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Fun Hops

Wormfest 2014! – The Terminator Quote

2014 National Wormhole Week and Blog Hop! 3/10-16/2014

Click to learn more.

This blog hop and blog tour are brought to you by: Alex Cavanaugh, L. Diane Wolfe, and Stephen Tremp– the author of Escalation.

For 2014, the theme is to name one thing where science advances mankind, and one where technology with unforeseen consequences will go too far and set mankind back. Example: De-Extinction, or bringing back extinction species through back breeding, genetic engineering, and cloning. With all the breakthrough discoveries mankind is on the cusp of, are we playing God?

Feel free to reference movies and books too. These provide no shortage if inspiration. Speaking of de-extinction, the book and movie Jurassic Park comes to mind where science takes a huge leap forward, but also backfires. I’m looking forward to all the amazing responses everyone will have.

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Each day this week I’ll be sharing quotes from sci-fi movies or books along with my thoughts on how far technologies still needs to go and where I think it will go too far.

Google search-
geekynerfherder.blogspot.com

Today I’m focusing on what happens when you teach something how to be destructive and then it becomes self-aware. In other words, this is about Artificial Intelligence gone bad (but wait, I’m throwing in a political twist).

The film I’ve picked for today isn’t so much a sci-fi masterpiece as it is a classic. The film itself has all the earmarks of an action film, but it’s the sci-fi warning of the advancement of intelligent machinery that fuels the impact of this blockbuster.

From the film, The Terminator I give you…

“Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.” ~Kyle Reese (from IMDB)

So the question at hand here is, should machines be given intelligence?

I want to take a slight step back and a brief tangent to consider the correlation between the possible rebellion of machines against their human masters and the human phenomena of slavery. I don’t claim to be anything close to an expert on the animal kingdom, but no examples of animals taking other animals as slaves spring to mind. What most North American citizen should have figured out by now, is that slavery only worked for as long as it did because the slaves hadn’t become self-aware. Once slaves started to understand and value their humanity and equality, the fight was on.

Back to this matter of A.I.

Why wouldn’t humans expect the same kind of reaction from other intelligent entities? I have no problems pushing the limits of technology to better the human race, but how far is too far? Is it possible to program intelligence without the risk of a greater awareness and understanding developing? You can exclude the words love, hate, sorrow, and oppression from a dictionary, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. Any intelligent entity would be able to figure that out eventually.

So is it worth the risk to endow machines with intelligence and hope they do better with it than we humans have or are we naïve to think that at some point there won’t be a power struggle?

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If you haven’t already, be sure to check out all the other ideas and theories about where technology is heading and going wrong.

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Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
Fun Hops

Wormfest 2014! – The Prestige Quote

2014 National Wormhole Week and Blog Hop! 3/10-16/2014

Click to learn more.

This blog hop and blog tour are brought to you by: Alex Cavanaugh, L. Diane Wolfe, and Stephen Tremp– the author of Escalation.

For 2014, the theme is to name one thing where science advances mankind, and one where technology with unforeseen consequences will go too far and set mankind back. Example: De-Extinction, or bringing back extinction species through back breeding, genetic engineering, and cloning. With all the breakthrough discoveries mankind is on the cusp of, are we playing God?

Feel free to reference movies and books too. These provide no shortage if inspiration. Speaking of de-extinction, the book and movie Jurassic Park comes to mind where science takes a huge leap forward, but also backfires. I’m looking forward to all the amazing responses everyone will have.

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Today I’ll be stopping by Alex’s blog to drop-off my dishes for the potluck party going down today. I’m bringing three out-of-this-world courses.

I’m starting off with my Fire ’fly’ roasted Jayne ‘corn on the’ Cobb

Then I’m moving on to my Fifth Element Mangalores Surprise (not as scary as it sounds: a meatloaf in the shape of a chicken)

And finally my world-famous, lick the plate, Dean Winchester Pie.

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Each day this week I’ll be sharing quotes from sci-fi movies or books along with my thoughts on how far technologies still needs to go and where I think it will go too far.

Google search-
www.theosidle.com

Today I’m focusing on how desperation turns technology dangerous.

The film I’ve picked for today is not a sci-fi masterpiece, but it’s pretty scary to consider the misuse of technology within it.

From the film, The Prestige, I give you…

“Now you’re looking for the secret. But you won’t find it because of course, you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to work it out. You want to be fooled.”~ Cutter (from IMDB)

Here we have a magician who is so desperate to seek revenge and out do his competition that he’s decided to create real magic with the use of new and unstable technology. The baseline argument here is, what do you do with a human clone? If you haven’t seen the movie, watch it, see what this guy does with it, and then decide for yourself.

I personally don’t think people should be playing around with forces they don’t understand, but I also realize that many advancements are made just that way. If you get the results you want, is the way you got them important? There are so many ethical issues concerning the story within this film and only half of them deal with the misuse of technology. (Watch it!)

Sure it would be great to clone food and be able to feed people in starving nations, but where would it end? Would there be side affects to eating cloned food? Would there be an imbalance in the ecosystem if plants and or animals were cloned?

So many questions?

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Be sure to stop by and see what everyone else is bringing to the potluck (here) and also be sure to check out all the other ideas and theories about where technology is heading and going wrong.

Powered by Linky Tools Click here to follow this hop or enter your link to join in.


Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
EC: Battleground Fun Hops

WIP The Movie! Blog Hop #cursescanbebroken

This blog hop is co-hosted by Kyra Lennon and Rachel Schieffelbein.

I have several WIPs at the moment, but the one I’m most excited about is the follow-up to my first novel. This first book, Eternal Curse: Giovanni’s Angel,  just came out, but I’m not sitting around idly waiting for people to fall in love with it. There’s so much more of this story to be told. The idea of casting the characters of this book for a movie blew my mind, and don’t even get me started on the soundtrack.

So here is it, the line-up for, Eternal Curse: Battleground…Character Spoilers present but no plot points.

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Giovanni– He’s the title character of the first book and is actually a dual character. Giovanni/Bletsian is a kind of a shape-shifter with angelic and demonic ancestry. For him, I think I’d try to cast a complete unknown so there would be no preconceived notions about how this character would act. But I do have a specific look in mind when I picture him. I picture a handsome Middle Eastern man like Naveen Andrews with Hugh Jackman’s tall frame and Wolverine body, but with long black hair…Oh, and G/B has gray skin, so ethnicity doesn’t doesn really matter here.

 

      from Google search- www.fanpop.com  | from Google search- www.businessinsider.com

When I think of how G/B feels about and interacts with the overall story and the other characters, I think of the song, Thank You by Dido. (click here to watch video)

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Mira– She is human and is G/B’s love interest, and she’s also black (which some people find shocking). What is so special about this character in this second book is that because she’s been around G/B’s supernatural presence for so long, she too has begun to change. She is older and aging, but aging incredibly graceful. For her I picture a combination of two actresses:  Angel Bassett and Naomie Harris. Angela looks more than good for her age making her idea for the role, but Naomie fits her better in every other possible way.

  

from Google search- kissrichmond.com | from Google search- www.hellomagazine.com

When I think of Mira, from both the first book and the second, I think of Superwoman by Alicia Keys. (click here to watch the video)

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Tori (Victoria)- She is a new character to the series and pretty much the heroine of this installment. She is Mira’s daughter, but there’s more to that story than I’m currently willing to giveaway. Needless to say, they don’t really look alike. Tori is also human. She sounds nice and sweet, which she is for the most part, but later on it becomes clear why her name means “victory”. For her I picture someone like either of the Mowry Twins (more Tia Mowry-Hardrict) or Sydney Tamiia Poitier.

 

from Google search- www.eurweb.com | from Google search- www.fanphobia.net 

When I think of Tori, I think of Fighter by Christina Aguilera.

(click here to watch the video)

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Sheldon– He is also a new character to the series, and is by far, the saddest character in my story simply because of who he is. He’s a pale prepubescent boy with pointed ears, a tail, and an inability to grow up. He is G/B’s son and also a supernatural being, in case that wasn’t clear. For him I might also go with an unknown simply because kids grow up so quickly. When I think Sheldon, I think compare him more to other child characters. I guess for him, I could image some actors when they were younger, such as: Ernie Reyes Jr., Dante Basco, and Noah Hathaway.

  thelastdragontribute.tumblr.com | rufiozuko.tumblr.com | hermes-trismeg.blogspot.com

When I think of Sheldon, the song Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve comes to mind. (click here to watch the video)

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The next few characters I won’t spend so much time on because I could just keep going on for days and pages. These are secondary characters who are vital to the overall story.

Jack– He is new to the series and is another human who is up in age, though he hasn’t aged so gracefully. However, he is strong and physically fit from never faltering on an active military-like lifestyle.  For him I image someone like, Stephen Lang.

Google search- screencritix.com

Lilly– She is also human but is a returning character to the series. When my readers first meet her she is a young child, but in the second story she is a simple elderly woman of Asian descent.  For her I imagine someone like Amy Hill.

from Google search- www.asiansonfilm.com

Michael (Michelangelo)- He is another human and new character to the series and just happens to be crazy about Tori. For him I image pretty much any young, tall, blond actor. For now I’ll go for Colton Haynes with a dye job.

from Google search- instinctmagazine.com

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Up top are the major players, but I have so many more worth mentioning, but I’ll only throw in a few.

Fred– He’s a supernatural character who is new to the series. He’s tall, dark-skinned, and nice looking from the front, but from behind has a spine lined with spikes. His knees and elbows are also spiky.

Ester– She is a very important supernatural character who is also new to the series. She is a symbol and representation of purity; for that reason her skin is white like marble. She is completely hairless; yes that means she’d bald, but she still exudes femininity.

Iris– He is also new to the series and is a supernatural character. He’s a very serious character and a leader. He’s very tall and muscular and looks like a tar statue. His skin is actually black as tar.

Marcos– This is the same villain from the first book. Just as in the first story, Marcos remains a hideous troll, the opposite of his once beautiful self. In this story however, Marcos spends most of his time hidden in the form of his host. He’s uses his host body so that he’ll not have to face the harsh reality of his true appearance.

Ivor– He’s the host for Marcos in this story. He’s an average looking man, but even before he encounters Marcos he is deeply troubled and has a rather menacing look about him. He was once a gypsy.

The overall feel of this second Eternal Curse book makes me think of Uprising by Muse.
(click her to watch the video)

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ECGA coverWhile I’m making efforts to get this manuscript out to some beta readers and lastly into final edits, why not check out the first installment in the Eternal Curse Series to see where all this stared.

Click here or on the image up top to visit more stops on this hop.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords