Download Machines fail because

Lecture 6:
Miracle Workers
What tasks can/should media machines do?
Professor Victoria Meng
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Course Design
Unit I
Unit II
“Forest”
“Trees”
Media in general Media specificity
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Review: Unit I
• “Medium specificity”: the idea that
each medium has specific
properties that make it different
from other media.
• So what do digital media do, that
older media do not? How do they
change who we are?
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Review: Unit I
• Media and
technologies help
to define our
identities.
• We are what we
can do, both as
individuals and
societies.
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Human – Technology
Relationship
“Common sense”
model:
Humans create
technology;
humans control
technology.
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Human – Technology
Relationship
Utopian formula:
Humans control technology +
Technologies extend humans =
Humans can perfect themselves!
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Human – Technology
Relationship
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Human – Technology
Relationship
Machines fail because:
• Parts break down
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Human – Technology
Relationship
Machines fail because:
• They’re too complicated
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Human – Technology
Relationship
Machines fail because:
•Human operators make mistakes
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Human – Technology
Relationship
Machines fail because:
•They hate humans
© Evil Machines, Co.
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Human – Technology
Relationship
Machines fail because:
•They’re not “intelligent”
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Human – Technology
Relationship
Machines fail because:
•Parts fail or become obsolete.
•They’re too complicated.
•Human operators make mistakes.
•They hate us.
•They can only follow directions.
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Lev Manovich
www.manovich.net
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Lev Manovich:
“What is New Media?”
• Digital media and “medium specificity”
• Principles:
- Numerical representation
- Modularity
- Automation
- Variability
- Transcoding
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Lev Manovich: Transcoding
• “…to “transcode” something is to
translate it into another format.”
(p.47)
• Humans have different
“rules” for
communication than
machines do.
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Lev Manovich: Transcoding
• Machines have “languages,” too.
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Lev Manovich: Automation
• “Low-level” automation – creating
or modifying media objects using
templates or simple algorithms.
• Made possible by principles of
“numerical representation” and
“modularity.”
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Lev Manovich:
Numerical Representation
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Lev Manovich:
“Low-Level” Automation
“My Cat and I,”
Versions 1, 2, 3
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Lev Manovich:
“Low-Level” Automation
www.explore-drawing-and-painting.com
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Lev Manovich:
“Low-Level” Automation
Limitations:
• Does not correct human error.
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Lev Manovich:
“Low-Level” Automation
Limitations:
• Does not correct human error.
Examples of auto-spelling FAIL:
• “In the mouth of April, the film
grossed 50 million dollars…”
• “Each virgin of the film addressed a
different market…”
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Lev Manovich:
“Low-Level” Automation
Limitations:
• Does not correct human error.
• Requires very specific instructions.
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Lev Manovich:
“Low-Level” Automation
Limitations:
• Does not correct human error.
• Requires very specific instructions.
Example of “A.I.” FAIL:
• Interactive computer games.
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Lev Manovich:
“Low-Level” Automation
“…computer characters can display
intelligence and skills only because
programs place severe limits on our
possible interactions with them. Put
differently, computers can pretend to be
intelligent only by tricking us into using a
very small part of who we are when we
communicate with them.” (p. 34)
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Lev Manovich:
“Low-Level” Automation
Limitations:
• Does not correct human error.
• Requires very specific instructions
(that can be hard to learn).
• Can “replace” human labor, but
often with creative compromise.
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Lev Manovich:
“Low-Level” Automation
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Burton, 2005)
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Lev Manovich:
“Low-Level” Automation
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Burton, 2005)
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Lev Manovich:
“Low-Level” Automation
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Burton, 2005)
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Lev Manovich:
“Low-Level” Automation
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Burton, 2005)
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Automation: Impact on
Human – Technology
Relationship
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Burton, 2005)
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Automation: Impact on
Human – Technology
Relationship
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Burton, 2005)
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Review: Automation and
(I – Media) – World?
God : Creation?
Master : Slave?
Human :
Machine ::
Parent : Child?
Partner : Partner?
Contestant : Challenger?
Pawn : Player?
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“High-Level” Automation,
aka Artificial Intelligence
WALL-E (Stanton, Pixar, 2008)
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“High-Level” Automation,
aka Artificial Intelligence
WALL-E (Stanton, Pixar, 2008)
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Looking Ahead
•Alan Turing, “Computing Machinery
and Intelligence.”
•Pi10K
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End of Lecture 6
Next Lecture: Remote Control: What are
the advantages/limits of interactivity?
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