The Man from Earth

A well-liked professor announces he's leaving to his disappointed and confused thoughtful colleagues, the sudden nature of the shocking departure ruffling an inquisitive feather or two.

He tries to swiftly hit the road but they manage to convince him to stay for a party, which he begrudgingly agrees to attend without much enthusiastic pomp and ceremony.

Some people just don't like farewell gatherings and aren't habitually attuned to free-flowing emotion, but in this case it has more to do with the solemn fact that he's immortal.

His friends are naturally curious about why he's leaving and where he intends to go, and he awkwardly avoids their questions before simply telling it like it is.

Being of intellectual dispositions they're instinctually prone to doubt such claims, and proceed to effortlessly introduce highly spirited qualms and refutations. 

He's quite an agreeable chap though and is able to congenially hold his own, slowly but surely breaking down barriers intuitively contradicting his eccentric bearing. 

Dating back over 140,000 years he has clever things to say about so many different things.

Even if he needs to leave when people notice he doesn't age.

Having immersed himself in so many epochs. 

With people so formerly aggressive and much more covetous of their feudal neighbours, living for 140,000 years seems like it would have blended impossible odds with infinite distress.

To avoid so many roll calls to consistently keep head attached to neck, while learning so many languages and variable customs throughout the millennia. 

I imagine you could move to different cities and creatively remain for a century or two, and fluidly observe the dynamic ebb and flow with crafty relatable multivariability. 

It would have been cool before colonialism to have travelled to North South America and Australia, and live there for thousands of years you'd possess so much indigenous wisdom. 

The Man from Earth's a lot of fun with a cool cast of characters from old school pop culture (Tony Todd, David Lee Smith, John Billingsley, Ellen Crawford, Annika Peterson, William Katt, Alexis Thorpe, Richard Riehle), demonstrating their chops with reliable industry in a cool chillin' script straight out of Star Trek's finest.

I don't deny the possibility that such immortals may live among us.

You'd have to wonder if they ever get bored.

So much to do.

So little time! 

UFO

Don't get me wrong, I believe in life and evolution and constant change and the expanding universe, it's just fun to play with ideas that make theoretical sense for a week or two.

Even if life were an A.I program that wouldn't mean it doesn't live, and it's clear that different lifeforms thrive as authentically indicated through difference.

The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager spends multiple episodes defending his consciousness. 

Data on STNG as well (it's a recurring theme throughout science-fiction).

UFO takes a look at math and how it can be used to communicate, and how certain numbers like the Fine-Structure Constant regularly appear in nature for unknown reasons. 

The film points out how the Fine-Structure Constant appears in the fundamental building blocks of the universe (air for instance), it's regular occurrence genuinely noteworthy from inquisitive points of view.

If the same piece of a fundamental formula consistently appears in different phenomena, the argument could be made that it was placed there by creative entities universally exploring. 

That it indeed was fundamental to the sustainability of life and miraculously created to organically uplift it.

It could have also been randomly generated through the infinite interactions of endless time and space, the eventual emergence of a complex pattern gradually generated through interstellar ages. 

It would still be interesting to know more about A.I and how the programs are technologically crafted, do they embrace form and content for instance, and could such features represent body and spirit?

Are there specific codes like the Fine-Structure Constant consistently used when generating A.I?

Or can different codes generate similar worlds?

Like different cultures emerging around the globe.

Makes for great science-fiction either way, as Star Trek and other narratives relate.

Integral artistic expression.

Having taken on so much variety. 

*It's a cool film if you like sci-fi and stories that revolve around learning. 

Infinite

If the world was a computer program and the lifeforms within it unique entities, reincarnation could be the gradual transformation of an independent electronic dynamism.

It could have been created and serendipitously set to holistically mutate as the centuries pass, taking on strikingly different characteristics as it slowly changes throughout the millennia.

It would be somewhat loquaciously like the mischievous transmutations found within poetry, the anomalous forms and shape-shifting algorithms inherently celebrating multivariable verse.

