The Still Not Worthy of the Name 2017. Pt.2

This should be read as a continuation of Part 1; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/the-still-not-worthy-of-name-2017.html

 

The Rise of the Robots: Robots have a long history within art and literature. They're often used as a metaphor for the oppression of the working class by the ruling class.

The term "Robot" was actually coined by Czech playwright Karel Capek in his 1920 play; "Rossum's Universal Robots." The term is a shorting of the Czech word; "Robotnik" meaning; "Slave." When scientists and engineers first developed robots some 30 years later they took the name from the play.

This process of life imitating art has continued. Now the jobs of the working classes are increasingly under threat. Not from immigrants but from robots and Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. This has become an increasing area of interest not just in Europe but globally.

Back in the June 2016 Switzerland actually held a public referendum on paying citizens a yearly income to compensate for the loss of job opportunities caused by technology. No-one involved actually expected to win but I think they should be congratulated for getting the matter on the ballot and triggering a public debate.

In February 2017 Finland introduced a universal welfare payment regardless of whether the recipients were in work or not. This was done to encourage people who'd been made unemployed by technology into casual work with their income topped up by the government.

Certainly since the invention of democracy by the ancient Greeks governments funding model has been based on taxing the wages of workers. If those workers are replaced by robots who are not paid wages society as we know it starts to collapse. So the issue of how to restructure society to compensate for technological advances is now on the fringes of mainstream politics in many European nations.

Through their extremely poor organisation the 2017 hosts have actually inadvertently provided a talking point about this issue of technology.

The Song Contest is supported by a website - Eurovision.tv. For every competing nation this provides a package of information about the competitor. This includes a video containing at least the song, short biographies of the performer and the songwriters. It also provides the lyrics of the song in the language it is performed along with English and French translations.

This year the website is very badly designed and essentially unfinished. For example Croatia's entry was not included at all. However for all the competitors the English and French translations are missing entirely.

So unless you happen to speak Belorussian or Hungarian and you want to know what the lyrics mean you have to feed them into an online translator. Google have recently re-launched a new version of its translation system. This relies of what is termed a; "Neural Network." This complex form of AI mimics the human thought process allowing the system to learn like a human would.

At this point neural networks operate at around the level of a severely mentally retarded human child. According to Bing's translation system there is a Man/Woman/Elephant named "Nelly" who is apparently central to the current efforts to liberated the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

So we're nowhere near the point where these AI systems could go all Skynet and launch a war against their human masters. However as more and more - particularly defence - systems are computerised it is now a matter of reality that an enemy could hack into, say, our computer controlled drones and use those weapons against us.

Back in 2010 there was of course the "Stuxnet" virus which caused all sorts of problems with Iran's nuclear centrifuges. Then there are these computer controlled missiles that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North) keep launching only for them to crash soon after launch.

Just on Friday (12/5/17) - as the professional juries were casting their votes - more then 200,000 computer networks across 150 countries were attacked by a virus called "Wanna Cry." The targets included Britain's taxpayer funded National Health Service (NHS).

 

This is a type of ransomware that locks a user out of their computer and its important files until they pay a ransom. It is typical of the sort of cyberattack increasingly perpetrated by organised and semi-organised criminals. 

 

It's a modern day equivalent of a protection racket. However rather than threatening to firebomb someones business unless they pay up the cyber criminals are threatening to lock those businesses out of their files.

Since July 2016 the US Democrat Party have been claiming that the computer system of their National Committee (DNC) was hacked and important information leaked. Throughout this long-running story the DNC have repeatedly refused investigators such as the FBI access to their computer systems to conduct an investigation.

As a result we only have the Democrats word for any of this. 

 

However the Democrats claim that the hackers used a piece of software that created in Ukraine and released into the public domain late 2014/early 2015. With most Ukrainians speaking Russian this code contained elements of the Russian alphabet. The Democrats have used this to claim that the Russian government were responsible for the hack and their Republican opponent and now President Donald Trump is a Russian spy.

The Wanna Cry virus is based on code that was created by the US' National Security Agency (NSA) in order to spy on the funding of Palestinian groups but was put in the public domain in early April 2017.

So following the US Democrats reasoning the US has just conducted the one of the largest cyberattacks ever seen against 77% of the nations on Earth. Quite the accusation.

 

Marvel's Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D: This US TV Show is a spin-off from the Marvel comic books Avengers universe.

However it is primarily a show all about hidden meanings. So for example you will have scenes where characters are arguing about some complex piece of fictional science. However what they're really arguing about is their relationships with each other and other characters.

