Tag: AI

The Dystopian Cityscapes

Luci S.
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Blade Runner 1982

In cyberpunk stories, cities are more than just settings; they play a vital role, almost like characters themselves. Blade Runner (1982) and Neuromancer (1984) are perfect examples of this, both representing sprawling, dystopian cities characterized by neon lights, towering skyscrapers, and a blend of high-tech and low-life elements. These cityscapes offer a clear view of a future where new technology exists alongside social decline.

In Blade Runner, the city Los Angeles is shown as a dark, rainy city full of neon signs. Director Ridley Scott imagines a future with tall skyscrapers, flying cars, and huge digital ads in the sky. However, the streets below are filled with problems like homelessness, overcrowding, and pollution. The contrast between the bright lights above and the dirty, shadowy streets below shows how technology has made social inequality worse, not better. The constant rain and darkness give the city a feeling of hopelessness, making survival a daily struggle. The city is a giant machine. Scott used images of factories and industry to create a vision of the future city, reflecting concerns about the impact of post-industrial society.

Canadian novelist William Gibson by Wesley Merritt

Similarly, Neuromancer shows a future where cities are huge and messy. Chiba City, the main place in the novel, is described as a confusing and chaotic area. Chiba is known for its focus on implants, nerve-splicing, and micro bionics. The sky looks dark and gray, and the city is filled with bright ads, high-tech clinics, and black-market shops. In this city, advanced technology is mixed with crime and poverty, creating a mix of excitement and danger. The streets are full of hackers, mercenaries, and street fighters, all trying to find their place in this world. The city’s unique atmosphere comes from the sharp contrast between its advanced technology and harsh living conditions, highlighting the conflict between progress and hardship.

Blade Runner and Neuromancer show the conflict between new technology and human beings. The cities are not just perfect or completely broken but are a mix of progress and decay. These urban settings reveal how life in the future can be full of both high tech and tough realities, where dreams can quickly come true or fall apart.

Ushering A New Era: Blurring The Line Between AI and Human

Devin P.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

In the past few years, the distinction between human and artificial intelligence (AI) has dramatically shifted. What we once considered to be science fiction, confined to the lens of cyberpunk in media, is readily becoming a reality. Tools that use artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT and other AI models, are increasingly capable of incredible feats. They can now mimic human conversation, critical thinking, creatively find solutions, and make decisions based on evidence-based logic. This has led us to question: what does it even mean to be human? If what once separated the machine from the human has been conquered, what can we use to distinguish ourselves now? The boundary continues to steadily blur.

One significant change has been the advancement of AI in the creative realm. AI-generated art, music, and even prose have gained massive popularity. AI is no longer restricted to performing routine or mechanical tasks. It can work in spaces once deemed exclusive to the complexity of the human brain, providing more evidence of the growing blur between what is human and what is AI.

This shift in the boundary can be attributed to several factors. Firstly, the improvement of machine learning algorithms has allowed AI to produce more sophisticated and nuanced outputs. Secondly, access to large datasets has enabled AI to learn more about human style and complexity. AI algorithms have deeply studied human nature in an attempt to provide tools that can identify and solve individuals’ unique needs. Thirdly, societal and economic pressures are pushing for the adoption of AI in industry, as it offers efficiency and cost-saving potential.

The blurring boundary raises some critical questions. As AI becomes more integrated into society and creative processes, will human contributions still hold the same value? Where do we draw the line for AI decision-making in ethical matters? Would we let an AI decide to take someone off life support, or will that always remain a human responsibility? The bottom line is clear: AI will continue to advance, and we will soon have to reevaluate what we know about human identity and human intelligence.

Technological Tyranny

Sydney V.
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Tyrell Corporation Logo from Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/752285415/blade-runner-tyrell-corporation-logo

Both the film Blade Runner and the novel Neuromancer examine the rise of amoral, powerful corporations and the development of artificial intelligence (AI), often at the expense of individual freedom and identity.

In the film Blade Runner, the rise of powerful corporations and the development of artificial intelligence (AI) at the sacrifice of individuality and freedom is depicted through the Tyrell Corporation. The Tyrell Corporation dominates the society in the film with its technological innovation, the replicants. The replicants were created with a limited life span and were not considered human even though they were practically indistinguishable from humans. The corporation’s control over the replicants’ identities sparked their struggle for freedom and individuality. Beyond its business influence, it controls the lives of replicants and humans and operates with no regard for morals. The unchecked power of corporations leads to exploitation and dehumanization which can be seen in the movie.

