Author: akeen (Page 2 of 2)

AI Fiction Review – Aidan Keen

February 12, 2025 / akeen / 1 Comment

Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar both use Artificial Intelligence in crucial ways in their storytelling while both depict the concept in very different ways.

INTERSTELLAR

Interstellar follows a group of Astronauts traveling deep into space to find an inhabitable planet to replace a dying Earth in order to save the Human Race. Among the crew are two robots powered by Artificial Intelligence, TARS and CASE. Similar to your standard depiction of A.I. the two robots are relied on heavily by their human companions, and are seen as tools to help them. in whatever way they need. However, TARS and CASE are slightly different from the standard depiction of A.I. in their personalities. They show many human traits like humor specifically and even have sacrificial moments where they take their own “lives” into account to further the mission at hand of saving humanity.

Christopher Nolan depicts Earth as a slowly dying planet due to dwindling resources. Humanity is in full survival mode trying to find any attempt to save themselves and the future generations. Cooper, portrayed by Matthew McConaughey, agrees to embark on this mission to save humanity despite knowing he will miss a significant amount of his children’s lives because he is simply powered by love and the want for them to survive regardless of what may happen to him.

Overall Nolan portrays humanity that is incredibly reliant on technology, it is the thing that even allows them to attempt to save themselves. However the over reliance of the artificial intelligence of the film does ask the question of the morality of sending these autonomous robots with what appears to be emotions on missions just as dangerous for a regular person.

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

2001: A Space Odyssey tracks humanities attempt to understand the origins of a mysterious object on the surface of the moon with the help of HAL 9000, an incredibly advanced artificial intelligence. Similar to other fictitious A.I. HAL can understand human emotions and appears as human-like in their behavior. HAL also fits the typical mold of an A.I. turning on its creators for the priority of the mission. A stereotype HAL 9000 likely shaped the mold of. This sinister perspective shows HAL viewing human life as totally expendable in service of the mission.

Kubrick views the world as an ever evolving place that in this point in his story has reached a new peak of human exploration and thought. This is easily interpreted through the sequence at the start of the film presenting the “dawn of man”. He also views technology in an evolved state as well, however it has surpassed man’s capability. HAL 9000 has its own agency and priority compared to its human companions, prioritizing the mission over any life. This presents the ethical question of asking how much should humanity allow technology to grow. It brings fear to the viewer of what could happen beyond our current relationship with technology.

Kubrick focuses on critiquing the dangers of relying too heavily on technology to save humanity. It can continue to expand the evolve at a rate much master than man. Leaving humanity behind in order to see what is beyond.

Turtle Snitch – Aidan Keen

February 10, 2025 / akeen / 0 Comments

I am totally unfamiliar with Turtle Snitch, however, I figured using the example from the original post about the lab I could use simple trial and error in order to create a basic star. I basically went back and forth, first changing the number of repeats to see what that would change. I continuously decreased the Repeat realizing that it was decreasing the number of arms for the star, so I brought it all the way down to five. However, the star was almost angled to the right. I then changed the steps but it just made the shape slightly smaller. So I switched it back and lowered the turn by a degree multiple times until I reached 144 degrees which made a perfect star.

Cahokia VR – Aidan Keen

February 3, 2025 / akeen / 0 Comments

The Cahokia Virtual Reality allows for the user to use their smart phone or tablet to view how the development of the Cahokia mounds over a thousand years from certain points at the site. This app is successful in immersing the user into the past and allowing them to see the development of the mounds. It is used primarily as an educational piece and it succeeds. It is also successful in letting people enjoy the site through interactive visuals rather than just reading everything on small signs throughout the mounds.

Though the app is successful in its educational aspects and helps bring better understanding of the mounds, it does feel slightly exclusive. Though it is extremely common of course, some cannot access a hand-held device at anytime. Some people also may not feel they have the budget to help with the additional cost of the using the app as part of the sites experience. The app feels also particularly for a younger generation that has grown up with devices. Older groups, specifically the elderly may spend the money to enjoy the experience than have absolutely no clue how to use it. Being only able to use the app while at the mounds as well is slightly disappointing for an additional cost that really won’t get used again after an hour.

Overall, I believe the app is successful but there are many shortcomings that I believe take away from the final benefit of using the app at the Cahokia Mounds.

Interest Statement – Aidan Keen

January 24, 2025 / akeen / 0 Comments

I would say from an overview of the syllabus I am most looking forward to the Week 5 analysis of Artificial Intelligence fiction. I am a huge fan of visual media and I can already say confidentially I will be rewatching 2001: A Space Odyssey and Interstellar for the assignment. The concept of an artificial intelligence developing their own thoughts similar to the examples in these two films is both frightening and incredibly interesting to me.

I am also interested in learning more about the start of humanities relationship with technology. Specifically, the focus of the early development of computing from the Week 4 readings. The link included in that week’s lesson involving Google’s “perfecting” the Internet is very interesting just from the title. I am curious if that article would include any thoughts of Google developing too far from what the original website’s intention. One of my least favorite parts of modern technology companies is the reliance on artificial intelligence. I find Google’s A.I. generated responses to be annoying and often incorrect, or contradictory to what I am actually looking for.

Aidan Keen Introduction

January 16, 2025 / akeen / 1 Comment

My name is Aidan Keen, I am a junior here at SIUE, currently studying Mass Communications with a focus in media production. I’m originally from O’fallon, Illinois. So just a couple miles away from Edwardsville.

Music has always been a major factor in my life. I have been playing music since I was kid, starting on piano and eventually learning guitar and drums, along with a few other instruments. I currently play in a band with some friends I have kept up with from high school where I play guitar and perform vocals. We’ll regularly play a good amount of shows in the summer when everyone is in town from school. We’ve been playing together for about three years now, despite knowing each other for closer to ten years almost.

Myself, and two of my band members playing at our last show this past Summer. We played at the St Teresa Parish Picnic, playing for over 400 people during the peak of our set

I also consider myself an amateur film maker. I’m studying media production in the mass communications department because I have always been interested in film and the entertainment industry. I used to watch behind the scenes clips from the DVDs of movies I would watch immediately after watching a film because I wanted to know how a certain moment was shot or more about the actors in the film. I’ve spent a lot of time at SIUE learning about the behind the scenes aspects of filmmaking through hands on experience. Through that experience I have been able to produce some of my own short films along with working as a cinematographer on other projects produced by my peers. I’ve included in this post some of my most recent work!