So I've been reading the hype on this all day and finally watched the video on my lunch break.
I'm kinda disappointed?... I was expecting to be blown away by an insightful glance into someone's mind, but all I saw was the limitations of the technology. I'm not at all creeped out by the horror movie-esque distorted imagery, given the process that is creating those videos. It may have access to a huge database of images from which to pull reference, but any artist should realize how very difficult this still is. I've spent hours upon hours glancing through tens of thousands of images in search of X body type in roughly Y pose, just to use in the creation of a single still image that is remotely similar, much less identical. This software is going through that same process, but superimposing and rapidly switching between equally large volumes of imagery in attempts to construct not just one, but hundreds of images that are as identical as possible to hundreds of references. Of course it's going to look creepy and weird.
Anyway, this does have me thinking about a lot of things...
1.
My favorite TED talk, where a neurochemist talks about the experience of one entire side of her brain shutting down during a stroke.How does this factor in? As I understand it, our brain is two completely separate entities that communicate very intimately with each other. As a balanced T/F (only very slightly favoring F) on the Myers-Briggs scale, I am often very aware of the differences between my objective and subjective sides, to the point that I've often felt like they're two living beings constantly debating with one another. How does this software interpret differing input between the left and right sides? They're not always in sync, and I can't imagine how a computer that doesn't understand the human experience could mash these together into a single cohesive thing.
There have been many cases of people who have had the membrane connecting the two sides of their brain severed. There was a case where one such man had one hand that would try to attack his wife any time he went near her, while the other hand seemed to harbor no such malice. What would happen if you put that guy through this process and showed him videos of his wife? The software would either have to compile two separate videos, or... well... one video that is actually two separate videos superimposed on each other I guess.
Come to think of it, maybe this is the real reason why those videos look the way they do...
2. I'll also be one of the doomsayers who sees huge potential for abuse of this sort of technology in the future. We haven't even figured out how to handle privacy issues on the internet, and our leaders still believe that torturing someone to the point of permanent mental disability is a good way to get reliable information. And what about the effects on our culture, if it becomes possible to eavesdrop on someone's mind? Everyone has a public face, and with population density and surveillance technology both on the rise, it seems like we're less and less able to ever be ourselves. This has deep effects on how we interact with one another and our basic mental health. What happens to us when we can't even relax in our own minds?
However, I'm still fascinated by the positive potentials...
3. Somewhere, there is a Desty Nova laughing
Wait... that article mentioned Christopher Walken as a neuroscientist in a movie... and this is a picture of Walken as Desty Nova....
It all fits together... somehow...
Furthermore, when the prices of new devices developed with this technology eventually come down, it will usher in a new era of jadedness and banality* that will make even the current mindset of the developed world's people seem to be filled with excitement and whimsy by comparison.
*What do I mean by banality? I believe the villian from The Incredibles put it best, "When everyone is super, no one will be"
I've thought the same thing but for different reasons. I'm thinking this could sort of in a way turn the entire world into 4chan.