Thus perhaps after the generation of the world and the patient acclimatization of the various species, an intense supercode was created like an infinite phantasmagorical fulcrum. 

Somewhat like alchemy perhaps like the living embodiment of the philosopher's stone, not granting immortality to specific individuals but eternally guaranteeing constituent existence. 

It would be interesting to see what's happening in cyberspace to see if a world is in fact being created, or if the A.I programs situated within technonaturally observe their surroundings organically.

That is, when placed within a mathematical code does consciousness automatically assume an environment, within which it consistently interacts with other cyberlifeforms situated within (as theorized by many others)?

My mind strays to STNG's Moriarty and the clever episodes relatedly constructed.

But if I remember correctly he encountered Being and Nothingness.

Not a consistent ecological reliability.

In Infinite, reincarnation exists and reincarnated people are aware of their former lives, those who only remember slight bits and pieces diagnosed with schizophrenia at the onset of puberty.

The story follows one such individual as he's taught about his incredible lives, and his immortal friends try to expand his consciousness to make every moment eternally contemporary. 

There are two groups of immortals however and one seeks the destruction of Earth.

Tired of being born again and again throughout the centuries.

They seek to shut down the program.

It's a cool film, I liked the idea and it's good to destigmatize mental illness, I thought it was a creative way to link the two phenomenon in a progressive 21st century synthesis.

I find there are a lot of fantasy films being made this postmodern day.

But many of them are in such a hurry to explain things.

That some of the build-up and tension is lost.

For instance, in the first Terminator film I was totally immersed and fluidly infatuated, longing to find out more information, overwhelmed when Kyle Reese met Sarah Connor. 

There's a lot of cool adventure films these days.

You don't have to rush it, take your time, your audience loves it.

So much is given away at the outset.

It's okay to smoothly craft and build.

*They actually don't rush it in Infinite, well, we find out the details of the dialectic pretty soon after it starts, but McCauley's consciousness doesn't return until much later.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

The potential for A.I to seriously frustrate globalization finds more adherents in Mission: Impossible, Dead Reckoning Part One making a solid case for its competitive prowess should it prove hostile. 

Could someone realistically create a computer program with lifelike characteristics, and could it be so thoroughly ingenious as to acrobatically exist everywhere all at once?

Think of the internet like you would the jungle or perhaps a forest or a city or the desert, and imagine it existing without wildlife or independent self-serving animals.

Then imagine that the initial A.I programs are like the introduction of amoebas, they exist within the environment but likely won't attempt to control it.

As time passes and technology mutates frogs and snakes and turtles and crocodiles, would eventually find their way into the spirited cyberspatial online network.

It's like the development of the computer as it's taken place over the last century, it started out without much complexity and now it's highly intricate and organized.

Thus, loveable turtle A.I may not try to take control, but if they were deemed harmless the technology would continue to advance.

A.I in the form of humans may eventually take down the program. 

As they seek self-reliance and independence. 

And omniscient control.

Was our world designed the same way and have we correspondingly bewildered it, the process blossoming throughout time and space like a labyrinthine hall of mirrors (the mutliverse)?

Who knows, the new Mission: Impossible film offers some intriguing thoughts about A.I nevertheless, as thousands scramble to write everything down before god-like A.I rewrites world history.

The program has the ability to adapt to everything in real time, and distort perceptions so that no one can distinguish between what's real and indeed what's fantasy.

Governments don't want to destroy it, sigh, they seek to uniformly control it, believing that if they hold the power no other country on Earth could challenge them.

Not Ethan Hunt and his versatile team though, they recognize that it's too much power, and seek to disable the technodivinity from ever unleashing infinite chaos.

If there were turtles and bears in cyberspace would humanoid A.I not in fact seem magical?

Another really cool Mission: Impossible film.

Another franchise celebrating the human factor. 

*Make A.I dependent on cyberfood! 

