Ok, going to deal with this head-on. Its no secret that “Transcendence” is receiving poor reviews (yielding very low attendance here) but I so disagree with the reviews as does Kevin Turan of the LA Times who states that “The focus on artificial intelligence in Transcendence with Johnny Depp is brilliant because it lets the audience decide questions of good and evil.” latimes/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-transcendence-review20140418,0,6075185.story#axzz3033VLIXe While I can pick out some imperfections in this film (ask me afterwards if you wish), its an intriguing film because the subject is interesting, provocative, and prescient. Its that combination of near-science fiction/fact that makes the story important and thought-provoking. The important concept is called The Singularity, popularized by our leading futurist, author Ray Kurweil. (kurzweilai.net) who is best known for his book “The Singularity is Near.” The Singularity is the point at which a computer reaches the intelligence of a human, and then exceeds it. By Kurweils estimation, this will happen in 2029. Not 2529 or 2129 but 15 years from now. His very informed opinion compares with other scientists, with a “consensus” (if you can call a much wider time range consensus) at about 50 years from now. Maybe this is something we should be paying attention to. “Transcendence” is a entertainment movie, yes with a machine-gone bad element, but its not that simple. Dealing with both the ethics of transferring a human mind to a memory core, and then the potential consequences, this is a movie worth seeing...and then talking about afterwards. Join the discussion. Transcendence plays Sunday at 8PM, Monday thru Wednesday at 7PM, and Thursday at 5PM. (The Thursday time is dependent on Spiderman launching Thursday at 8PM; still to be confirmed.)
Posted on: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 02:26:47 +0000