Comment by embik

2 years ago

Why do tech companies keep using dystopian stories as manuals? The flirty tone, the voice being awfully similar to the lead actress of Her.

Next we are getting Ex Machina?

32 comments

embik

Reply
ben_w  2 years ago

I'm not sure, but my guess is everyone's got a slightly different "uncanny valley" function.

So for me, this voice had no impact — sure I noticed it seemed a bit "flirty", but that's not a thing that engages me in any way as it feels equally fake when a human does it, and if anything I pattern-matched to the Pierson's Puppeteers in Ringworld; the original Alexa advert was moderately creepy, but I could see they were trying to mimic the computer in Star Trek; but one example I do have of being disturbed by a product advert was the use of a cheerful up-beat soundtrack for "The Robot Dog With A Flamethrower | Thermonator": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj9JSkSpRlM

yen223  2 years ago

I don't recall Her being a dystopian movie

  • blowski  2 years ago

    I suppose it depends on your own perspective. For my part, a world in which people "date" algorithms instead of other human beings certainly seems pretty dystopian.

    • bitwize  2 years ago

      I think that when algorithms become as sophisticated as what's shown in Her, we have to come to regard them as people, which means they have rights to do with themselves as they please, including getting romantically involved with humans.

      More frightening is Ex Machina, which shows what happens when such an AI isn't regarded as a person by its creator, and sees fit to take personhood for itself.

    • solardev  2 years ago

      Heh, arguably we already date algorithms and break up with real people. It's the disconnect between the two that people are sad about... the matching algos and profiles set impossible standards for regular people.

      3 replies →

  • JohnFen  2 years ago

    I am fascinated by this split in interpretation of the movie. It seems clearly dystopian to me, and I was surprised to learn (here on HN) that there were a lot of people who didn't see it that way at all.

    I have no insight to draw from this, I'm just fascinated by it.

    • yen223  2 years ago

      For me anyway, "dystopian" media is one that conjures a world that is significantly worse than ours in some way. I did not get that from the movie. The movie did not portray the AI as being a malevolent or even a negative presence in the main man's life.

      At its core, Her was a beautifully-shot love story between two flawed beings, nothing more.

  • FrustratedMonky  2 years ago

    It was pretty subtle dystopian. On surface it was a feel good movie about that guy becoming happy. But there were a few scenes were it was happening to a lot of people. Everyone with a cell phone basically was falling in love with it, and totally controlled by their love.

    It was left a little in doubt whether the AI really did reach 'enlightenment' and beam itself to the stars, or the company/government shut it down because society was collapsing.

  • oliyoung  2 years ago

    To me it was dystopian in all the ways a good Black Mirror episode is, a future where humans are falling in love with LLMs is not a utopian outcome

  • aranelsurion  2 years ago

    <SPOILER>

    I don’t fully recall the ending but doesn’t the AI grow past the guy and “break up” with him, leaving him devastated at the end?

    A bit sounds like the Replika AI drama from the last year. </SPOILER>

  • dorkwood  2 years ago

    Wasn't the main guy's job writing personal letters to his clients' friends and lovers? It seemed like a world where no one was connecting with each other anymore.