Monsters from the id

[DesDownunder]

I couldn't help but think of the Krell race on the Forbidden Planet who destroyed each other, through a machine that responded to the desires of their subconscious -the id, when I read this article on local scientists, here in good old Addle-aid working on how thought might be made able to control machines.

SOUTH Australian scientists have worked out how to read minds.

While there are products on the market that claim to interpret thought, they actually just monitor tiny muscle twitches.

But the Flinders Artificial Intelligence Laboratory can now read the signals from neurons firing within the human brain with a Brain Computer Interface.

It reads brainwaves, bypassing the central nervous system altogether, and can ignore "background thoughts" and focus on thoughts that require action. The technology will one day allow people with disabilities to drive wheelchairs with their minds.

Full article

I'll be okay, I have my own personal Robby the Robot.

[Cole Parker]

It seems a bit unauspicious to me that they name this remarkable step forward in technology the Flinders Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

It doesn't show a lot of confidence on their part to give their machine a name with the acronym FAIL.

C

[DesDownunder]

It seems a bit unauspicious to me that they name this remarkable step forward in technology the Flinders Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

It doesn't show a lot of confidence on their part to give their machine a name with the acronym FAIL.

C

Typical of our South Australian mob of bureaucratic shallow dunderheads.

[colinian]

I'll be okay, I have my own personal Robby the Robot.

Des,

You just might become someone's own personal Desmond the Robot!

Colin

[blue]

Now you've made me want to watch that movie again.

How come the hero never finds a nice young man? ;)

[JamesSavik]

Scientists from FAIL...

Hummm... sounds like the start of a really BAD sci-fi story... or perhaps the back story to a post-apocalyptic story.

[The Pecman]

II'll be okay, I have my own personal Robby the Robot.

Boy, wasn't that thing the greatest, from Forbidden Planet? A friend of mine and I love to quote lines from that film: "10 times 10 times 10... almost literally to the power of infinity!" "I am monitored to admit no one." "You ought to see my new mind... it's up there in lights..."

Man, what a great film. They're in the process of writing a script for a remake right now. I just hope it doesn't suck too much.

[The Pecman]

-

[DesDownunder]

Pec, it still is a great movie. I believe it was based on Shakespeare's Tempest. It was also released in Australia as MGM's first 4 channel Stereophonic CinemaScope movie. There was a short film that screened before the movie to explain the new sound to the audience using examples from Forbidden Planet. The scene that made the audience gasp was where Robby's car moved in a blur across the screen and the sound followed its movement.

I also believe that it was the first film to use Musique concr?te for the entire soundtrack both as sound effects and atmospheric music. I spent many hours trying to imitate the sounds.

I still have the 14" high Robby the Robot toy that my mother bought for me. It walked and flashed lights and was excellent at scaring my beloved cat. I am told it is now worth $700. (The robot, not the cat.)

One of my first electronic projects was to build my Robby a Krell laboratory-like house for him to live in.

My mom had told me I could choose between the toy car or Robby. The car is now fetching some $14,000 at toy auctions. I had to choose the robot and not the car, didn't I?

Like you, I do hope they don't ruin a perfectly good story with the remake.

[Camy]

I've never understood the need for re-makes, especially when the original was good. With all the talented scriptwriters out there you'd think re-makes were completely unnecessary.

[DesDownunder]

Quite right Camy. I shall send Pecman a list of our authors, asking him to distribute it among the Hollywood studios.

I'm certain most of our authors could come up with higher quality movie scripts than we have seen recently.

We''ll draw straws to see who wins the first Oscar.

[blue]

Nice to know I'm not the only science fiction fan in the room. :)

[The Pecman]

I've never understood the need for re-makes, especially when the original was good. With all the talented scriptwriters out there you'd think re-makes were completely unnecessary.

Yeah, TELL me about it! Even really talented writer/directors like Robert Rodriguez is now doing a remake, this one of Predator (the 1980s Arnold Scharzenneger film). Now it's being "reimagined" as Predators, which I guess makes it different.

[Bruin Fisher]

I have a suggestion which might be an explanation for remakes. I said explanation, not excuse!

Every time Hollywood backs a new film they take a risk. They don't like taking risks, and minimize those risks where possible. They think a remake is a lower risk than a new story - they know the public liked it once so perhaps they'll like it again.

Personally I think this is false reasoning - if they public liked the original they might very well boycott the remake out of loyalty to its forbear, especially if, as is so often the case, it's a pale imitation. But since when was Hollywood good at reasoning?

[blue]

I've rarely seen a remake that I thought was as good as or better than the original. "Reimagined?" Same goes there.

One case where I liked the restaging/resetting was Romeo + Juliet directed by Baz Lurman and starring Leo DiCaprio. No, Leo wasn't the only reason I liked the way they did it. It seemed to fit. Okay, so what if I'm not in the majority. I still liked it.

I'm curious about the remake of the V (Visitors) TV miniseries as a new show, though. It might be good; it looks good.

Heck, I am willing to give a lot of stuff a chance...but I don't always see it in the theatre if it's a movie.