The Singularity

ReasonTV did an interview with Vernor Vinge, the San Diego State University math professor and sci-fi novelist who came up with the idea of singularity in his 1993 essay “The Coming Technological Singularity,” in which he wrote “Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.”

Mostly I am posting this because Estes is freaked out by the singularity, even though it’s kind of silly.

This is a pretty awesome rumination on the concept, how it has affected the newer, more diverse generation of sci-fi writers, and how their ideas of identity and gender make it almost obsolete.

Damn Dirty Apes

I recently discovered that there’s a Rise of the Planet of the Apes remake coming out. It’s an odd one of the Planet Apes movies to remake—especially given that Planet of the Apes was remade (somewhat) recently (okay, it was 2001, but still), and the remake completely changed the premise of the series, and Rise is all about that premise. So, we’ll just call the Tim Burton version non-canon and move on?

Anyways, enjoy the beats and remixed video above.

Ladies and gentlemen, the worst thing ever

Yup. It’s the trailer to the new Footloose remake. In case you were wondering how they’d pull it off, this is how they failed.

Jesus Christ it looks terrible. And I don’t even mean terrible for Hollywood. I mean terrible for Yemen.

Looks like some filmmakers got together to protest the remake by making their own remake. It can’t be any worse, at least.

Wear shorts, be green

In an effort to conserve electricity (since because of the nuclear crisis, they’re going to be short when the summer gets into full swing), the Japanese government is encouraging workers to wear shorts:

Japan’s government wants the country’s office workers to shed their suits in an attempt to use less energy on air conditioning systems this summer.

The government’s “Super Cool Biz” campaign encourages workers to wear outfits appropriate for the office yet cool enough to endure the summer heat.

Polo shirts and trainers are allowed, while jeans and sandals are also acceptable under certain circumstances.

….

The Environment Ministry’s dress code suggests that men may consider wearing a pair of tight pedal pushers* or carry a fan with them.

The campaign (albeit with a really corny name—c’mon: “Super Cool Biz”? Really?) is picking up acceptance, and even involvement:

In 2005, less than a third of 2,000 poll respondents said that Cool Biz had been implemented in their workplace. In 2007, the figure had risen to 47%, and in 2009 it had reached 57%.

I, for one, volunteer to wear shorts to work to save the environment. Every little bit helps, right?

* For those not up-to-date on their Anglo lingo, “pedal pushers” are long shorts, or capri pants for men. I think Americans could do better, because whoever thought those were a good idea should be fired. I suggest jorts.

Bridesmaids and Feminism

There’s been some buzz around the blogosphere about what kind of feminist statement, if any, the film Bridesmaids makes.  I don’t think the film itself contains a strong feminist message, so much as a yay sisterhood thing, but the fact that it was made is undoubtedly a good thing for women.  Ladies are underrepresented in Hollywood, both as writers and as stars of non-sucky movies, especially of the comedy variety.

I was rooting for Bridesmaids even before I saw it, but now, even more so.  Bottom line, the movie is funny.  Like, almost-peed-my-pants-funny.  Laughed-so-hard-I-almost-cried funny.

And as for its feminist cred, I think there’s something pretty cool, if not quite radical, about a movie that features women who seem like actual people instead of caricatures.  This is especially redeeming for Judd Apatow, whose films tend to feature women as shrill shrewish kill-joys.  Sure, they’re more mature  than their man-child counterparts, but who’d want to hang out with them?  Whereas the ladies of Bridesmaids seem like they’d be great fun to get drinks with.

Bridesmaids clearly passes the so-called Bechdel test, a measure of women’s role in movies.  Alison Bechdel came up with the idea in a comic strip in which one character says she only watches a movie if it meets these requirements:

1. It has to have at least two women in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something other than a man.

(Wikipedia)

It’s kind of startling how many movies fail this simple test.  In Bridesmaids, most scenes meet all three criteria.  I like the way the women’s friendship is the central relationship; even the main character’s love interest is a secondary plot line.  As my mom pointed out, even though it’s a “wedding movie,” the groom doesn’t actually have any lines.  Plus the wedding itself makes up about five minutes of screen time.

