Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Two More Salvos

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Michael Froomkin

1) The WashPo calls this Priorities USA spot a “brutal” portrayal of Trump as a “full-blown sociopath”:

2) The Clinton campaign “briefing” (rapid-response squad) has this web-only video ‘ad’ for Trump U:

Posted in Trumpalooza | 1 Comment

First Official Clinton Ad of the General Election

Posted on June 12, 2016 by Michael Froomkin

Who We Are | Hillary Clinton

Posted in 2016 Election | Comments Off

Entering the Uncanny Valley from the Human Side

Posted on June 12, 2016 by Michael Froomkin

This motion capture/computer graphics video from from Method Studios showcased by Cory Doctorow ought to be used to study the uncanny valley hypothesis. It’s said that as robots start seeming human, but not quite, that will weird people out more than would robots that are indubitably and clearly non-human. Well, what about when humans start seeming like something else?

I think the string people at 0:22 and 1:43 and 2:10 are pretty creepy. YMMV.

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AI Play No More Opaque than Beckett

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Michael Froomkin

Sunspring | A Sci-Fi Short Film Starring Thomas Middleditch
In the wake of Google’s AI Go victory, filmmaker Oscar Sharp turned to his technologist collaborator Ross Goodwin to build a machine that could write screenplays. They created "Jetson" and fueled him with hundreds of sci-fi TV and movie scripts. Building a team including Thomas Middleditch, star of HBO’s Silicon Valley, they gave themselves 48 hours to shoot and edit whatever Jetson decided to write.

You can see it at Sunspring | A Sci-Fi Short Film Starring Thomas Middleditch – Ars Technica Videos – The Scene.

It is no more obscure than some Samuel Beckett.

More info at Ars Technica’s Movie written by algorithm turns out to be hilarious and intense…including the somewhat disturbing fact that the AI has named itself Benjamin.