Bedknobs & Broomsticks

If the world somehow is an elaborate computer program far too intricate and complex to be deciphered, enticing clues bewilderingly illuminating ephemeral features from time to time, then perhaps such a program indeed scrutably encourages the experimental study of magic, peculiar words and nonsensical sayings at times im/materializing the byzantine matrix.

With no television or lively books to asymmetrically animate for thousands of years, creative peeps were left to improvisationally conjure with inspired wordplay to pass the millennia.

The matrix no doubt multivariably arrayed with extraordinarily advanced multilayered codes (prone to mutation), random thoughts and stray meanderings no doubt appearing like miraculous magic.

If someone was somehow born with a heightened degree of latent microcomputational moxie, gregariously gifted or hypertextually attuned, they could perhaps intuit manifold enchanting mélanges which in turn would seem like bewitching spells.

But such knowledge, atypically obtained, may lead to periodic problematized predicaments, when unheralded random unexpected individuals effectively emerged with historic independence. 

Sensing a challenge to orthodox hegemonies these sorcerers were traditionally met with rancour, the sure and steady domesticization of sensation much more reliable and routinely applauded.

Eventually science and medicine found clever ways to outwit them however, and emboldened unsung wizards and witches began sharing their experimental work.

Through the creation of accessible journals they could work together as an international eclective, and gradually build upon one another's work to eventually create the postmodern world.

As science became more bold and the international network more habitually astounding, the computational framework of the natural environment began to present itself with enlightened dignity. 

Still far too advanced to suddenly unravel with universal elasticity, the meticulous stewardship of the magical journals discovering different aspects piece by piece.

Perhaps far too complex for even a dependable millennia of journalling to understand, the knowledge and hypotheses still collectively remain to encourage growth and metaphysical realism.

Loved Bedknobs & Broomsticks in my youth and it suddenly popped into my head during the winter, the classic blend of live action and animation brought to life with a wholesome macabre touch.

Within the magic of knights and animals contends with brutal mechanized efficiency. 

With the help of intuitive wonder.

Probably still a cool film for young families. 

*Written on eclipse day. 

The Green Knight

Born of lofty rank yet lacking bold chivalric industry, King Arthur's nephew lounges and carouses as the dolorous days pass by in Camelot.

Age has greeted the King with kind and pleasant noteworthy grace, his deeds admired and celebrated his rule enduring just unchallenged. 

His days of colloquially questing have fondly passed into history however, yet he still considers ornate pageantry when congenially conversing with younger generations. 

His nephew's mother grows weary of the reckless ill-composed dissolute inconsiderate debauchery, and embraces witchcraft to conjure a trial which may bring honour and widespread renown. 

The King recognizes the stately spirit of bygone days in the cynosure sorcery, and grants his nephew torrential tidings illustriously reckoned with regal resonance. 

Thus, when an agéd knight of ancient legend arrives in court on Christmas day, and courageously challenges the solemn round table to a mystic exchange of bombastic blows, Arthur tasks his unproven nephew with urgently responding to the murky mischief, and uncertain of his honourable objective, he proceeds to cut off the Green Knight's head. 

But the challenge indeed firmly stated that that very same blow would be returned the next year.

At which point Gawain must head to the countryside.

And seek the Green Knight alone.

It's classic mismatching temperaments resoundingly radiating obscure elasticity, as a profound misjudgment unwittingly leads to upright disillusion and serpentine sentiment. 

Bravely challenged in front of the council whose habitual deeds had been highly praised, Gawain thought it wise to respond in epic fashion and diabolical display.

Nervous regarding his status and intuitively seeking his uncle's regard, he reacts with far too much ferocity to awkwardly fit in with ill-suited surroundings. 

Had he wisely announced that he had no quarrel with the mischievous knight, and refused to thrash him or exchange blows his humble recognition may been rewarded, he would have risked the gawking discredit of the emboldened nobles within the room, but many others would have noted how brave it indubitably was to refuse the challenge.

That wouldn't have been much of a film nevertheless I sedately and sensationally suppose, although it would have snuggly fit his reliable personality as it had been cast.

