(Possible spoilers ahead, though I have really tried to
avoid those to encourage you to see the movie!)
The phrase deus ex machina is a Latin
theatrical term meaning "god from a machine" and refers to the theatrical
ploy of introducing a god to resolve plot conundrums. Knowing that, I saw Alex Garland’s (writer
and director) Ex Machina yesterday afternoon and I am still processing. Wife and I were one of two couples in the
otherwise empty theater. So strange that
a film that has received virtually all positive reviews and addresses the
incredibly difficult topic of humans and artificial intelligence was not well
attended. This is not your typical Star
Wars or Trek action science fiction film.
This is a thinking person’s exploration of what is human and what is artificial
intelligence and what is the difference?
I found it intense. I found it
profound. I found it incredibly
revealing of the essence of humanity and computers. And I found it to trigger a deeply personal
response.
Steven Hawking, imminent British physicist, recently warned
that the development of truly intelligent machines would likely end human existence,
or at least human hegemony on earth.
Garland walks us down the same troubling path. In the end I was fooled by the director’s
character development to the extent that I left the theater with my mind
racing. Similar shows have always
intrigued me: The Forbin Project, War
Games, Matrix, Person of Interest, Terminator, etc. This movie is profoundly different from those
other plots. Ex Machina wrestles with
the same questions as arise in the other human/computer tension shows, but does
so on a micro scale, intimately portraying the attributes of both.
I know that I am naive in many ways, almost Pollyanna in
terms of my interpersonal relationships.
I enter into a relationship trusting the other until I learn otherwise,
if ever. And when I learn persons I have
trusted did not merit such trust I am crushed, I am deeply wounded. Ex Machina reminded me to celebrate my human
mind while guarding my heart.
Please consider seeing this movie. It is good stuff.
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