After reading The Language of New Media, I want to explore more about AI (artificial intelligence) and virtual reality on which Manovich touched on briefly. I think the computer is the ultimate form of presenting, distributing, and storing media. Anything after will be a play off the computer but that does not mean everything after will not be creative or innovative. I can picture some kind of connection from your computer to your brain where you can visit a website as if you were there in person. Say you are looking for a car and you visit a dealership website. As soon as you are connected you start looking for a car and select one you would like to see. An AI car representative gives you a tour and responds to your eye movement or placement in or around the car while giving descriptions at each of these points.
Imagine the possibilities of search a virtual reality in regards to education. A child could get connected and play in a “hands on” simulated environment that could truly aid in then learning process. Or imagine going back to 1963 and be there at Lincoln Memorial to hear Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have Dream” speech. The advantages of new forms of media are endless but we must not count out the disadvantages. We need to also imagine that terrorist who wants to learn how to develop a dirty bomb. All that person has to do is get connected and instead of following instructions or instruction videos that terrorist can follow an AI instructor where they can interact and ask questions.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
You ever read "The Diamond Age" from Neal Stephenson? your comment bout a child connecting to a hands on VR learning environment is just that. This programmer makes a book (primer) that uses an sort of tele-actor who reads stories to a girls that basically teach them to become victorian upperclass ladies. but in the wrong hands it becomes a subversive tool. or maybe the right hands. Either way yeah cool book, if you havent read it check it out. cyborg city
I really enjoy the internet as a supplementary tool. but thats just what it is; a tool. Tools are great, but we shouldn't let them make our decisions for us. this goes back to the whole Knowledge vs Intelligence and Experience paradox. a really interesting debate.
I have to admit that I was also interested in reading about AI and virtual reality in the article by Manovich, but I never thought about virtual reality being as convienent and useful as being apart of a web browser. That would completely change the way we use the internet, but I think theory of connecting the computer straight to our brain has lots more dangers than just terrorist learning to assemble a bomb. Did we forget about the horrible terroros of viruses? A virus that’s in your computer is bad enough cuz it can steal your information, slow it down vastly, or worst, completely crash it. Well just imagine a virus with the capability of doing those things to your brain just by flowing through a connection. If someone actually hacked into your memory then they could steal more than just credit card numbers, or a bad virus could slow your brain down or crash your system turning you into a vegetative state. I think the idea is amazing, but I think it will be a while because I would hope that they get all the bugs out and make it as virus free as possible…basically let Apple come up with this computer and not Windows. :)
I think the connection between brain and computer is still a distant prospect. I just can't see wide spread support for the research required for such an intereface developing in either the public or private sectors. Look at stemcell research and the broiling debate which swirls around it. I'm not saying there will never be the type of computing-nervous system interface you mention, I just thinks its still a couple generations off. What I think is very likely is the use of AI and VR employed in devices like ROVs. Think about how modern weapons systems (tactical jets, tanks, etc) increasingly depend upon computers to gain a tacticle advantage over enemies. Modern jets couldn't fly without the aide of cumputer assistance. I consider this a type of AI and when you couple this type of computing power with devices like ROVs we get smart robots. I can see the spread of AI assisted ROVs beyon military applications into exploration (deep sea, outerspace, volcanic craters etc) Still, when I think about the expanded utility of AI, VR, and ROVs I can't help but apprehenisively recall movies like The Terminator or the Matrix.
Artificial intelligence is such an interesting topic of discussion. In my Anthropology of the Body course this morning we discussed embodiment of the human body in a computer adn the implications that arise between the class of nature and culture. Can we ever consider a robot to be of human makeup, to have a soul? Or is the soul something that can not be organized into a solvable explanation. The topic spurred much commentary from believers in all humans having a "soul" separate from the body. But If the soul interacts with the body then if we remove the soul the body will not function. In this sense the soul is determined by ones experience and if we give computers the ability to build their own knowledge and experience, then how do we define it? Is it artificial intelligence or a living being.
Post a Comment