Ten years from the beginning of the last war...
June 1, 2013 8:23 AM Subscribe
Fortress (SLYT)
Huh. Weird. Seems like a certain literalized version of drone warfare.
Anyone know what the Russian titles meant?
posted by Cash4Lead at 8:40 AM on June 1, 2013
Anyone know what the Russian titles meant?
posted by Cash4Lead at 8:40 AM on June 1, 2013
If you click in the closed caption icon in YouTube there are captions in English.
posted by birdherder at 8:43 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by birdherder at 8:43 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
Kind of makes me think a Fallout game set in the post-nuclear USSR would be pretty awesome. Stalker meets The Road Warrior. Drop me a line, Bethesda.
Also, needs more Christopher Lambert
posted by selfnoise at 8:43 AM on June 1, 2013 [2 favorites]
Also, needs more Christopher Lambert
posted by selfnoise at 8:43 AM on June 1, 2013 [2 favorites]
Dead machines fighting war they didn't start and cannot end.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:47 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:47 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
No one does Grimdark like the Eastern Europeans, man.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 8:50 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 8:50 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
This is silly. They'd eventually run out of munitions.... right?...
posted by yeoz at 8:56 AM on June 1, 2013
posted by yeoz at 8:56 AM on June 1, 2013
Enjoyed that! Reminds me of something, but would normal need to askmefi to find out what.
Short story, possibly Arthur C Clarke. Something to do with a far future populated by robots, some designed by us, others designed by robots designed by us. We're long gone, but the robots keep following their programming. Ideas?
posted by Telf at 9:05 AM on June 1, 2013
Short story, possibly Arthur C Clarke. Something to do with a far future populated by robots, some designed by us, others designed by robots designed by us. We're long gone, but the robots keep following their programming. Ideas?
posted by Telf at 9:05 AM on June 1, 2013
This is silly. They'd eventually run out of munitions.... right?...
Depends on how extensive the bases are. There's no reason why you need humans to dig materials out of the ground; robots could do that job just fine. After that it's just foundries and assembly lines.
On the topic of "things this reminds me of," mine would be Cordwainer Smith's "Mark Elf".
posted by curious nu at 9:07 AM on June 1, 2013
Depends on how extensive the bases are. There's no reason why you need humans to dig materials out of the ground; robots could do that job just fine. After that it's just foundries and assembly lines.
On the topic of "things this reminds me of," mine would be Cordwainer Smith's "Mark Elf".
posted by curious nu at 9:07 AM on June 1, 2013
Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series...?
posted by the painkiller at 9:08 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by the painkiller at 9:08 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
Very pretty.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:11 AM on June 1, 2013
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:11 AM on June 1, 2013
> Enjoyed that! Reminds me of something, but would normal need to askmefi to find out what.
There will come soft rains. By Bradbury.
posted by mrzarquon at 9:25 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
There will come soft rains. By Bradbury.
posted by mrzarquon at 9:25 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
It reminds me of two completely different takes on the theme of machines outliving the civilization that created them: Bradbury's There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) and Lem's The Invincible. I can't imagine how I'd feel reading the former when it was new. I've read it in 1986 and it was still quite depressing.
posted by hat_eater at 9:26 AM on June 1, 2013
posted by hat_eater at 9:26 AM on June 1, 2013
The question I asked myself immediately:
Wait, no missiles?
What's with the super-long wings on the fighter? Endurance?
What's up with the detection/engagement range and therefore bullet speed? Railguns?
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 9:31 AM on June 1, 2013
Wait, no missiles?
What's with the super-long wings on the fighter? Endurance?
What's up with the detection/engagement range and therefore bullet speed? Railguns?
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 9:31 AM on June 1, 2013
> Enjoyed that! Reminds me of something, but would normal need to askmefi to find out what.
There will come soft rains. By Bradbury.
Yes, but no. That's what I should have been reminded of. See also previous posts on metafilter for video adaptations of that short story.
Also, sort of reminds me of the Wool series as there are old protocols dictating post apocalyptic "decisions".
posted by Telf at 9:31 AM on June 1, 2013
There will come soft rains. By Bradbury.
Yes, but no. That's what I should have been reminded of. See also previous posts on metafilter for video adaptations of that short story.
Also, sort of reminds me of the Wool series as there are old protocols dictating post apocalyptic "decisions".
posted by Telf at 9:31 AM on June 1, 2013
I enjoyed that, very dark. The grass growing at the end gave a little glimmer of hope.
posted by arcticseal at 9:33 AM on June 1, 2013
posted by arcticseal at 9:33 AM on June 1, 2013
The grass growing at the end gave a little glimmer of hope.
