WHEN THE INHUMAN BECOMES HUMAN: AN EXAMINATION OF THE MUSICAL PORTRAYAL OF THE ROBOT IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE-FICTION CINEMA THROUGH AN ANALYSIS OF THE FILM SCORES OF \u3cem\u3eAUTOMATA\u3c/em\u3e, \u3cem\u3eEX MACHINA\u3c/em\u3e, AND \u3cem\u3eTHE MACHINE\u3c/em\u3e

Science fiction film has been telling stories about artificial anthropomorphic robots and androids for almost a hundred years, spawning films, such as Metropolis (1927), Ghost in the Shell (1951), and Blade Runner (1982). Each of these science-fiction films was complemented by a musical score that helped to create an onscreen world dominated by a dystopian view of the future. Influenced by the generations of prior science-fiction films, Automata (2014), The Machine (2013), and Ex Machina (2015) are all concerned with the same narrative in which humanity is in decline while artificial robots are rising up and experiencing life in a way that humans are no longer capable of doing. These three films were all chosen as exemplars of recent science- fiction films with stories about robots versus humans. Further, this difference between robots and humans is paralleled in the film\u27s musical scores. Humans are represented by depressive musical themes with dull and cold timbres that symbolize how empty they have become. Robots, on the other hand, are represented by bright and lively timbres that symbolize how the robots are living more vibrant lives than humans. This thesis traces themes for humans and robots through several important moments and tropes in each film: the state of humanity, the first encounter with the robot, the quality of life for robots and humans, and the eventual conflict that erupts between artificial and organic life. This conflict ends with the arrival of a robotic Eve figure, a sole female robot that is set apart by the film score as a special being, the start of a new age that is dominated by robotic life. These films choose to portray female robots and promote the idea of Eve because the female is seen as a mysterious Other to be feared; in the same way, humans fear these female robots because of their Otherness. Analysis and conclusions were achieved through transcription of the film scores, interviews with the film composers, analysis connecting the score to the visual scene, and constructing a historical context that connects the three films to their predecessors. Future research can expand on these findings by adding more science fiction films to the film pool, examining just how far the musical difference between humans and robots can be traced in film. Unlocking the musical themes assigned to humans and examining how they change over time can reveal how humans perceive themselves, for better or worse. This study is also meant to serve as a gateway for more science fiction films to be studied through their music, as some film\u27s have hidden meanings that can only be understood by examining the music and how it interacts with the visual scene. A study of Automata, The Machine, and Ex Machina manifests how humanity is making way for the robotic Eve and the next stage of evolution for the world

Robotics in Germany and Japan

This book comprehends an intercultural and interdisciplinary framework including current research fields like Roboethics, Hermeneutics of Technologies, Technology Assessment, Robotics in Japanese Popular Culture and Music Robots. Contributions on cultural interrelations, technical visions and essays are rounding out the content of this book

Spartan Daily, April 29, 2003

Volume 120, Issue 60https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/9856/thumbnail.jp

Embodied cognition: A field guide

The nature of cognition is being re-considered. Instead of emphasizing formal operations on abstract symbols, the new approach foregrounds the fact that cognition is, rather, a situated activity, and suggests that thinking beings ought therefore be considered first and foremost as acting beings. The essay reviews recent work in Embodied Cognition, provides a concise guide to its principles, attitudes and goals, and identifies the physical grounding project as its central research focus

“How Do You Know Who You Are?”: Marjorie Prime on Envisioning Humanity Through the Faculty of AI-Powered Memory as Reconstructive Tissue

In reference to the theme of the issue devoted to literary extremities, Jordan Harrison’s play Marjorie Prime raises thought-provoking questions about the potential benefits and drawbacks of advanced AI technology by exploring the nature of memory, identity, and mortality, as well as the ethical implications of creating artificial intelligence that can mimic human behavior and emotions. This article argues that the play positions its AI character—a computerized hologram of Marjorie’s late husband Walter—at the intersection of two divergent perspectives on memory reactivation enhanced by AI-powered technology. While, on the one hand, the humanoid is seen as a potent tool which helps to reduce the cognitive impairment caused by dementia, on the other hand, there is a concern that technological interventions may trigger episodic memory change, testifying to the plastic, and thus reconstructive, character of this foundational human faculty. The article seeks to negotiate the interplay of benefits and dangers of technology-assisted memory reactivation by exploring two divergent ideas represented by Marjorie’s daughter Tess and her son-in-law Jon regarding what would comfort their mother, and, ultimately, their differing ways of comforting each other and themselves individually as the carers of an elderly person. In analyzing how creative and destructive forces exhibited by AI-powered digital tools cross-inhabit the declining memory inflicted by dementia, the article unpacks both the vast potential and the limits of technology while attempting to answer uncomfortable questions about the essence of human existence posed by aging and dementia