Similarly, the novel Neuromancer demonstrates the same sentiments as Blade Runner through the use of the corporation Tessier-Ashpool S.A. and AI technology. Tessier-Ashpool S.A. has significant control over society’s resources which allows them to have influence on society in general. However, the corporation uses some ethically questionable and immoral business tactics to achieve its goals of power and profit. In this society, the corporation rules without regard for human rights and freedom. The use of AI in the novel showcases the idea that AI could surpass human control which poses a threat to what humanity is known as. When Wintermute attempts to merge with Neuromancer to form a superintelligence, this suggests that the limits to AI are unknown. The manipulation of Case, the book’s protagonist, by AI and the corporation shows how humans can compromise their individuality and freedom by interacting with these powerful entities.

Tessier-Ashpool S.A. Logo from Behance: https://www.behance.net/gallery/114927743/TESSIER-ASHPOOL-SA/modules/705575455

Both Blade Runner and Neuromancer are excellent examples of works that explore the rise of amoral, powerful corporations and AI with no regard for human freedom and identity. These works encourage thinking and conversation about the future of our society with the growth of technology and corporations. It leads to many questions about what the limits of technology in society should be and what it means to be human.

Do you like our owl?

Zoe C.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Both Blade Runner and Neuromancer depict very different dystopian cities that serve as a significant backdrop to the theme of their stories this backdrop is characterized by bright LED lights and super tall skyscrapers in an effortless blend of high-tech and lowlife elements. The visuals and narrative portrayed our pillar of the cyberpunk genre where there is a possibility for technology so advanced to exist simultaneously as a collapsing society. In Blade Runner, the vision of Los Angeles in 2019 is it gloomy rainy metropolitan area that is overpowered by towering skyscrapers huge billboards, and LED-lit streets. The city is a good representation of a cyberpunk society this is a place where wealth and technological advancements our only in possession of a few while the rest of the population lives in close quarters with a poor quality of life there is a very big contrast between those who reside in the Super tall towers and those who find themselves making ends meet below the neon lights. There are robots that are used for labor that somewhat resemble humans but this represents the line between technology’s ability to serve humanity but also use it as a tool of control and exploitation. From Neuromancer, the urban sprawl is chaotic and dense where advanced technology coexists with crime and a struggling society. This setting is a place where advanced technology cyberspace is the norm while the streets are raging with poverty and crime in desperation. The protagonist of the novel works within the digital realm of cyberspace. This is his opportunity to feel like he is escaping his reality. The novel emphasizes the difference between the high-tech world and the virtual realm that the character can escape to. His main goal is to escape the streets that are filled with drug addiction violence and crime. Both of these works use the setting to explore the impact of corporate technological dominance and how if technology is left unregulated it can significantly alter a society. In Neuromancer the mega-corporations and powerful AI control most of the infrastructure of technology which leaves little room for human autonomy. In both cities the theme embodies a dystopian future that is envisioned by the creator the difference between the neon-lit wonders versus decaying streets in poverty aims to capture the cyberpunk genre where technology is shadowed by societal collapse.

Defining Humanity: Exploring Identity in the Blade Runner and Neuromancer

Jazmine F.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Blade Runner focuses on what it means to be human through the depiction of the replicants, while the novel Neuromancer explores similar themes through the characters within their interactions with artificial intelligence and cyberspace. In the movie Blade Runner, the replicants are created so that they can be indistinguishable from humans. They have the advancements of humans as they express emotional and cognitive abilities, but as said in the film, they are created as slaves, and they have limited rights. Due to this, the audience is allowed to question what it truly means to be a human, whether it relates to what we can express as emotions or what rights we are given. Who knows? Roy is one of the replicants who seeks more life and freedom since he knows he will eventually die soon. His existence in the film focuses on his fight for survival. That moment underscores the emotional complexity of the replicants and challenges the audience to question humanity since he is indeed a replicant, that expresses very human-like qualities. The movie exhibits traits that define what a human is like, the ability to love and have fear, which leads the audience to question what humanity is defined as.

