Monday, July 11, 2005

Robots among us

Ever since junior high (at least) I've had a fascination with artificial life, mostly in the form of robots, cyborgs (cyborg are debatable as they are still partially organic), androids and the like. Before the first (newest) Star Wars movies came out, in my mind I have a concept built around R2D2 and C3PO. Something about how they were the actually the narrators of the trilogy. I think it has to do with the fact in many of the scenes of the original trilogy the droid are present while the other main characters aren't. Even when Luke finds Yoda on Dagobah, who is with him? R2D2. In addition they provide a bit of comic relief throughout all six movies.

However, what could quite possibility be my favorite film featuring artificial life is Blade Runner. Maybe it's just the dark texture of the film or maybe it is the sense that there are some rather important questions that are left unanswered at the end. The big one being, is Deckard a replicant? The darkness (some reviews say noir but I'm not a film historian or reviewer) is all encompassing to the point that when there is bright light it is almost painful to the viewer.

Of course there are many other movies featuring artificial life including the Terminator trilogy, The Black Hole, Robocop (I know, he is a cyborg) and Spaceballs. And many of them seem rather good to me.

What this all leads up to though, is that in the last few days I have discovered an awesome Internet short that features robotic law enforcement officers (the actual clip link is on the right side of the page). Not only is it an interesting take on the possible present or near future but the rendering is amazing. If you were to show this to someone who is not very technological inclined they may think it is real. Quite possibly one of the coolest things I seen online in a long time.

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