Could someone (tersely) tell me what makes Ex Machina so brilliant and interesting?
I watched it and came away with "That's a decent film with a boring ending."
In an egotistical moment I might dismiss the opinions of my non-CS friends as "Oh, these are new thoughts to them," but a lot of technical people seemed to love it to.
Yeah, it's the classic AI box experiment (Hey, maybe Eliezer Yudkowsky used to win this by getting you to dance with him, who knows). I didn't find the ending boring given the very grave consequences and the chilling way it played out.
I hadn't heard of Eliezers AI Box. That is literally the film.
Googling around that and the movie name led me to this essay - some interesting stuff about Turings imitation game, and what Caleb should have done, and whether Ava was right to do what it did. http://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/women-in-ai-boxes-ex-mac...
Essentially: Put tech frat bro, white knight, and trapped woman in room. Turn time crank.
I generally have issues with stories that feature static characters (they feel contrived, no matter how well textured). And to me Ex Machina felt exactly like that, albeit using the concealing veil of delayed exposition to create an illusion of dynamicism.
To put it another way, if you knew everything the movie tells you about the nature of all the characters at the start of the movie, couldn't you have predicted the outcome from the beginning?
And if so, then what's really being said?
If we're looking at interesting statements in gender politics, I'd contrast it negatively with something like Stephen Universe.
The philosophical concepts were not new to me, but it brought them to life in an interesting way, and allowed me to talk about some cool ideas with my friends who had seen the film.
Trying to avoid spoilers but I thought how she was able to detect sincere and equal empathy and her response was at least interesting. Perhaps cliche but was curious if it would have went the other way.
I would promote it on the principal that I would like to see more smart, character driven movies. You don't have to have to have your mind blown to like a piece of art, and this film gave me an excuse to talk about paperclip maximization with my mom!
Have you asked yourself if everything you see in the movie is as presented? SPOILER: In other words, are the people people and the AI AI? (That's the wow.)
Yes, there are plenty. Now we can debate perception all day, but I think this sampling is enough to pique interest..from what I can remember:
we don't know caleb's history
he has a big, unexplained scar on his back
there is a lot of focus / talk about iterations of the AI
caleb is the one locked in an observation room when he has talks with ava
the cutting himself scene is...odd and unnatural
he never, ever gets drunk
there's a weird scene towards the end where nathan refuses a drink from caleb and goes out his way to make him take a sip and asks how it tastes (he does not answer)
the conversations btw nathan and caleb are not exactly natural, in that nathan consistently prods caleb to provide more in depth/opinionated answers and not be so technical
added: wouldn't the best test of an AI be to give the AI freedom and see if it recognizes itself as AI?
> added: wouldn't the best test of an AI be to give the AI freedom and see if it recognizes itself as AI?
Not really, as "recognizes itself as AI" presupposes a difference between AI and human. Gimmicks aside (i.e. let's see what's inside me), any AI which recognizes itself as AI would essentially fail the Turing test.
To me, those bits just came off as Lost/Shyamalan-esque hand waiving without saying something definite. Anyone can write a profound question they don't intend to answer.
The spinning top in Inception, or the dream in Blade Runner, are far more intentional.
"Definite" is boring and lazy to some (like me). Giving the audience enough space for interpretation is exciting to some (like me). It's ok, not everybody has to like the same thing.
I watched it and came away with "That's a decent film with a boring ending."
In an egotistical moment I might dismiss the opinions of my non-CS friends as "Oh, these are new thoughts to them," but a lot of technical people seemed to love it to.
So what's the wow?