However, the novel Neuromancer dives into the themes of the depiction of artificial intelligence and the virtual world of cyberspace. An enlightened example of this is Wintermute, who is one of the AI’s. His interactions with Case highlight the complexity of AI consciousness in how AI can influence human actions. The desires of Wintermute correlate with the desire and growth of what it means to be a being. Cyberspace is a virtual realm where consciousness can interface with the digital world, blurring boundaries. Case, for example, navigates this cyberspace, eventually questioning reality and self. This relates to Blade Runner because digital and physical realms impact one’s sense of self.

Overall, the movie and novel use the advantage of technology and artificial entities to lead to the question of what it means to be a human and of human existence.

Invasion of the AI Body Snatchers

Jenna L.
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Robots sit next to a confused human as they prepare for work.

In more recent years, we’ve seen an increase in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Usage ranging from mundane tasks like organizing a shopping list to extraordinary things like being used in healthcare systems and helping with medical diagnosis. Although the use of technology can bring great change, it does create a cause of concern for many individuals. Many are worried about their invasion of privacy, that the common job will soon be replaced with AI or maybe even the world as we know it! 

As someone who is still quite skeptical of AI, it does worry me that most private platforms use AI or incorporate it in some kind of way. I’m not exactly sure what prompted this AI surge as it integrated with other forms of media, but if I’m being honest, I’m not a big fan. For example, AI has integrated itself into personal social media platforms or workspaces such as Google, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. I believe the shifting boundary began as AI was able to gain personal knowledge and invade privacy in a way that’s so scary it often blurs the lines between what’s humanly done and what’s not. Recently, I’ve seen a rise in “AI covers” where songs use AI to replace the original singer’s voice with a model that sounds like another artist. In some cases it can be quite funny, however, in many instances it can be terrifying especially with the accuracy of the newly generated voice. To add on to this, I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen Deep Fake videos. Deep Fakes are AI crafted media where one person’s face is constructed onto another person’s body, they’re highly convincing yet entirely synthetic videos. AI-generated fake videos are becoming more common (and convincing). Here’s why we should be worried written by Ian Sample, delves into the concept of Deep Fakes, its problem and how they can be spotted. It’s important to note that many AI Deep fakes are used for scams to deceive individuals.  

Combine Deep Fakes, AI voice generating programs and chatGPT with video synthesis and in about another year or so, you could be videoing, chatting, and working with a fully AI generated person and not even know it! This AI “person” could get hired at the same company that you do and potentially work there for years without being detected. And before you know it the AI “person” has gained the skills and knowledge to move up the corporate ladder, become the boss, then the CEO, take over the company, hire more robots, fire all humans, declare war and cause the end for all mankind!! Ok, enough of the freaky horror movie talk, I try not to be too paranoid, but it really does make me wonder how much AI will seriously affect us in the near future. 

The ChatGPT Takeover

Sydney V.
Reading Time: 2 minutes
The Kirby’s Foundation image depicting the potential roles AI will have in our lives in the future. https://thefusioneer.com/blog/the-future-of-ai-5-ai-advancements-to-expect-in-the-next-10-years/

Five years ago, if you had asked students what online resources they use to assist them with their classwork, many students including myself would have said Wikipedia or a similar website. In today’s day and age, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) resources, such as ChatGPT and Meta’s AI tool on Instagram, has surpassed the use of Wikipedia by students when they need quick information. In the past five years, the role of AI has shifted from experimental technology to one used daily by many people. At its inception, it was used by many people in advanced science fields or technology industries. The AI that was previously used had a narrow scope and could allow me to answer specific questions or provide specific information. Now, AI is easily accessible to anybody who has a cell phone. AI can also handle more complex tasks which allows them to be used in a variety of industries. 

I believe this shift in the use of AI can be attributed to increasing technological advancements and a larger need for more answers to societal problems. The advancements in computer and phone technology over the past five years have allowed more AI models to be released faster and more accessible. These technological advancements have also allowed the AI systems to handle more complex tasks which makes them more useful for both people in industry and everyday use. Since we live in a fast-paced world, the need for AI systems that increase efficiency and productivity has increased. It helps industries efficiently complete repetitive tasks at a lower risk of error. AI is also beneficial for some personalized tasks as it can provide specific information based on what is inputted into the system. It is important to be aware of our increasing reliance on technology, specifically AI because it relates to the transhumanism and posthumanism discussion. Are we allowing AI to help us enhance ourselves as humans or are we viewing this new form of technology as potentially being able to get to the same level as us?