Robot Heavens and Robot Dreams: Ultimate Reality in A.I. and Other Recent Films

Numerous recent films understand ultimate reality to be multi-layered. This article examines the various formulas films use to express this idea, such as heaven, dreams, technology, temporal loops and altered mental states, while also exploring the various religious and philosophical traditions on which these ultimate reality films draw. Next, I suggest a postmodern framework as a way of accounting for the ubiquity of the reality theme across filmic genres and I argue that film is a unique medium for expressing this epistemology. Finally, I turn to an extensive analysis of A.I. as a case study of a postmodern, multivalent ultimate reality film and illuminate nine possible endings that combine myth, religion, Freud and Jung with themes of technology and ontological identity

Biblical Scholarship and the Passion Surrounding The Passion of the Christ

The release of the film has engendered a spectrum of fervent responses, becoming in itself atheological event shaped by merchandising, media, and audience reception. For a long while, images from a movie will inform the lens through which many of our students and the general public read the Gospels, as well as influence the ways in which some Jews and Christians view one another. Reactions to the film will differ markedly, magnifying and possibly reifying the various theological stances of audience members. Since much of the furor revolves around issues of interpretation of Scripture, biblical scholars can provide informed and thoughtful contributions to the debate. In other words, the release of The Passion, as well as other films with religious themes, provides a valuable opportunity for raising the level of public discourse on religion, enabling us to foster careful inquiry in our classrooms, writings, churches and synagogues. From my point of view as a biblical scholar, this filmic event raises four points deserving of discussion that illuminate the divide between the conclusions of mainstream biblical scholarship and public understandings of biblical texts

Bruce Willis as the Messiah: Human Effort, Salvation and Apocalypticism in Twelve Monkeys

Twelve Monkeys (1995) is representative of numerous recent Hollywood films that focus on the theme of the end of the world by drawing on standard apocalyptic motifs from Judaism and Christianity. However, although the formal elements of the film share much with ancient apocalypses, the film desacralizes apocalypticism by replacing divine mediation and salvation with human effort, thus relocating the apocalypse entirely within the sphere of human activity and concern. In the transformation of ancient apocalyptic images, this film serves as a pointed commentary on the usurpation of religion by science, the new modern God

Wake up! Gnosticism and Buddhism in The Matrix

The Wachowski brothers\u27 1999 hit release The Matrix draws on multiple religious traditions to establish its complex worldview. Two of the most prominent are Gnostic Christianity and Buddhism, which, like the film, pose humanity\u27s fundamental problem and its solution in terms of ignorance and enlightenment. Because of ignorance, people mistake the material world for something real, but they may wake up from this dream with help from a guide who teaches them their true nature. This article explores the film\u27s pervasive allusions to Gnosticism and Buddhism, which in turn opens up the question of the film\u27s overarching message and ultimate view of reality

Uncertainty in wave basin testing of a fixed oscillating water column wave energy converter

This research presents a methodology for carrying out uncertainty analysis on measurements made during wave basin testing of an oscillating water column wave energy converter. Values are determined for type A and type B uncertainty for each parameter of interest, and uncertainty is propagated using the Monte Carlo method to obtain an overall expanded uncertainty with a 95% confidence level associated with the capture width ratio of the device. An investigation into the impact of reflections on the experimental results reveals the importance of identifying the incident and combined wave field at each measurement location used to determine device performance, in order to avoid misleading results

Blue Growth: A Transitions Approach to Developing Sustainable Pathways

The sustainable management of Blue Growth is an urgent issue for coastal states. Marine industries have rapidly expanded over the last two decades and this is projected to continue with the European Green Deal and post-COVID economic recovery policies. The intensification of Blue Growth could have adverse socio-ecological implications and must, therefore, be managed in terms of sustainability, natural resource boundaries, and coastal community well-being. Managing Blue Growth in a sustainable manner however, is challenging due to the longstanding inefficiencies and inertia of existing marine governance regimes. Adopting a transitions approach has been advanced as a way of steering regime change so that it is not inhibited by these persistent problems. This paper reports on four case studies that adopt transitions thinking and use the multi-level perspective as a broad analytical framework through which to understand institutional dynamics, drivers and responses within core marine sectors. Our case studies analysis reveals several significant pressures for regime change within key marine sectors. These pressures need to be addressed through the adoption of a transition management approach. By adopting this approach and engaging key stakeholders, national and EU marine governance authorities can develop sustainable Blue Growth pathways that minimize the impact of continued growth on communities and the marine environment, maximizing the implementation of sustainable practices and addressing issues such as biodiversity loss and climate change

The developmental biology of <i>Charnia</i> and the eumetazoan affinity of the Ediacaran rangeomorphs.