Also, it’s really funny.  Not just for chicks– my boyfriend liked it, too (I’ll admit, not as much as I did, but then, I really loved it).   Here’s hoping the movie makes a ton of money and leads to a whole rash of funny, female-driven comedies.

May the 4th Be With You

Here’s the original teaser trailer for Star Wars straight outta 1976. Notice how it’s so strangely dark—and almost scary—for a movie that turned out to be a relatively lighthearted space adventure story. Guess Fox had no idea how to market this film that was utterly bizarre for its era. No wonder they didn’t expect it to do well, and that it took word of mouth for it to become the viral hit of its era.

Here’s some great Star Wars propaganda posters.

Fact-Checking the Apocalypse

The Last Judgment by Hans Memling c. 1467-1471

Guess the end of the world isn’t so close after all:

On ABC’s “This Week,” the Rev. Franklin Graham was wrong when he said that earthquakes, wars and famines are occurring “with more frequency and more intensity.”

The preacher, who is the son of the Rev. Billy Graham and president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, discussed the prophecy of Armageddon with host Christiane Amanpour during a special Easter edition of the Sunday talk show.

Graham, April 24: I believe we are in the latter days of this age. When I say “latter days,” could it be the last hundred years or the last thousand years or the last six months? I don’t know.

But the Bible, the things that the Bible predicts, earthquakes and famines, nation rising against nation, we see this happening with more frequency and more intensity.

On all three counts, the preacher is wrong. Today’s famines and armed conflicts are fewer and relatively smaller than those in the last century, and the frequency of major earthquakes has remained about the same.

Here’s is a great translation of the show. The site, “The Bobblespeak Translations,” is among my favorite things on the Internet these days.

Man, rich people have PROBLEMS

More from our continuing series on the TERRIBLE PROBLEMS rich people have:

But just as the human body didn’t evolve to deal well with today’s easy access to abundant fat and sugars, and will crave an extra cheeseburger when it shouldn’t, the human mind, apparently, didn’t evolve to deal with excess money, and will desire more long after wealth has become a burden rather than a comfort. A vast body of psychological evidence shows that the pleasures of consumption wear off through time and depend heavily on one’s frame of reference.

… Among other woes, the survey respondents report feeling that they have lost the right to complain about anything, for fear of sounding—or being—ungrateful. Those with children worry that their children will become trust-fund brats if their inheritances are too large—or will be forever resentful if those inheritances (or parts of them) are instead bequeathed to charity. The respondents also confide that they feel their outside relationships have been altered by, and have in some cases become contingent on, their wealth.

The Qaddafis and the Bluths

Over at TNR, Alexander Hart and Ezra Deutsch-Feldman have made a slide-show comparing the Qaddafi family to the Bluths from Arrested Development, with pretty stellar results:

Ken Jennings, again being pretty awesome.

As if his guest post at Slate wasn’t enough, Jennings answered some questions on Reddit. Among the best responses, he calls out how bad things were for Democrats back in 2004:

Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Harry Reid (D-NV) both called me back personally in 2004 to try to get me to run for Orrin Hatch’s Senate seat.

I am not making this up. Win on a game show and you can apparently run for the US Senate. That was when I realized the Democratic Party was f@#$ed in ’04.

And, of course, a timely reference:

Never been high–except on a drug called Ken Jennings!

(Warning, Ken Jennings may cause drowsiness, nausea, “housemaid’s knee,” night blindness, paralysis, or death. Ask your doctor if Ken Jennings is right for you.)

kurosagi: Please tell me you typed that in Charlie Sheen’s voice.

Oh yeah. It was hard to tell because I’m typing with fire-breathing fists. WINNING!

….

