Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Old Paint vs Smart House
I agree with the other posts so far regarding Old Paint, and I think it is my favorite story we read this week. I really like how it was so simplistic to read, and it was the first story where I actually felt a realistic emotional connection to the characters. I'm not sure if anyone remembers (or has seen) the Disney movie Smart House, but I probably watched this movie ten times when I was younger and could not help but see the similarities in the two story lines. For those of you not familiar with the movie, it starts with a family of three (Dad, brother, and sister- the mom has passed) winning a futuristic house with a Cyber housemaid named PAT (Personal Applied Technology). By the end of the movie, PAT has completely lost her mind, and starts becoming a hassle. She no longer listens to the family, as she was initially supposed to, and has a mind of her own. She refuses orders and eventually ends up locking the family inside the house. A major difference between the two is that the audience of the movie ends up despising PAT, but in Old Paint, we end up rooting for the car. Old Paint does not seem like PAT directly, but the setting and time frame of the two seem to coincide. The cars driving themselves and going crazy remind me of the complete breakdown the house goes through. Is this futuristic society far off from where we are now? To me, I don't think it's too far of a stretch. iPhones are nearly as advanced as robots as far as learning capabilities go, with Siri, Google Maps, etc. In fact, the other day my phone froze, and when I turned it back on it had called 5 random people. With technology moving as rapidly as it currently is, will our electronics ultimately be able to turn against us? I'm excited to hear everyone's reactions to this story, since I think everyone can relate to it in some way.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Oh my goodness, Smart House! That brings back memories. Honestly though, this sort of car technology could happen in the not-too-distant future. We already have cars on tv that advertise limited self-parking capabilities (whether it works as advertised is a different kettle of fish) and at least one that signals to brake in response to changing traffic. As to whether the tech could turn against us...that might take longer. The scenario in Old Paint mostly relies on hackers subverting existing programming, not sentience, so it makes it more probable as a future tech "revolt" for me.
ReplyDeleteI loved Smart House! I definitely got the same sense while reading Old Paint. Because I watched this movie a lot more than I should probably admit as a kid, I know for a fact that a lot of the technology from that movie currently exists or is being developed as we speak. The giant TV wall in the kids' rooms that woke them up with the rockin' sounds of B*Witched? Yeah, that's a real thing already. And I think there was some kind of machine that "made" oranges or something (it's been a long time since I've seen the movie), but I know 3D printers are working on being able to print pizza, so that's a technology that's not too far off also.
ReplyDeleteI think the warning of the dangers of AI in that movie are pretty similar to those in Old Paint, and as Maureen said, the tech/hacker problems that come with it. AI sounds really cool on paper, but stories like these are a little scary, and with good reason. Technology can be used for good or bad, depending on the user.