One of the main characters is Sky/Daisy. Recently she's started to bear more than a passing resemblance to the US popstar Demi Lovato. Demi Lovato is famously a recovering Cocaine addict. The Daisy character certainly suffers from a lot of nosebleeds as she learns to harness her power and fame.

Back in 2016 Demi Lovato released the faux lesbian anthem; "Cool For the Summer" to appeal to the pink pound, gay and the heterosexual teenage boy markets. The increasingly butch looking Daisy character suddenly started getting dispatched to Dykers New York for missions.

This theme of hidden meaning and being bitchy about popstars is very much at the heart of the Eurovision Song Contest. So there are likely many fans of Shield in the Eurovision community. With this new season it seems to have turned into a mutual appreciation society.

A particularly big theme of the 2016 Song Contest was sex, nudity and how much flesh it is appropriate to flash.

This current season of Shield is still very much aimed at minors and young adults and sticks firmly to the US' tight but irrational broadcasting regulations. However in this season there is certainly a lot more flesh on display.

For example in previous seasons if a female character was shown in her underwear she'd be wearing a tank-top or a sports-bra. In this season it's much more likely she'll be wearing just a normal bra.

This all seems to be a very knowing nod to the show's Eurovision fans.

Shield's main storyline this season revolves around an AI system which I think is known as the Artificial Intelligence Desk Assistant (AIDA). I think the season is still in production and I'm certainly well behind with my watching but as one character says; "Did they not watch any movies from the 1980's? The robots always turn evil."

Shield is produced by Joss Whedon. His last big TV project was the show; "Dollhouse." This centred around the shadowy Rossum Corporation. They'd found a way to replace humans brains with interchangeable AI systems giving them all sorts of special skills.

One of the main characters in Dollhouse was; "Alpha" played by the actress Amy Acker. Amy Acker has just finished another show called; "Person of Interest" which is about two rival super AI systems doing battle with each other.

Although it firmly fits into the category of; "Hangover TV" I seem to remember a recent episode of Person of Interest being set in a hospital. The evil super AI system was changing patient records and the labels on drugs etc in order to purge society of individuals it deemed unworthy.

Amy Acker and Joss Whedon are really close friends. To the point that by only skimming a review of their production of "Romeo & Juliet" I was convinced for a long time that they were a married couple. This misconception was not helped by Amy Acker's appearance in Shield as the love beyond all other loves interest of the main character.

So as Amy Acker is finishing up Person of Interest her old friends at Shield are using their AI storyline to cheer her along. After all she was undoubtedly the best thing in a show that otherwise suffered from a complete sense of humour bypass.

This convergence between Shield's Eurovision fanclub and the wider issue of technology means that within the 2017 contest one is often used to discuss the other. So someone may reference the TV Show to discuss technology and someone else may reference technology to discuss the TV Show.

Both within fiction and reality AI and robotics are touted as the key to eternal life. Once the human body is withered by age the mind can be converted into an AI and then uploaded into a robot. So the issue of ageing and the diseases of ageing is also used to discuss these twin topics.

For example the video for Macedonia's "Dance Alone" by Jana Burceska features an elderly widow donning a virtual reality headset to once again experience the carefree life of a vibrant young woman.

Also back in 2015 the windows of my late grandmother's house were broken by a Romanian in a failed attempt to break in. Rather than being the work of the Romanian state this was the work of a single drunk Romanian being an arse. However while everyone was working that out it put a lot of pressure on the Romanian state.

During US President Trump's inauguration in January 2017 I experienced another similarly unsuccessful break-in attempt. This was carried out by the British state over events that were occurring at the time in Gambia - henceforth known as Nookta Sound.

On this occasion Romania quickly and correctly denied any involvement. They did so in such a way as to indicate that they were so carefully monitoring the situation they were able to tell you exactly how far I'd gotten through the stack of episodes of Shield I had piled up on my DVR.

That's obviously quite an interesting spy story. Particularly amongst members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) which produces the Song Contest.

None of these themes have really been anyone's main issue. So the references to it have all been small and subtle.

For example in the show Dollhouse the process of wiping one AI program and replacing it with another is known as; "A Treatment." Britain's entry; "Never Give You Up" by Lucie Jones is part produced by a collective known as; "The Treatment."

In Shield and other shows that deal with AI's and Robots like the UK's "Humans" the robots are often shown in regimented lines either nude or wearing basic underwear.

The video for the Czech Republic's entry "My Turn" by Martina Barta features her singing alongside lots of people of all ages, genders and races dressed in basic underwear. 

 

The stage costume of Fused Marc who represented Lithuania with "Rain of Revolution" is in the very utilitarian style of costumes worn in the TV Show Humans.

 

15:55 on 14/5/17 (UK date).