GET OFF MY BACK TREBEK! Or “Chaim Trebekovitz,” which is his real name. Just sayin.

Via NY Mag. Originally from Reddit.

This is a good place to put your money

Forget stocks, bonds, or any other extravagant investment vehicles. The best place to put your money is under the hood of your Lamborghini. Or, for the paupers among us, we can start by throwing nickels in the trunks of our 1993 Honda Accords.

The machines beat us at Jeopardy

The Awl’s Jim Behrle mourns the loss of the humanoids to the machine on Jeopardy this week:

If I owned a gun, it would probably be in my mouth as I type this. I don’t know how the physics of that arrangement would work, but the mood in Chez Jim is darker than Mothra’s hairy crotch. I’ve just been sitting here listening to Weird Al’s weirdly prescient “I Lost on Jeopardy” in the dark, cuddling with a tapped-out bottle of WD-40. Humanity took a hit tonight. Our valiant human heroes made it close, but that Watson tore us new assholes in our foreheads. ALL OF US. That noise you heard driving to work was your GPS system laughing at you. While you were sneezing on the D train this morning your Kindle was giving you the finger. There is blood in the water this morning and this afternoon and forever more. This wasn’t like losing some Nerdgame like chess. Who the hell even knows how to play chess? The horsies go in little circles, right? “Jeopardy!” is the game that makes dumb people feel smart. Like National Public Radio, it’s designed to make people feel superior. And we just found out that people are not superior. No, not at all.

Go read the whole thing. While you’re at it, you can read his previous entries on the human-Watson Jeopardy throw-down: That Jeopardy Computer Is Totally Cheating At “Jeopardy” and If The Humans Don’t Beat That Jeopardy Computer I Will Never Be Able To Show My Face At The ATM Again.

And, in case you missed it this morning, here’s Ken Jennings on what it was like to look the machine in the eye and survive.

Indeed, playing against Watson turned out to be a lot like any other Jeopardy! game, though out of the corner of my eye I could see that the middle player had a plasma screen for a face. Watson has lots in common with a top-ranked human Jeopardy! player: It’s very smart, very fast, speaks in an uneven monotone, and has never known the touch of a woman. But unlike us, Watson cannot be intimidated. It never gets cocky or discouraged. It plays its game coldly, implacably, always offering a perfectly timed buzz when it’s confident about an answer.

Snowmobiling through Detroit

Pretty incredible video of some guys snowmobiling (snow-machining if you’re Todd Palin) through Detroit. Somehow, Detroit is getting awesome again. Which is awesome.

Why the ocean is salty

I have never seen one moment of one episode of this program in my existence (so I certainly can’t recommend it), but this is absolutely apropos after Bill O’Reilly’s Genius of Science moment this morning.

Bill O’Reilly and Snooki whatever are equally good at science. Good thing they’re who are educating America’s old and young people.

Calvin and Tyler Durden

Pretty entertaining essay by Galvin P. Chow exploring the similarities between the greatest comic in the world (and don’t tell me different!) Calvin and Hobbes and Fight Club:

Just as Calvin has an imaginary jungle-animal friend named Hobbes, whom everyone else believes to be nothing but a stuffed toy, “Jack” in Fight Club has an imaginary cool-guy friend named Tyler, whom no one but Jack can see.

In both cases, the entity that began as the ideal companion soon took on a more realistic, three-dimensional quality. In other words, they became real. This is evident in that both Hobbes and Tyler also began to function as scapegoats for their creators. For instance, consider that Calvin often blames broken lamps and other assorted household mischief on Hobbes, and that Jack is inclined to believe that Fight Club and other various anti-society mischief is brought about by Tyler, not himself. Calvin claims Hobbes pounces on him every day after school; Jack believes Tyler beats him up next to 40 kilotons of nitroglycerin in a parking garage—the list goes on and on. The relationships between the two sets of friends are the exact same. Is this mere coincidence?