma}

Data Analyst Offers 15 Reasons Extraterrestrials Aren’t Seen

_{He estimates that there should be 100,000 civilizations in our galaxy} _{News

August 21, 2021

7

Arts & Culture, Science}

Data analyst Yung Lin Ma offers fifteen reasons, including some new to us. He begins by observing, There are about 1 billion stars that can produce an environment similar to the Earth. The environment of the earth does not necessarily have life, and this ratio is lower than 1 in 10,000. The reasoning is that at least in our galaxy, there should be 100,000 civilizations. Then why haven’t we seen even any single one civilization? Yung Lin Ma, “15 Reasons Why We Can’t See Aliens” at Medium (July 14, 2020) So, it’s an active question. Of his fifteen reasons, here are three: 3. Extraterrestrial life does exist, and has visited the earth. It was just a long time ago. Later, Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
August 14, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Cedrick Sprick, Mick Mahler, Rocket Roaches (film)}

If Roaches Formed a Miniature Civilization… Sci-fi Saturday

_{The roaches have built a rocket, intending to go to the moon, and their activity wakes up a dormant human} _{News

August 14, 2021

17

Arts & Culture, Science}

“Rocket Roaches” (2019) at DUST by Mick Mahler (August 13, 2021, 9:44 min) When the diligent cockroaches build a rocket to fly to the moon, they accidentally wake up one of the last humans from his virtual dreams. Review: The roaches, who have an advanced miniature civilization, are, of course, animated. They play their parts alongside the human character (Cedric Sprick) whom they have awakened. He is fascinated by their behavior, which is very like that of humans. Then he looks around at all the living but motionless humans totally absorbed in virtual reality while the cockroaches have built a rocket and are trying to get to the moon. If humans have abandoned the job of being the smartest life Read More ›

Asteroid Meteor Rock Flying Toward Planet EarthRealitic Cinematic vision of earth and large meteor Asteroid Comet- Outer space view

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post

Author
News
Date
August 14, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Asteroid hits, Bennu (asteroid), Osiris Rex}

Asteroid Bennu’s Chances of Hitting Earth Slightly Increased

_{New calculations based on data from asteroid probe Osiris Rex refine the data and raise the chances by a slight amount — enough for good science fiction} _{News

August 14, 2021

3

Arts & Culture, Science}

For those who enjoy worry: Due to improved measuring technology, researchers are reporting a slightly increased chance of asteroid Bennu hitting Earth in the by 2300: Specifically, there is one chance in 2700 of Bennu hitting us on September 24, 2182 (0.037%): Along with an asteroid called 1950 DA, Bennu ranks as the most hazardous known asteroid in the Solar System. Its orbital trajectory and period of around 1.2 years means that there are multiple close approaches to Earth in the coming centuries that are near enough for a possible impact. Michelle Starr, “This Giant, Hazardous Asteroid Almost Certainly Won’t Hit Us, Probably, NASA Says” at ScienceAlert (August 12, 2021) Here’s a tour of our possible dreaded visitor courtesy asteroid Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
August 14, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Chukwudi Iwuji, Death, Extent (film), immortality, Kaitlyn Raymond, Marcus Henderson, Paul Michael Draper, Science fiction}

Android Asks, Is Immortality Truly a Benefit? — Sci-fi Saturday

_{He argues that he can never appreciate life if he knows he can never die} _{News

August 14, 2021

17

Arts & Culture, Science}

“Extent” (2018) at DUST by Paul Michael Draper (August 9, 2021, 12:43 min) Time stands still as two old friends attempt to grapple with a question that defines their very existence. If you could live forever, would you? Review: Edward, the greatest inventor has invented many things, including his friend Alexander. But he comes to think everything is futile because he faces oblivion at death. Meanwhile, android Alexander wants Edward to enable him to “cherish moments” and to be able to long for a “tomorrow that may never come” — which, in the context, means he wants mortality. Alexander reflects, “I think about what my forever may be, It haunts me” and later “Pleasure and pain are no longer relevant Read More ›

Close up portrait of nuclear post-apocalypse survivor, living underground mutant or creature, skilled stalker wearing rags and armored full-face gas mask or air breathing apparatus, toned shoot

