Audiovisual representations of Artificial Intelligence in Dystopian Tech Societies: Scaremongering or Reality? The Cases of Black Mirror (Charlie Brooker, 2011), Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2017) and Her (Spike Jonze, 2014)

La intel·ligència artificial ha estat un concepte que captiva la humanitat des de fa mil·lennis. Des de l'antiguitat, els humans estan obsessionats amb la idea de crear un ésser humà artificial perfecte amb diferents objectius, com ara la companyia o l'ajuda domèstica, i han escrit sobre ells en textos antics de diverses cultures. Això va evolucionar cap a la literatura de protofantasia o protociència-ficció a l’alta edat mitjana. Tanmateix, no va ser fins al segle XIX que la influent obra de Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818), va reunir diferents aspectes de la creació artificial de vida humana artificial en el debat d’una comprensió psicològica social més àmplia. Amb l'arribada dels mitjans audiovisuals al segle XX, aquestes representacions dels humanoides creats artificialment o d'altres creacions amb cert grau de consciència han poblat tant la gran pantalla com la televisió. Aquesta tesi se centra en les connexions socials d'aquestes representacions de la Intel·ligència Artificial, a partir de la sèrie de televisió Black Mirror (Charlie Brooker, 2011), així com en les pel·lícules Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014) i Her (Spike Jonze, 2014), per tal d’analitzar la relació entre la Intel·ligència Artificial i els humans des de perspectives i paradigmes diversos. L’anàlisi audiovisual de les obres seleccionades és seguida d’una exploració de com s’estan produint aquests recents avenços tecnològics en la nostra societat actual, per relacionar-los amb les advertències que proposen les obres seleccionades i que ofereixen una lectura per al futur que requereix la implementació de normatives estrictes sobre la Intel·ligència Artificial per tal d’alleujar les angoixes humanes respecte a la tecnologia. Paraules clau: Intel·ligència artificial, tecnologia, ciència ficció, distopia, estudis cinematogràfics, societat.La inteligencia artificial es un concepto que fascina a la humanidad durante milenios. Desde la antigüedad, los humanos han estado obsesionados con la idea de crear un humano artificial perfecto para diferentes fines, como la compañía o la ayuda doméstica, y han escrito sobre ello en textos fundacionales de diversas culturas. Esto se convirtió progresivamente en literatura de protofantasía o proto-ciencia ficción en la Alta Edad Media. Sin embargo, no fue hasta el siglo XIX cuando la influyente obra Frankenstein (1818) de Mary Shelley reunió diferentes aspectos de la creación de un ser humano artificial, discutidos dentro de una comprensión psicológica y social más amplia. Con la llegada de los medios audiovisuales en el siglo XX, estas representaciones de humanoides creados artificialmente o de otras creaciones con cierto grado de conciencia han poblado tanto la gran pantalla como la televisión. Esta tesis se centra en las conexiones sociales de dichas representaciones de la Inteligencia Artificial, centrándose en la serie de televisión Black Mirror (Charlie Brooker, 2011), así como en las películas Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014) y Her (Spike Jonze, 2014), analizando las relaciones entre la Inteligencia Artificial y los humanos desde una variedad de perspectivas y paradigmas diferentes. El análisis audiovisual de las obras seleccionadas va seguido de una exploración sobre cómo estos avances tecnológicos recientes se están produciendo en nuestra sociedad actual, vinculándolos con las advertencias que formulan las obras seleccionadas y ofreciendo una lectura de futuro que requiere la implementación de una estricta normativa en torno a la Inteligencia Artificial para aliviar las ansiedades humanas sobre la tecnología. Palabras clave: inteligencia artificial, tecnología, sociedad, ciencia ficción, distopía, estudios cinematográficos.Artificial Intelligence has been a concept that has infatuated humankind for millennia. Since antiquity, humans have been obsessed with the idea of creating a perfect artificial human for different aims such as companionship or domestic help, and ancient cultures have devoted foundational texts to the artificial human. This literary occupation gradually evolved into proto-fantasy or proto-Science Fiction literature in the early middle ages. However, it wasn’t until the 19th century that Mary Shelley’s influential work Frankenstein (1818) brought together different aspects of creating an artificial human discussed within a broader social and psychological understanding. With the advent of audiovisual media in the 20th century, such representations of artificially created humanoids or other creations with some degree of consciousness have populated both the silver screen and television. This thesis focuses on the societal connections between such representations of Artificial Intelligence, focusing on the TV show Black Mirror (Charlie Brooker, 2011) as well as the films Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014) and Her (Spike Jonze, 2014) by analyzing the Artificial Intelligence - human relationships from a variety of different perspectives and paradigms. The audiovisual analyses of the selected works are then followed by an examination of how such recent technological developments are taking place in our current society. These texts under examination exhort us to beware the potential dangers of AI technology, which require implementation of strict regulations around the Artificial Intelligence framework in order to alleviate human anxieties about technology. Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, technology, technology and society, Science Fiction, dystopia, film studies, society

