Lecture 7: Remote Communications

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Lecture 7:Lecture 7:Remote CommunicationsRemote Communications

Professor Victoria Meng

What is theWhat is thenature of media interactivity?nature of media interactivity?

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Disclaimer: Interactivity is Disclaimer: Interactivity is HUGE and always changing!HUGE and always changing!

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Learning TasksLearning Tasks• Alan Turing, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.”

• David Rokeby, “Transforming Mirrors: Subjectivity and Control in Interactive Media.”

• Ken Hillis, “A Critical History of Virtual Reality.”

• Tron, Animotion, Neave Games

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• “Low-level:” performs specific tasks.

• “High-level:” aka “artificial intelligence.”

• “Media access:” search and retrieval from databases.

Lev Manovich: AutomationLev Manovich: Automation

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•British mathematician, cryptographer (1912-1954)

•Pioneered computer science with the “Turing machine”

• Tragic death

Alan TuringAlan Turing

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Alan TuringAlan Turing

Diagram of a Turing Machine, which can be adapted into a “Universal Machine.”

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Post-War ContextPost-War Context

Atomic bomb Enigma Machine

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Can Machines Think?Can Machines Think?

Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s Monster

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How Can We KnowHow Can We KnowIfIf Machines Think? Machines Think?

• How do we ascertain that people think?

- We “just know.”- Brain imaging technology.- IQ tests and other tests that evaluate performance.• How can we find the right test(s) to measure “machine thought?”

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How Can We KnowHow Can We KnowIfIf Machines Think? Machines Think?

• Some “skill” operations are not comparable (computer: PWN!).

Left:Gary Kasparov

Right:Deep Blue

Match date:May 11, 1997

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How Can We KnowHow Can We KnowIfIf Machines Think? Machines Think?

• We equate “thinking” with “consciousness” – processes and sensations that are not yet quantifiable.

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How Can We KnowHow Can We KnowIfIf Machines Think? Machines Think?

• We equate “thinking” with “consciousness” – processes and sensations that are not yet quantifiable.

• The stakes are high: thinking makes us “special.”

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The Turing TestThe Turing Test

“The Thinker,” Auguste Rodin, 1902

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A provocative and influential way to “measure” artificial intelligence.

The Turing TestThe Turing Test

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The Turing TestThe Turing Test1. Makes users bear the “burden of

proof” – it’s true if you believe it.

2. Sets human-computer transcoding as the programming problem.

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The Turing TestThe Turing Test

Tangent:What are the

strengths and limitations of tests, papers, and other

assessment tools? How well do they predict behavior?

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The Turing TestThe Turing Test1. Makes users bear the “burden of

proof” – it’s true if you believe it.

2. Sets human-computer transcoding as the programming problem.

3. Posits that “humanity” is a performance and can be “decoded.”

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The Turing TestThe Turing Test

Memory v. Memory?

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“Hello, Hal: will we ever get a computerwe can really talk to?”

John Seabrook, The New Yorker, June 23 2008

The Turing TestThe Turing Test

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“Hello, Hal: will we ever get a computerwe can really talk to?”

John Seabrook, The New Yorker, June 23 2008

Media InteractivityMedia Interactivity

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The Turing TestThe Turing Test

1.Makes users bear the “burden of proof” – it’s true if you believe it.

2.Sets human-computer transcoding as the programming problem.

3.Posits that “humanity” is a performance.

4.Underestimates complexities of human cognition.

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Interactivity/ImmersionInteractivity/Immersion

Lecture Title:Remote Communications: What is the nature of media interactivity?

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What do authors like Hillis and Rokeby assert about digital media? Do they agree?

Interactivity/ImmersionInteractivity/Immersion

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What is interactivity?

Interactivity/ImmersionInteractivity/Immersion

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What is interactivity?- mutual v. uni-directional effects?

Interactivity/ImmersionInteractivity/Immersion

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What is interactivity?- mutual v. uni-directional effects?- communication v. command and/or control?

Interactivity/ImmersionInteractivity/Immersion

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What is interactivity?- mutual v. uni-directional effects?- communication v. command and/or control?- What/Who is interacting with what/whom? How does this change the way we think about interactivity?

Interactivity/ImmersionInteractivity/Immersion

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Interactivity/ImmersionInteractivity/Immersion

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Interactivity/ImmersionInteractivity/Immersion

Me

Alexey Pajitnov

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Interactivity/ImmersionInteractivity/Immersion

Me

Alexey Pajitnov

PaulNeave

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Interactivity/ImmersionInteractivity/Immersion

Me

Alexey Pajitnov

PaulNeaveTetris

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Interactivity/ImmersionInteractivity/Immersion

Me, again!

Alexey Pajitnov

PaulNeaveTetris

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David Rokeby:David Rokeby:““Transforming Mirrors”Transforming Mirrors”

Left: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (Laurence Sterne, 1759-69)Right: “The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even” (Marcel Duchamp, 1915-23)

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David Rokeby:David Rokeby:““Transforming Mirrors”Transforming Mirrors”

“A technology is interactive to the degree that it reflects the consequences of our actions or decisions back to us.” (133)

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David Rokeby:David Rokeby:““Transforming Mirrors”Transforming Mirrors”

• Read last paragraphs of 154, 155.

• Navigable structure/space.

• Medium specificity.

•Transforming mirror.

•Automaton.

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Ken Hillis: “A Critical History Ken Hillis: “A Critical History of Virtual Reality”of Virtual Reality”

• Historical account – antidote for technological determinism.

Link Trainer(hydraulic flight simulator, 1930s-50s)

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Ken Hillis: “A Critical History Ken Hillis: “A Critical History of Virtual Reality”of Virtual Reality”

• Role of stories in history: why science fiction is important.

Tron(Lisberger,1982)

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Ken Hillis: “A Critical History Ken Hillis: “A Critical History of Virtual Reality”of Virtual Reality”

Tron (Lisberger, 1982)

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Ken Hillis: “A Critical History Ken Hillis: “A Critical History of Virtual Reality”of Virtual Reality”

• Minds, bodies, transcendence and connection…

Animotion,Manuel Fallmann, 2004.

Tip: Don’t change the library before you’re done – you’ll lose all your work.

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Interactivity/ImmersionInteractivity/Immersion

End of Lecture 7End of Lecture 7

Next Lecture: Everything is Exchangeable: How do the whole and its parts relate in digital media?

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