It did. Give life another three or four hundred MY and it will get to where it is now - the brink of self-destruction.
posted by hat_eater at 9:42 AM on June 1, 2013
It did. Give life another three or four hundred MY and it will get to where it is now - the brink of self-destruction.
posted by hat_eater at 9:42 AM on June 1, 2013
"We're long gone, but the robots keep following their programming. Ideas?"
A recent book, by one of Mefi's own, so maybe not what you are remembering, but the very good Saturn's Children is this plot exactly.
posted by seasparrow at 9:42 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
A recent book, by one of Mefi's own, so maybe not what you are remembering, but the very good Saturn's Children is this plot exactly.
posted by seasparrow at 9:42 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
Kind of makes me think a Fallout game set in the post-nuclear USSR would be pretty awesome.
Metro 2033 is kind of like that. It's more of a shooter, but it's Russian-made post-nuclear and set in the subway systems.
Also, this is an amazing film.
posted by suetanvil at 9:43 AM on June 1, 2013
Metro 2033 is kind of like that. It's more of a shooter, but it's Russian-made post-nuclear and set in the subway systems.
Also, this is an amazing film.
posted by suetanvil at 9:43 AM on June 1, 2013
I read a short story in a Sci-fi anthology back in the 1970s with this exact scenario. Automated warfare, with humanity gone, focusing on a bomber flying a mission, returning to base to refuel and reload for ever. And no, I have absolutely no chance of recollecting either the name of the story or the author. Pretty darn cool to see it like this several decades later.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 9:51 AM on June 1, 2013
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 9:51 AM on June 1, 2013
This machine is no different than the arrow aimed at any enemy that hits a civilian instead.
Very cool looking though.
posted by Ironmouth at 10:06 AM on June 1, 2013
Very cool looking though.
posted by Ironmouth at 10:06 AM on June 1, 2013
> Yes, but no. That's what I should have been reminded of.
In searching, I found this bibliography of Nuclear Holocausts in fiction, which is worthy of a FPP in and of itself.
posted by mrzarquon at 10:09 AM on June 1, 2013
In searching, I found this bibliography of Nuclear Holocausts in fiction, which is worthy of a FPP in and of itself.
posted by mrzarquon at 10:09 AM on June 1, 2013
The Defenders may be closer to what your thinking of, but not a depressing story.
posted by mrzarquon at 10:14 AM on June 1, 2013
posted by mrzarquon at 10:14 AM on June 1, 2013
There was a segment of Heavy Metal this reminded me of, but it isn't the same, and this was better done.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:48 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:48 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
The Defenders may be closer to what your thinking of, but not a depressing story.
Another PKD story, "Second Variety", has a similar basic premise (machines killing other machines in a post-apocalyptic world), although the execution is quite different.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:51 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
Another PKD story, "Second Variety", has a similar basic premise (machines killing other machines in a post-apocalyptic world), although the execution is quite different.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:51 AM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
Nice animation...
The post-human SF short I'd like to find actually has one human surviving and being popped in and out of hibernation by the machines as they try and work out what to do with - for - him. Eventually, they develop space travel and find a world with near-humans so he can go and not be lonely any more. One of the robots was called, I think, Matron, the medical robot the main character interacted with.
(I wrote an experimental (ie, no plot) SF short myself a while ago, set in the period not so far from now when these things aren't quite self-sustaining but still pretty capable, all about a dead stow-away found on a long-duration surveillance drone that had been up for six months. Didn't nail it, but I'll have another go after Tomorrow's Harvest is out and I've listened to it a few hundred times...)
posted by Devonian at 11:20 AM on June 1, 2013
The post-human SF short I'd like to find actually has one human surviving and being popped in and out of hibernation by the machines as they try and work out what to do with - for - him. Eventually, they develop space travel and find a world with near-humans so he can go and not be lonely any more. One of the robots was called, I think, Matron, the medical robot the main character interacted with.