The Effects of Income Inequality and Redistribution in Democracies: A Dynamic Panel Data Approach

In this paper, the simultaneous effects of the inequality and redistribution on economic growth are tested for the whole sample and for a subset of democratic countries, following system-GMM estimation on a panel dataset over a period from 1960 to 2010. Overall, net inequality has a negative significant effect on subsequent 5 years for both samples, while redistribution impact is only significant in democracies. The findings are related to the fact that in democracies, the governments tend to significantly redistribute more

Midnight Express as a Product of Hollywood Orientalism

The concept of Orientalism has been a forthcoming issue in film studies, be it the (mis)representation of minority groups in Hollywood, or white-washing people of color characters in remakes of films from “the Orient”, or through a complete omission of representation of these characters. Ideology is a great aspect in shaping the views of the masses, and as they become more embedded in cultural devices such as films, the more soft power they deploy and the more problematic they become. In Foucauldian terms, knowledge about the Orient is produced through films made by the Occident, and thanks to their infinite capital and wide distribution networks, the West, particularly America, is far more successful in retaining a cross-cultural dominance through this power/knowledge structure.This paper aims to deconstruct the motives behind Oliver Stone & Alan Parker’s 1978 film Midnight Express, in terms of putting Turkey and Turkish people in the Oriental position and putting Western and White characters in the Occidental epistemological positions. Some questions this paper tackles include “How does Orientalism work in the context of Film Studies? Does the Gaze grant a monolithic and unidirectional look at the Orient instead of the Occident?

Measuring the Architectural Design Skills of Children Aged 6-11

AbstractThe purpose of this study is a) to conceptually define the architectural design skills which enable children to design their own educational environment and living areas, b) to identify the higher order thinking processes related to these skills and, c) to discuss the tools, methods and approaches that can be used in measuring these skills. The discussion is enriched with the construction of a performance task which includes the design of a product by children aged 6-11, requiring the use of creative thinking and visual thinking to illustrate the way of measuring architectural design skills. An analytic rubric has also been developed in order to assess the task in accordance with several criteria. The study is considered as important in expressing how to use the measurement and evaluation approaches which include not only the architectural design product, but also the architectural design process. This study is also important to ensure widespread use of these approaches mentioned above

Numerical study of fractional Camassa-Holm equations

A numerical study of fractional Camassa-Holm equations is presented. Smooth solitary waves are constructed numerically. Their stability is studied as well as the long time behavior of solutions for general localised initial data from the Schwartz class of rapidly decreasing functions. The appearence of dispersive shock waves is explored

Turkish and Italian art teachers' views, experiences and self-reported competencies on the educational assessment practices in arts

L'abstract sintetizza una ricerca comparativa tra Turchia e Italia rispetto alle rappresentazioni e pratiche di valutazione degli insegnanti di discipline artistiche di tutti gli ordini scolastic

HISTORY TEACHERS’ VIEWS ON USING LOCAL HISTORY

Local history should be taught in history courses. It enables students to investigate and learn geography, form connections between past and present, and gain important life skills. This study analyzes the views and practices of Turkish history teachers vis-a-vis local histories in a qualitative study. The focus group consisted of 12 history teachers working in the central provinces of Kayseri city. Researchers used semi-structured interviews to collect data, and used qualitative analysis, explanatory and deductive codes to explore emerging patterns in the data. Our data show that local history lessons facilitate greater knowledge of local geography and culture. Conversely, teachers reported financial issues, lower teaching hours, and disinterested students when implementing local history curricula. According to these results, our researchers provide recommendations to better implement local history activities in the classroom.  Article visualizations

Eccentric Gas Disk Orbiting the White Dwarf SDSS J1228+1040

Metal pollution onto white dwarfs is a wide-spread phenomenon that remains puzzling. Some of these white dwarfs also harbour gaseous debris disks. Their emission lines open a unique window to the physical properties of the polluting material, lending insights to their origin. Here, we model the emission line kinematics for the gas disk around SDSS J1228+1040, a system that has been continuously monitored for over two decades. Our model shows that the disk mass is strongly peaked at one solar radius (modulo the unknown inclination), and the disk eccentricity decreases from a value of 0.44 at the disk inner edge, to nearly zero at the outer edge. This eccentricity profile is exactly what one expects if the disk is in a global eccentric mode, precessing rigidly under the combined forces of general relativity and gas pressure, and with a period of 20 yrs. The gas disk contains a mass that is roughly equivalent to that of a 100-km rocky body, while the mass of the accompanying dust disk is likely insignificant. The disk eccentricity confirms an origin in tidal disruption, and we suggest that the disrupted body is sourced from a Mars-mass planetesimal disk within a few AU. More detailed analysis of this disk is warranted.Comment: Submitted to A