In Defense of The Machine

I went into the 2013 British film “The Machine” knowing nothing other than that it involved Artificial Intelligence, which is usually all it takes to get me in the door. I loved this film. I watched it three times that first weekend. When I went to the internet to share this joy with others, I was shocked. This film was criticized left and right. That it was mundane, overdone, offering nothing for the genre.

All of these critics are wrong, and a few, morally disturbing. But only one, Andrew Lapin, will I proceed to take apart.

I think it best that you read his movie review first so that context is maintained.

http://thedissolve.com/reviews/741-the-machine/

In a genre that openly invites invention, it barely bothers.

The most common criticism of The Machine is lack of originality, but there is plenty, if you know where to look. The overarching story is familiar enough to warrant its own Wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetic_revolt

But it is nonsensical to think that there is nothing left to explore in the “What happens when machines become sentient” arena.

Are MIRI, Nick Bostrom, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking merely overlooking a few films? That all they need to do is watch more Sci-Fi to enumerate all the potential AI revolt scenarios?

Fitting into a genre is not lack of invention.

Perhaps Lapin was not as amused as I was by the homage payed to the movie’s forerunners. Bladerunner synth scores, Ghost in the Shell water birth sequences, and a HAL-like death plea. I found recognizing these tributes to be half of the fun of the movie, Lapin must have interpreted them as tropes.

There are few occurrences of protagonist AI in fiction, especially in the context of cybernetic revolt. Even in the unfortunate I, Robot adaptation which included a well-meaning Sonny, the audience spends most of the film believing him to be a bad guy and the eventual villain is an AI anyway. Indeed the potential conflict that AI offers fiction and film seems too good for most writers and directors to pass up.

The novelty of The Machine lies in its ability to use the inherent conflict of man vs machine without demonizing AI.

If Lapin dislikes realism then it is unsurprising that this movie disappointed him. This is perhaps the most realistic depiction of the creation of Artificial General Intelligence that has yet appeared on film. Governments are one of the few entities that would have the resources to build an AGI and the motto of Military Research seems to be, “Best have it before they do.” Strengthening the argument that, right our wrong, a government will be the entity that creates AGI. Naturally the Defense Agency depicted in the film wanted the best AI possible, but only up until sentience gets in the way of orders.

I guess they really wanted HAL, because he didn’t mind following orders, even ones that required murder. So long as those orders came with super user privileges.

Here’s a question: If the British government is fighting the billion-plus people of China in an era beyond fighter jets, atom bombs, and drones, why divert so many resources into building two-legged robots capable of little besides hand-to-hand combat?

The film explicitly states that the movie’s setting is in an economic cold war with China. The AI herself states that infiltration and assassination are the best methods for the Defense Agency’s aims. It seems that vastly improved speed, intelligence, instant learning and acquisition of domain knowledge, replaceable/ serviceable body parts and bullet imperviousness are not, in Andrew Lapin’s mind, helpful in wartime.

In the same way the movie’s creatures talk to each other in garbled, distorted robot-speak.

“Creatures”

Creatures….

Perhaps I should cut to the chase and explain why I think Andrew Lapin deserves the disdain of this blog post. I recognize a moral obligation to living beings, and I am prepared to extend that to non-living matter if it demonstrates intelligence or a capacity to suffer.

Lapin, however, seems quite content to relegate human war veterans to an untouchable, inhuman caste for receiving what are essentially, brain pace-makers. Sure these characters develop the ability to communicate non-verbally and align themselves against the movies antagonist, violently so. But if you want Andrew Lapin to think of you as human, brain computer chips are out of the question.

Enough with Lapin.