(I wrote an experimental (ie, no plot) SF short myself a while ago, set in the period not so far from now when these things aren't quite self-sustaining but still pretty capable, all about a dead stow-away found on a long-duration surveillance drone that had been up for six months. Didn't nail it, but I'll have another go after Tomorrow's Harvest is out and I've listened to it a few hundred times...)
posted by Devonian at 11:20 AM on June 1, 2013
This is silly. They'd eventually run out of munitions.... right?...
posted by bonobothegreat at 11:23 AM on June 1, 2013
posted by bonobothegreat at 11:23 AM on June 1, 2013
That was great. I felt 17 years old for a couple of minutes.
posted by bonobothegreat at 11:25 AM on June 1, 2013
posted by bonobothegreat at 11:25 AM on June 1, 2013
Whoa. A video version of Ian A.T.'s much favorited MetaTalk comment: In the sub-basement of what was once an industrial park, the server continued asking questions to the void. The network was long-gone--the ethernet cables vaporized right where they emerged to the surface--but this didn't stop the server. It had a queue.
posted by jocelmeow at 11:50 AM on June 1, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by jocelmeow at 11:50 AM on June 1, 2013 [5 favorites]
Star Trek used this theme a couple of times. Usually there were people governed by a rogue computer. The people had lost the wits or knowledge to overcome the computer.
posted by Cranberry at 12:17 PM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Cranberry at 12:17 PM on June 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
GAH beaten to the punch by Strange Interlude - Second Variety a second time
posted by infini at 1:39 PM on June 1, 2013
posted by infini at 1:39 PM on June 1, 2013
Kind of makes me think a Fallout game set in the post-nuclear USSR would be pretty awesome.
Metro 2033 is kind of like that. It's more of a shooter, but it's Russian-made post-nuclear and set in the subway systems.
The S.T.A.L.K.E.R series is even more so - open spaces and ruined Soviet landscapes (and made by some of the same developers).
posted by Pyrogenesis at 1:45 PM on June 1, 2013
Metro 2033 is kind of like that. It's more of a shooter, but it's Russian-made post-nuclear and set in the subway systems.
The S.T.A.L.K.E.R series is even more so - open spaces and ruined Soviet landscapes (and made by some of the same developers).
posted by Pyrogenesis at 1:45 PM on June 1, 2013
There are so many ways the rearmanent process could transpire. I watched this earlier today...I've had a few gin and Mountain Dews since. This is very attractive. The creators should be proud. Time speeds up for the drunk. I watched it the second time with the subs but it doesn't really need 'em.
If we're talking about the scary and the reminding, I too remember that scene in Heavy Metal, the skeletons and the bomber. And the movie Memphis Belle, and Eric Stoltz. But what is that feeling of the programmatic automaton? I recall a violent (in many ways) anime from my teens called MD Geist. The 'protagonist' reawakens a computerized "dooms day scenario" that works in similar fashion as this. I forget what his motives are, except something to the effect that he was already a genetically engineered soldier of humanity and why should he give a fuck.
Then there's Wall-E which infuses this scenario with hope.
There seems to be a bunch of other images and films in the recesses of my mind that have skeletons in space protective, cryogenic, time-ellapsing, human protective suits, of various natures. There's a lot of strange feelings attached to that image, and there probably should be.
posted by coolxcool=rad at 10:29 PM on June 1, 2013
If we're talking about the scary and the reminding, I too remember that scene in Heavy Metal, the skeletons and the bomber. And the movie Memphis Belle, and Eric Stoltz. But what is that feeling of the programmatic automaton? I recall a violent (in many ways) anime from my teens called MD Geist. The 'protagonist' reawakens a computerized "dooms day scenario" that works in similar fashion as this. I forget what his motives are, except something to the effect that he was already a genetically engineered soldier of humanity and why should he give a fuck.
Then there's Wall-E which infuses this scenario with hope.
There seems to be a bunch of other images and films in the recesses of my mind that have skeletons in space protective, cryogenic, time-ellapsing, human protective suits, of various natures. There's a lot of strange feelings attached to that image, and there probably should be.
posted by coolxcool=rad at 10:29 PM on June 1, 2013
I thought of Keith Laumer's post-apocalyptic The Night of the Trolls, which at one point has a 'Bolo' robot tank running on auto for decades with the driver's mummified corpse at the controls.
posted by raygirvan at 5:27 AM on June 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by raygirvan at 5:27 AM on June 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
>The post-human SF short I'd like to find actually has one human surviving
I think it's "Second Ending" by James White.
Can't be certain as my copy was lost in the attic, years ago.
posted by jh5201 at 7:50 AM on June 2, 2013
I think it's "Second Ending" by James White.
Can't be certain as my copy was lost in the attic, years ago.
posted by jh5201 at 7:50 AM on June 2, 2013
See also previous posts on metafilter for video adaptations of that short story.
This one is my favorite.
posted by homunculus at 5:32 PM on June 2, 2013
This one is my favorite.
posted by homunculus at 5:32 PM on June 2, 2013
« Older Science doesn't teach anything; experience teaches... | we are bacteria all the way down Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by escape from the potato planet at 8:38 AM on June 1, 2013