Scoring Alien Worlds: World music mashups in 21st-Century tv, film and video games

This article provides three case studies of the use of world music resources to build alien worlds in mainstream screen media with Sci-Fi or Fantasy settings. The case studies—the TV series Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome, the film Avatar and the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) video game World of Warcraft— show how composers and associated music professionals in the early twenty-first century increasingly draw on such sonic materials to generate a rich sense of sonic otherness and note the means they employ to sidestep such music’s existing geographical and cultural references. Each case study explores a contrasting subject position—composer, music consultant and consumer—to better trace not only the creation of such soundtracks but also what senses disparate groups of ordinary listeners subsequently make of them. The examples suggest that outside the sphere of big-budget cinema there is a growing confidence in both the creation and reception of such sonic projections, and that, when sufficiently attracted by what they hear, listeners may actively seek out ways to follow-up on the expressive characterisations put forward in such soundtracks. Three broad types of mashup are uncovered, those that work with world music ingredients by insinuation, integration and creolisation

Shadows, touch and digital puppeteering: a media archaeological approach

Aims The practical aim of this research project is to create a multi-touch digital puppetry system that simulates shadow theatre environments and translates gestural acts of touch into live and expressive control of virtual shadow figures. The research is focussed on the qualities of movement achievable through the haptics of single and multi-touch control of the digital puppets in the simulation. An associated aim is to create a collaborative environment where multiple performers can control dynamic animation and scenography, and create novel visualisations and narratives. The conceptual aim is to link traditional and new forms of puppetry seeking cultural significance in the ‘remediation’ of old forms that avail themselves of new haptic resources and collaborative interfaces. The thesis evaluates related prior art where traditional worlds of shadow performance meet new media, digital projection and 3D simulation, in order to investigate how changing technical contexts transform the potential of shadows as an expressive medium. Methodology The thesis uses cultural analysis of relevant documentary material to contextualise the practical work by relating the media archaeology of 2D puppetry—shadows, shadowgraphs and silhouettes—to landmark work in real-time computer graphics and performance animation. The survey considers the work of puppeteers, animators, computer graphics specialists and media artists. Through practice and an experimental approach to critical digital creativity, the study provides practical evidence of multiple iterations of controllable physics-based animation delivering expressive puppet motion through touch and multiuser interaction. Video sequences of puppet movement and written observational analysis document the intangible aspects of animation in performance. Through re-animation of archival shadow puppets, the study presents an emerging artistic media archaeological method. The major element of this method has been the restoration of a collection of Turkish Karagöz Shadow puppets from the Institut International de la Marionnette (Charleville, France) into a playable digital form. Results The thesis presents a developing creative and analytical framework for digital shadow puppetry. It proposes a media archaeological method for working creatively with puppet archives that unlock the kinetic and expressive potential of restored figures. The interaction design introduces novel approaches to puppetry control systems—using spring networks—with objects under physics-simulation that demonstrate emergent expressive qualities. The system facilitates a dance of agency¹ between puppeteer and digital instrument. The practical elements have produced several software iterations and a tool-kit for generating elegant, nuanced multi-touch shadow puppetry. The study presents accidental discoveries—serendipitous benefits of open-ended practical exploration. For instance: the extensible nature of the control system means novel input—other than touch—can provide exciting potential for accessible user interaction, e.g. with gaze duration and eye direction. The study also identifies limitations including the rate of software change and obsolescence, the scope of physics-based animation and failures of simulation. Originality/value The work has historical value in that it documents and begins a media archaeology of digital puppetry, an animated phenomenon of increasing academic and commercial interest. The work is of artistic value providing an interactive approach to making digital performance from archival material in the domain of shadow theatre. The work contributes to the electronic heritage of existing puppetry collections. The study establishes a survey of digital puppetry, setting a research agenda for future studies. Work may proceed to digitise, rig and create collaborative and web-mediated touch-based motion control systems for 2D and 3D puppets. The present study thus provides a solid platform to restore past performances and create new work from old, near forgotten-forms. ¹ Following Andrew Pickering, puppetry is ‘a temporally extended back-and-forth dance of human and non-human agency in which activity and passivity on both sides are reciprocally intertwined’ PICKERING, A. 2010. Material Culture and the Dance of Agency. In: BEAUDRY, M. C. & HICKS, D. (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Material Culture Studies. Oxford University Press.

Columbia Chronicle (10/25/2004)

Student newspaper from October 25, 2004 entitled The Columbia Chronicle. This issue is 40 pages and is listed as Volume 38, Number 5. Cover story: Diversity up at Columbia Editor-in-Chief: Andrew Greinerhttps://digitalcommons.colum.edu/cadc_chronicle/1619/thumbnail.jp