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post

Author
News
Date
August 14, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Matt Inns, Merv (short film), Post-apocalypse story themes, Science fiction, Solitude, Steve Woller}

Merv Is the Last Man in a Ruined World — Sci-fi Saturday

_{He’s been alone so long that the thought of another human being panics him} _{News

August 14, 2021

16

Arts & Culture, Science}

“Merv” (2013) by Steven Woller and Matt Inns (August 11, 2021 at DUST, 13:05 min) After the end of the world, Merv’s life in the lonely wastes is comfortably boring until an unexpected signal heralds the coming of a stranger. Review: This New Zealand-based film company provides a haunting evocation of a totally ruined urban landscape — just an enormous pile of rubble peopled by a surviving hermit. When he catches sight of another human, he pelts like mad for his underground den. Then, arming himself, sets out to confront the stranger. Steven Woller, also one of the producers, does a good job as Merv, who has been alone so long that it seems like the only natural state for Read More ›

cute model of the Earth, Sun and Moon with googly eyes on the chalkboard, a donut, a globe and a cookie on the chalkboard

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post

Author
News
Date
August 6, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Religion

Tagged
Magnus Igland Møller, Science fiction, Tales from the Multiverse (film), Theodicy}

When God Gets Distracted — Sci-fi Saturday

_{A clever animated short offers a take on why there is so much violence and chaos in the world} _{News

August 6, 2021

16

Arts & Culture, Religion}

“Tales from the Multiverse” uploaded at DUST by director Magnus Igland Møller (August 6, 2021, 6:36 min, animated) “God is a single parent and amateur programmer. He’s working on project ‘Earth’ but never seems to get a break from the kids. One day though, he finally gets a breakthrough.” Review: This film debuted in 2020 (IMDB). It’s a clever riff on why we live in a crazy world. God can’t really concentrate on the computer program he is using to simulate (create Earth) because he is breaking up fights between his kids. He tries out Adam and Eve, a round Earth and a flat Earth, and dinosaurs living alongside Stone Age people. But his absence, even when he seems to Read More ›

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post

Author
News
Date
August 6, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Arik Kershenbaum, Carcinization, Charles Marshall, Convergent evolution, Crabs, Doug Johnson}

If We Find Life on Exoplanets, Some of It Might Be “Crabs”

_{Over millions of years, many crustaceans gradually grew to look more and more like crabs, a process called convergent evolution} _{News

August 6, 2021

4

Arts & Culture, Science}

The earliest crablike creatures are thought to date from about 365 million years ago (the Late Devonian period). But the odd thing is that many creatures that did not start out looking like crabs have, over tens of millions of years, grown to look like them. A good many lobster-like decapods (= they have ten feet) began to look like crabs (carcinization). Possible causes include greater mobility (some crabs can climb trees), easier hiding in narrow spaces, and less temptation for predators (no juicy tail). Biologists call this process convergent evolution — life forms converge on the same solutions to their problems even if they are not closely related. So we might ask, if we find life on other planets, Read More ›

the giant robot launching rocket punch destroy the city,illustration painting

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
August 6, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Adrian Bobb, Cara Gee, Digitization (of humans), E-X-T (film), Science fiction, Zoe Doyle}

Real vs. Digital Humans Locked in All-Out War — Sci-fi Saturday

_{The reals are attacking the digitals and the digitals invade Toronto in the 24th century in an attempt to power them down} _{News

August 6, 2021

17

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Philosophy of Mind}

“E-X-T” by director Adrian Bobb (Uploaded at DUST August 2, 2021, 7:38 min) “200 years after humanity has abandoned the real world for a digital one, the system’s most talented security agent is forced out of retirement to recruit and lead a team of talented warriors to eliminate a threat from a world no one has seen for centuries. The real world.” Further: “In the snow-covered ruins of 24th century Toronto, AEGIS, a humanoid war machine, leads a team of five similar yet unique machines into the EXT, the new real-world to retake an enemy-occupied server installation vital to the survival of their digital homeland. During an attempt to ambush a large pack of enemy-controlled war-drones, AEGIS recalls an interrogation Read More ›