“Forgotten Hollywood”- In Solidarity: A.I. before 2001…
Manny P. here…
“`The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA are fighting movie moguls against artificial intelligence as a means to replicate a printed word and likeness for the sake of wider profits and at the expense of its original authors and talent. These same owners repeatedly warn a viewing audience that copying television programs, sporting events, Hollywood specials and other general content appearing on the small screen, dvd’s, or on streamers to your phone would subject you to a fine and potential incarceration. Does this sound like hypocrisy from the suits and their lawyers?
“`Aside from the talked about 2001: A Space Odyssey, classic film and television have had a firm opinion over the idea and use of artifical intelligence in society.
“`The use of electronic computors to aid or replace a work force played for laughs in 1958 in Desk Set, the eighth flick made by Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn (Heburn wins; the computer loses). In an episode of The Twilight Zone, called From Agnes with Love, a wall-sized model becomes jealous of female affection hurled at her programmer, played by Wally Cox. This 1963 episode proves that computers were still imperfect creatures. I mean, Wally Cox… really?
“`Due to a recklessness by humans, computors are set on a path to independently navigate a thermonuclear war in Dr. Strangelove (the Russians with an automated Doomsday Machine) and in War Games, two decades later. In the latter movie, Matthew Broderick uses a game of tic tac toe to teach his computor pal that sometimes, no one wins in a game, especially when atomic bombs are involved.
“`Replicating the likeness of an individual using artificial intelligence was a common theme in The Twilight Zone. Episodes include The Lonely, The After Hours, The Lateness of the Hour, In His Image and Steel. Characters replicated and replaced became the victim. Women were victimized in the Twilight Zone-esque The Stepford Wives. Of course, it was Mary Shelley, who initially pondered an artificially built man and his bride in the nineteenth century. That so-called monster was named Adam, not Frankenstein (the actual name of the doctor).
“`A most salient example of art versus A. I., comes by way of a comedy classic What a Way to Go, and stars Shirley MacLaine, Dick Van Dyke, Robert Mitchum, Gene Kelly, Dean Martin, and Paul Newman. It is Newman, who toys with artificial intelligence to create art, a Faustian bargain to be sure. Kudos to YouTube, I have the evolution of Newman’s demise. By the way, Newman’s character is named Larry Flynt (you cannot make this stuff up). Watch how fast he goes from the penthouse to the outhouse.
“`Click on the link and enjoy! And please, support the original work of writers and actors…
“`Enjoy!
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 26th, 2023 at 1:38 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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