http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,44928,00.html A.I.: Lacks a Human Touch By Declan McCullagh (declanat_private) 4:40 p.m. June 29, 2001 PDT A.I. is a disturbingly eerie and occasionally captivating modern fairy tale that lives up to at least part of its name: It's more artificial than intelligent. The product of an unusual collaboration between Steven Spielberg and the late Stanley Kubrick, this film retells the children's story of Pinocchio through the eyes of a robot boy yearning to be human and wishing to be loved. But E.T. or Indiana Jones this isn't. Kubrick's darkling vision of the future weighs heavily on the first hour or so of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, resulting in brutish, horrific scenes reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange or The Shining -- definitely not suitable for children. At least Spielberg provides a far more enjoyable ending that -- while still eldritch -- is so unexpected and endearing that it ameliorates the earlier, unnerving sterility. Much of the movie follows the David-bot (Haley Joel Osment); first, after he's adopted by a couple mourning their lost son and then when he's set loose to wander around late-21st century America. He quickly learns that being a "mecha" in a world where androids are used for pleasure or sport isn't easy: The piggish humans want to torture him for the sin of being metal. Driving David throughout his wanderings is his wish to be human so his mother will love him again. That urge is hard-wired into David, and it could be compelling if it weren't so darn creepy. (Meanwhile, her "orga," or human, son has awakened from his coma-freeze and is back to start some sibling rivalry). Think Asimov's Laws of Robotics with the first law replaced to read: "Must find mother to love me." You get the feeling that the David-bot's running some descendant of the C programming language that's stuck in an infinite loop reading "repeat (find mom) {until mom == located}." [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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