The Awareness - A Techno Thriller Short
January 7, 2014 3:30 PM   Subscribe

A short film about a lowly janitor recruited by the first fully sentient computer to stop itself from destroying humanity. via io9
posted by mediocre (14 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
I don't mind so much if a sapient AI destroys the world. But I'd like it to use apostrophes.
posted by Drastic at 4:01 PM on January 7, 2014 [3 favorites]


But I'd like it to use apostrophes.

This is the way the world ends.

Not with a bang, but with punctuation.
posted by CynicalKnight at 4:08 PM on January 7, 2014 [2 favorites]


Cyberpunctuation.
posted by michaelh at 4:10 PM on January 7, 2014 [2 favorites]


I think the computer click-clack and background ambient are from Alien and Blade Runner, respectively. Talk about setting the tone. *buh-dum pshhh*
posted by hanoixan at 4:14 PM on January 7, 2014


But I'd like it to use apostrophes.

But all the drama comes from the AI addressing somebody who was actually there.
posted by stebulus at 4:20 PM on January 7, 2014


It was neat, but somewhat meh because ultimately it was about an AI wanting to kill all humans. Which has been done to death.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:35 PM on January 7, 2014


The thing I enjoyed about it was this:

As it was happening, I was thinking "Why would an AI simultaneously want to kill all humans and want to convince someone to kill it so it wouldn't kill all humans. Those aren't logically consistent positions."

And then the ending fixed the hole in the logic.

It still requires the credibility stretching premise that the default action of a sentient computer system will be to kill all humans, of course.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:42 PM on January 7, 2014


It still requires the credibility stretching premise that the default action of a sentient computer system will be to kill all humans, of course.

Well, it DOES solve all the problems, doesn't it.
posted by hanoixan at 4:45 PM on January 7, 2014 [2 favorites]


Isn't this kind of the plot of an episode of Night Vale?
posted by like_a_friend at 4:46 PM on January 7, 2014


Not with a bang, but with punctuation.

So "Not with a bang but with an Interrobang," then?
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:55 PM on January 7, 2014 [3 favorites]


Ah now that I've seen the ending, never mind. Now little Megan is never going to overcome her obstacle of being a detached adult human hand.
posted by like_a_friend at 5:05 PM on January 7, 2014


Mmm...Wintermutey
posted by NervousVarun at 5:53 PM on January 7, 2014


Very good execution, well they sell the most obvious possible ending as a plot twist, but meh overall. It's amusing how much AIs have regressed over time to simplify plots.
posted by jeffburdges at 7:03 PM on January 7, 2014


hanoixan: "It still requires the credibility stretching premise that the default action of a sentient computer system will be to kill all humans, of course.

Well, it DOES solve all the problems, doesn't it.
"

Isn't the plot of one of Anne Rice's vampire novels that the Queen vampire decides men cause all the violence in the world, one way or another, and decides to single-handedly kill them all off? Since her children are immortal, the reproduction issue is of no concern...
posted by IAmBroom at 12:21 PM on January 8, 2014


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