Molecular timescales estimate that early animal lineages diverged tens of millions of years before their earliest unequivocal fossil evidence. The Ediacaran macrobiota (~574 to 538 million years ago) are largely eschewed from this debate, primarily due to their extreme phylogenetic uncertainty, but remain germane. We characterize the development of Charnia masoni and establish the affinity of rangeomorphs, among the oldest and most enigmatic components of the Ediacaran macrobiota. We provide the first direct evidence for the internal interconnected nature of rangeomorphs and show that Charnia was constructed of repeated branches that derived successively from pre-existing branches. We find homology and rationalize morphogenesis between disparate rangeomorph taxa, before producing a phylogenetic analysis, resolving Charnia as a stem-eumetazoan and expanding the anatomical disparity of that group to include a long-extinct bodyplan. These data bring competing records of early animal evolution into closer agreement, reformulating our understanding of the evolutionary emergence of animal bodyplans

Coming Back to Life: The Permeability of Past and Present, Mortality and Immortality, Death and Life in the Ancient Mediterranean

The lines between death and life were neither fixed nor finite to the peoples of the ancient Mediterranean. For most, death was a passageway into a new and uncertain existence. The dead were not so much extinguished as understood to be elsewhere, and many perceived the deceased to continue to exercise agency among the living. Even for those more skeptical of an afterlife, notions of coming back to life provided frameworks in which to conceptualize the on-going social, political, and cultural influence of the past. This collection of essays examines how notions of coming back to life shape practices and ideals throughout the ancient Mediterranean. All contributors focus on the common theme of coming back to life as a discursive and descriptive space in which antique peoples construct, maintain, and negotiate the porous boundaries between past and present, mortality and immortality, death and life

Study protocol: a randomized controlled trial of a computer-based depression and substance abuse intervention for people attending residential substance abuse treatment

Background: A large proportion of people attending residential alcohol and other substance abuse treatment have a co-occurring mental illness. Empirical evidence suggests that it is important to treat both the substance abuse problem and co-occurring mental illness concurrently and in an integrated fashion. However, the majority of residential alcohol and other substance abuse services do not address mental illness in a systematic way. It is likely that computer delivered interventions could improve the ability of substance abuse services to address co-occurring mental illness. This protocol describes a study in which we will assess the effectiveness of adding a computer delivered depression and substance abuse intervention for people who are attending residential alcohol and other substance abuse treatment. Methods/Design. Participants will be recruited from residential rehabilitation programs operated by the Australian Salvation Army. All participants who satisfy the diagnostic criteria for an alcohol or other substance dependence disorder will be asked to participate in the study. After completion of a baseline assessment, participants will be randomly assigned to either a computer delivered substance abuse and depression intervention (treatment condition) or to a computer-delivered typing tutorial (active control condition). All participants will continue to complete The Salvation Army residential program, a predominantly 12-step based treatment facility. Randomisation will be stratified by gender (Male, Female), length of time the participant has been in the program at the commencement of the study (4 weeks or less, 4 weeks or more), and use of anti-depressant medication (currently prescribed medication, not prescribed medication). Participants in both conditions will complete computer sessions twice per week, over a five-week period. Research staff blind to treatment allocation will complete the assessments at baseline, and then 3, 6, 9, and 12 months post intervention. Participants will also complete weekly self-report measures during the treatment period. Discussion. This study will provide comprehensive data on the effect of introducing a computer delivered, cognitive behavioral therapy based co-morbidity treatment program within a residential substance abuse setting. If shown to be effective, this intervention can be disseminated within other residential substance abuse programs. Trial registration. Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register (ANZCTR): ACTRN12611000618954