[dreamsofmachines]

Hi,

My name is Danielle Silk and I am a 4th Year Social Anthropology Student at the Unviersity of Kent, UK.  As part of my final year project in Social Computing I am investigating the public perception of AI and VR and how/if this is effected by populr media. I was directed to this forum by one of my friends.
In order to conduct my research I have set up a survey, available here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?pli=1&formkey=dG91dnFzYTExdzIwLWVQMGJLWEtlY0E6MQ#gid=0

I am also currently collecting reviews of Popular Media portrayals of AI and VR using this website:

http://dreamsofmachines.wordpress.com/

If you would like to contribute to the website reviews I would be very grateful, but I will need you to email me at: dreamsofmachines@gmail.com so I can send you an invite.  Also, please feel free to contact me if you would like anymore information.

Thank you kindly for your time.

Danielle Silk

[Chrona]

I was directed to this forum by one of my friends.

=P

[DaveDaveDaave]

It`s interesting but hard perhaps to explain I may end up editing this comment. A friend of mine a long while ago when I complained of WH40k type helmets/ body armour appearing in other sci fi media/games, ie Laser Squad  and i bemoaned the lack of originality and plagurism etc said something that stuck with me but I didn`t understand for a while. "Dave, thats just how the future happens." Megh, yup I`m not making myself clear.

[dreamsofmachines]

I'm not sure if I quite understand, I'm afraid, but perhaps what you mean is that your friend believed the ideas found in certain genres of sci-fi are repeated over and over?  Almost as if we've fallen into a pattern of how we believe the world will turn out?  It's difficult to explain and I'm not sure if that is what you meant.  Sorry.

[DaveDaveDaave]

Yup,  perhaps more that the future these days is shaped by tiny steps in many disparate fields that all borrow from each other. Perhaps too narrow a field to ask if the public perception of AI and VR is shaped by popular media as the popular media that references such things is accessed by only a generally limited demographic?
Erm to make it clearer. Over the past 40 years car stylings have been shaped by fashion, safety advances, materials development, engine weights and the death of obsolete tech. I miss car cassette players (not sure why tho), as well as lots of other advances elsewhere.
Minority Report may look like the future but its only  "15 minutes into The Future" as the need for the gloves he used to interface data is allready gone as the tech to interface is allready in peoples homes in the form of the Wii Kinect?
I think that the public perception of Ai and Vr is not so much shaped by popular media, as all that can offer us is a snapshot of general trends atm? 

[dreamsofmachines]

That's an interesting point of view which I have yet to come across in the process of my research. 
I am not sure as of yet whether popular media may influence people's perceptions of AI and VR, but hopefully when my research is complete I will have a better idea.  However, looking at the many portrayals, or at least recent portrayals, of the subject there does seem to be a general trend.
Wii Kinect, I have the feeling, is more likely to be referred to as a type of augmented reality, but it may well be one of the first steps towards more accessible VR, say for the purposes of home entertainment.
As for it being a narrow topic area, unfortunately I have only had a limited amount of time to complete my research.  It would be possible to widen the area of study if I had more time.
Thank you very much for your comments.

[dreamsofmachines]

I am happy to announce that I have finished my research and have now published the results.  These can be found, for anyone interested, at Results

I would like to thank everyone who contributed.  Without your help I would not have been able to complete my project. 

Many thanks,

Danielle.


Mod Edit: Linkified

[JoeNapalm]

Just as an aside, if you use this research to create Skynet, we will be very disappointed.



-Jn-
City of Brass Expatriate

[Mirikon]

Just as an aside, if you don't use this research to create Skynet, we will be very disappointed.

Fixed that for you.

[Backgammon]

I am happy to announce that I have finished my research and have now published the results.  These can be found, for anyone interested, at Results

I would like to thank everyone who contributed.  Without your help I would not have been able to complete my project. 

Many thanks,

Danielle.


Mod Edit: Linkified

I find there are serious flaws in the analysis of Blade Runner on the above-mentionned site, mostly brought on by the fact the author did not fully understand the movie. I left a comment explaining it.

[Chrona]

I find there are serious flaws in your analysis of Blade Runner, mostly brought on by the fact you did not fully understand the movie. I left you a comment explaining it.

That analysis was written by colin45, not dreamsofmachines

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

... not to mention your comment has at least three glaring errors in and of itself ...

[Backgammon]

I find there are serious flaws in your analysis of Blade Runner, mostly brought on by the fact you did not fully understand the movie. I left you a comment explaining it.

That analysis was written by colin45, not dreamsofmachines

This being the internet, I don't know that those two usernames are not in fact the same person. But, fair enough, I edited my post to be more vague.

... not to mention your comment has at least three glaring errors in and of itself ...

I'm always up for discussions about Blade Runner! What are these errors then?

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

You post as facts things which are opinions, basically.

[Backgammon]

Hmm, I actually don't see it. Which things specifically, since you said there's three, you must have specific things? The only thing I see as subjective is the "shitty" versus "real" ending. Some people may actually prefer the original ending, I suppose, but (especially) in light of an academic dissertation I would tend to say the ending as intended by the director/writers should be considered the better one and more relevant to a study of the depiction of AI in pop culture. You could argue the attitude of the production company, forcing a happy ending, says something about the depiction of AI vs humans, but I think it really just comes down to a basic "bummer" ending vs "happy ending" regardless of the subject matter.