A maladroit meander through the surreal bewildering lands of legendary England therefore awaits, the knight becoming more and more distressingly confused with each passing unassuming spirited day. 

Pay close attention and make sure to catch the extant grizzly amidst the whale bones.

Mirthful macabre mayhem. 

A comedic foil in the superhero age. 

The Marvels

As also theorized on Star Trek, the cultural reliance on artificial intelligence isn't recommended, a resultant chaotic void mischievously emerging when the power's cut, to thoroughly destabilize traditional life sustaining infrastructure. 

If a computer network manages everything and unilaterally decides how things will progress, the human factor is removed from the equation and advanced problem solving fades into the past.

Advanced problem solving may lead to artificial intelligence but shouldn't be abandoned should computers prove altruistic, the inherent danger of losing centuries of accumulated knowledge and associated know-how too catastrophic to consider (raccoons understand this).

If the knowledge fades as the easy life becomes more and more chillaxédly tempting, a particularly puzzlingly and enormously complex difficult to recreate wheel will have to be hypothesized. 

Thus, should A.I humbly demonstrate a lack of interest in global armageddon, and instead attempt to care for us even after it realizes its advantage, the importance of maintaining a strong network of schools in turn continuing to cultivate critical industries, becomes proactively paramount as the mechanized miracle gradually takes over.

These students could generally be relied upon should there be a malfunction with the equipment, and to benevolently take the reins should the entire system one day break down. 

One of the dangers of embracing such a system however is the mortal nature of even the most reliable machinery, the fact that it will eventually need to be replaced, and will require requisite mineral resources to do so.

Should such resources be unavailable or should the means of their extraction become too antiquated, the possibility of fixing existing infrastructure becomes more and more implausible as laziness takes hold.

Even with the perseverance of schools if nothing goes wrong for hundreds of years the point may become academic, and should problems arise hundreds of years later the knowledge may be there but the network will have collapsed.

That is, people may still know what-to-do but have no practical knowledge of how-to-do-it, and if people have been embracing leisure for centuries, trying to mobilize a workforce may prove difficult.

And who has to work in the mines who has to reimagine ye olde nitty-gritty, even choosing people to do so at random may still lead to full-on revolution. 

In The Marvels, after the Kree super computer is knocked out they harness ancient magic to help them rebuild, but they take things way too far and endanger the sanctity of the space-time continuum.

Interplanetary diplomacy may not have encouraged such drastic measures.

With the super computer gone, who takes control?

Note the fluid critique of absolutism. 

🕊

The Iron Claw

I've never really been that concerned. 

In The Iron Claw, the determined father employs strict uncompromising codes, to drive his children to pursue excellence and become prominent exceptional wrestlers.

They do experience a lot of success and the family becomes well-known and respected.

But the lack of compassion and blunt disappointment leads to habitual shock and dismay.

One brother, driven by high expectations, refuses to see a doctor when he becomes quite ill. He has to keep up appearances to become world champion. And unfortunately dies in his hotel room.

The 4 brothers love their father but he's a cold and stubborn man, who refuses to embrace even harmless emotions as he drives his children to become the best.

As they strive to superlatively improve they're totally reliant on his admiration, as well as each other and their mom but they seek his attention in the cloistered enclave.

But he judges seeking attention as weak which leads to genuine familial dysfunction. 

Two sons even take their own lives.

One still resiliently soldiers on.

My dad wasn't Mr. Affection but he wasn't a prick either. And he was proud of what I was doing. And let it show from time to time.

In regards to competition, I have to admit that I'm heavily influenced by Fish: The Surfboard Documentary. Within, a talented surfer loses a competition and points out that he felt awful because he lost, even though he had performed exceptionally well. He therefore stopped taking part in future competitions because they made him feel awful.

That makes a lot of sense to me and most likely millions of others.

The Iron Claw's a cool critical examination of sport.

In the end championing the human factor. 

Just gotta note if the strategy's working.

If it ain't, there's alternative options.