Cybermedia: Explorations in Science, Sound, and Vision

Description

We're experiencing a time when digital technologies and advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, and big data are redefining what it means to be human. How do these advancements affect contemporary media and music? This collection traces how media, with a focus on sound and image, engages with these new technologies. It bridges the gap between science and the humanities by pairing humanists' close readings of contemporary media with scientists' discussions of the science and math that inform them. This text includes contributions by established and emerging scholars performing across-the-aisle research on new technologies, exploring topics such as facial and gait recognition; EEG and audiovisual materials; surveillance; and sound and images in relation to questions of sexual identity, race, ethnicity, disability, and class and includes examples from a range of films and TV shows including Blade Runner, Black Mirror, Mr. Robot, Morgan, Ex Machina, and Westworld. Through a variety of critical, theoretical, proprioceptive, and speculative lenses, the collection facilitates interdisciplinary thinking and collaboration and provides readers with ways of responding to these new technologies. Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Editors and Contributors Introduction Cybermedia’s Backstory: Lead Editor Carol Vernallis Bibliography Part One AI and Robotics 1 Could the AI of Our Dreams Ever Become Reality? Mutual Simultaneous Constraint Satisfaction Metacognition, Explanation, and Discourse The Role of Culturally Invented Modes and Tools for Thinking Goal-Directed Thinking Final Thoughts Bibliography 2 Director Alex Garland Converses with Cybermedia’s Scientists and Media Scholars Alex Garland, Jay McClelland, Paul Skokowski, Simon Levy, Jeff Zacks, Carol Vernallis, Selmin Kara, andJonathan Leal. Introduction Bibliography 3 (S)Ex Machina and the Cartesian Theater of the Absurd Descartes’ Internal Theater Turing Te{x|s}t Nature, Nurture, and Deep Dreams Uploading and the Acquisition of Knowledge Rule-following and Private Language She’s Not One of Us Closing Thoughts Acknowledgments Bibliography 4 Epiphany, Infinity and Transcendent AI Bibliography Part Two Big Data, Sentience, and the Universe 5 A MASSIVE Swirl of Pixels Radiohead’s “Go to Sleep” Massive Sonic Agencies Life, Movement, and Form Animacy and Animation Automation Trouble Imitation of Life Bibliography 6 The Rise of the Machine Body-Knowing, Neural Nets, and Emergent Freedom 1. Defending a Line: Dismal Prospects for Human Creativity and Freedom? 2. Can a Machine—Or Artificial Intelligence—Perform Achievements of Tacit Knowing? 3. Does a Machine’s Ability to Perform Achievements of Tacit Knowing Mean that that Knowledge is Now Fully Explicable? 4. Dwelling in the System: Evolution, Animals and Intelligent Machines Bibliography 7 The Quantum Computer Sci-Fi Narrative’s Favorite Character Is the Devs Quantum Computer a Central Character? Physics and Determinism in Devs Quantum Theory and Fiction But What Do These Three Different Interpretations Suggest? Quantum Computer: Science Facts, Speculation, and Fiction Bibliography 8 Composer Ben Salisbury Discusses Scoring Science for Alex Garland Ben Salisbury, Holly Rogers, John McGrath, Carol Vernallis, and Dale Chapman 9 Ex Machina and the Question of Consciousness1 Part Three The Neuroscience of Affect and Event Perception 10 “A Solid Popularity Arc” Affective Economies in Black Mirror’s “Nosedive” An Economy of Affect The Society of Control and the Sonic Episteme “A Sickly Pastel Feel” The Color of Affect “It Would Be a Dull World Without Wonder” Bibliography 11 Cognitive Boundaries, “Nosedive,” and Under the Skin Interview with Jeffrey M. Zacks Introduction Bibliography 12 Toward an AI Future of Comics Study and Creation A Cognitive-Affective Approach Methods Materials Procedure Analysis Comics Results Summary Conclusions Appendix Bibliography Part Four The Digital West 13 The Philosophy of Westworld Setting the Stage The Knowledge Argument Is Dolores a Zombie? Could Dolores be a Swamp-Droid? Putting Things Together Bibliography 14 New Visions of the Old West AI, Self, and Other in Westworld Visiting Westworld—Those Small Remainders Mechanical and Fleshly Bodies Cognitive Maps, Late Capitalism, and Freefloating Postmodernism Bibliography 15 Scoring Music for Westworld Then and Now A Cognitive Perspective Introduction: Two Westworlds, Two Scores Harnessing the Brain’s Representations of Musical Meaning and Emotion Film Composers, Resources, and Techniques Musical Challenges in Westworld, Then and Now Karlin’s Westworld, The Movie Westworld, The HBO Series A Cognitive Model: CAM-WN Summary and Conclusion Acknowledgment Bibliography Part Five Interface, Desire, Collectivity 16 Director Terence Nance Discusses Random Acts of Flyness 17 The Gift of Black Sonics Interface and Ontology in Sorry to Bother You and Random Acts of Flyness Black Sonic Technics and the Interface Sorry to Bother You: White Voice and Black Silence Cash for Brains: Movement, Genetics, and the Black Interface Random Acts, Flyness, and the Sounds of Black Collectivity Conclusion: Simultaneity and a Black Essentialism Bibliography 18 Technology, Chaos, and the Nimble Subversion of Random Acts of Flyness Against the Grain Thematic Areas of Random Acts of Flyness The Technologies of Random Acts of Flyness Angels and Devils—A Jungian Perspective Scenius and Genius The Sound of Random Acts of Flyness Conclusion Bibliography 19 Expecting the Twist How Media Navigate the Intersections Among Multiple Sources of Prior Knowledge Bibliography 20 Face Color The Color Problem What is Color For? Skin Color Semiotics of Color in Film Acknowledgements Bibliography Part Six Productive Neuropathologies 21 Digital Vitalism Bibliography 22 Neuroplasticity From Experience to Healing Experiences Neuroplasticity and Self-Identity Alterations of the Mind, Memory Recollection, and Pattern Completion Pattern Separation, Healing, and Dance Bibliography 23 Where is my Mind? Mr. Robot and the Digital Neuropolis Introduction: Elliot in Neuropolis Isolated in the Screen’s Lower Quadrant What if Error404 is a Message from the Real World?13 Psychic Realities The New Wounded: Healing the Fragmented Self in Scientific Discourse Feeling Mediated The Freedom Tower in Neuropolis Bibliography 24 The Dopamine Circuits of Wanting, Liking, Habit and Goals An Interview about Mr. Robot with Neuroscientist Talia Lerner Introduction 25 The Taste of Cybermedia An Interview with Hojoon Lee, The Lee Lab at Northwestern University Introduction: Julia Peres Guimarães Index