Immersive Technology (58)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 3 min
- Kinolab
- 2020
Nora works as an “angel” figure, or assistant, in the digital afterlife known as Lakeview. Her job is to help digitally immortal residents of this afterlife, such as Nathan, acclimate to their surroundings and their digital existences. However, Nora decides to take her breaks from work in the same virtual reality in which she operates during her job.
- Kinolab
- 2020
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- 3 min
- Kinolab
- 2020
Real vs. Virtual Assistance
Nora works as an “angel” figure, or assistant, in the digital afterlife known as Lakeview. Her job is to help digitally immortal residents of this afterlife, such as Nathan, acclimate to their surroundings and their digital existences. However, Nora decides to take her breaks from work in the same virtual reality in which she operates during her job.
Should virtual reality spaces be operated, moderated, and served by human customer service reps, to ensure the best experience? Or is it possible to automate customer service too? How might virtual assistants such as Siri change the nature of people’s relationships with human service reps? Should the people who work on VR projects be given special access to it? Could VR worlds be used as a viable way for employees to relax during breaks?
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- 4 min
- Kinolab
- 2020
In this imagined future, citizens interact with the world and with each other through brain-computer interface devices which augment reality in ways such as sending each other visual messages or changing one’s appearance at a moment’s notice. Additionally, with this device, everyone can automatically see a “ranking” of other people, in which Alphas or As are the best and Epsilons or Es are the worst. With all of these features of the devices, privacy in its many forms is all but outlawed in this society.
- Kinolab
- 2020
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- 4 min
- Kinolab
- 2020
Augmented Communication and a Post-Privacy Era
In this imagined future, citizens interact with the world and with each other through brain-computer interface devices which augment reality in ways such as sending each other visual messages or changing one’s appearance at a moment’s notice. Additionally, with this device, everyone can automatically see a “ranking” of other people, in which Alphas or As are the best and Epsilons or Es are the worst. With all of these features of the devices, privacy in its many forms is all but outlawed in this society.
How can brain-computer interfaces work together with virtual reality to enable us to share images, styles, and other information to our friends more seamlessly? What if humans could also implement VR into our communications? Would that improve interactions? How could deception sneak into this system? How do social media quantifications, such as a number of likes or followers, act as a sort of preliminary “ranking” for a person, and how does this affect people’s opportunities? Have social media and other digital media platforms conditioned society to see a lack of privacy as the norm, and conversely privacy as a sort of vice? How should we continue to value privacy in the age of social media monopolies?
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- 4 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
K is an android who works with the LAPD to track down and destroy escaped older models of “replicants,” or humanoid robots, in a world where androids work as laborers without compensation. In this clip, we meet K’s virtual wife, Joi. Although she is not ‘real,’ it seems like she has real human feelings and presents like a human woman who provides K company and can complete tasks such as making him dinner.
- Kinolab
- 2017
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- 4 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
Robot Relationships and Marriage
K is an android who works with the LAPD to track down and destroy escaped older models of “replicants,” or humanoid robots, in a world where androids work as laborers without compensation. In this clip, we meet K’s virtual wife, Joi. Although she is not ‘real,’ it seems like she has real human feelings and presents like a human woman who provides K company and can complete tasks such as making him dinner.
What problems arise from using robotic companions to fulfill gendered tasks? How might this alter perceptions of real people? Consider how Joi is “typecast” as a 50s housewife, and can alter her appearance on command. How could virtual or AI female assistants and robots perpetuate harmful gender norms? Can robots truly love each other, or is this only accomplishable through specific coding? If humans are to give robots a full range of emotions and autonomy to live independently, are humans then responsible for providing them with companions? Would it be more or less uncomfortable if a real human owned and used the Joi holograph, and why?
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- 7 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
In his hunt for a missing android child, the robot police officer K visits Dr. Ana Stelline to determine if a memory of his own from his childhood is real or fabricated. Dr. Stelline is in the business of creating false memories to implant into robot’s heads in order to make them seem more believably human. She argues that having memories to lean on as one experiences the world is a cornerstone of the human experience.
- Kinolab
- 2017
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- 7 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
Fabricated Memories and Believability
In his hunt for a missing android child, the robot police officer K visits Dr. Ana Stelline to determine if a memory of his own from his childhood is real or fabricated. Dr. Stelline is in the business of creating false memories to implant into robot’s heads in order to make them seem more believably human. She argues that having memories to lean on as one experiences the world is a cornerstone of the human experience.
Do you agree with Dr. Stelline’s assessment in this narrative? Does achieving singularity through fabricated memories truly make AI any more human, or would they still be nothing more than replicants? Conversely, what are the issues raised by uploading authentic human memories into a robot? How does that affect agency and identity of real humans, on small and large scales? What makes us human, if not our memories and consciousness, and if AI have that as well, do they achieve personhood? How do digital technologies already abstract the concept of memory, and can that be extended any further or not?
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- 7 min
- Kinolab
- 2013
In this film, actress Robin Wright plays a fictionalized version of herself as an actress whose popularity is declining. Her agent Al exposes her to deep fake technology which creates a virtual version of an actor to play a role in any number of scenarios or films. These “actors” are 3D holographs with AI that have been trained to replicate the real person which they imitate. However, Robin is disconcerted with the lack of agency that she would have in deciding how her image and identity appeared in these movies.
- Kinolab
- 2013
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- 7 min
- Kinolab
- 2013
Digital Performers and the Gift of Choice
In this film, actress Robin Wright plays a fictionalized version of herself as an actress whose popularity is declining. Her agent Al exposes her to deep fake technology which creates a virtual version of an actor to play a role in any number of scenarios or films. These “actors” are 3D holographs with AI that have been trained to replicate the real person which they imitate. However, Robin is disconcerted with the lack of agency that she would have in deciding how her image and identity appeared in these movies.
What sorts of problems are implicated with the ability to manipulate another person’s body and likeness in a piece of media without their consent? Does technology like this actually have the potential to free actors from some of the constraints of the film industry, as Al says? How would acting be valued as an art, and actors paid accordingly and properly, if this technology became the norm?
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- 9 min
- Kinolab
- 2013
In the world of this film, Robin Wright plays a fictional version of herself who has allowed herself to be digitized by the film company Miramount Studios in order to be entered into many films without having to actually act in them, becoming digitally immortal in a sense. Once she enters a hallucinogenic mixed reality known as Abrahama City, she agrees to renew the contract with Miramount studios under the panic of her declining mental health and sense of autonomy. This renewed contract will not only allow movies starring her digital likeness to be made, but will also allow people to appear as her.
- Kinolab
- 2013
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- 9 min
- Kinolab
- 2013
Dangers of Digital Commodification
In the world of this film, Robin Wright plays a fictional version of herself who has allowed herself to be digitized by the film company Miramount Studios in order to be entered into many films without having to actually act in them, becoming digitally immortal in a sense. Once she enters a hallucinogenic mixed reality known as Abrahama City, she agrees to renew the contract with Miramount studios under the panic of her declining mental health and sense of autonomy. This renewed contract will not only allow movies starring her digital likeness to be made, but will also allow people to appear as her.
When mixed realities make any sort of appearance possible, how do people keep agency over their own likenesses and identities? How can engineers ensure that common human fears, including the fear of aging, do not drive innovations that will ultimately do more harm than good? Should anyone be allowed to give consent for their likeness to be used in any way the new owner sees fit, given how easily people can be coerced, manipulated, or gaslit? How could economic imbalances be further entrenched or established if certain people are allowed to sell their identities or likenesses?