Lifeboat Foundation

I just last week saw the movie Neon Demon. The movie explores pathology of prettiness, and to what degree people demand to consume prettiness. This is a particularly futurist topic, as society might change a lot with regards to commidifying as well as synthesizing completely new forms of beauty. This arouses deep seated fears. We fear those who manipulate desire (love, lust, loneliness, among others) for their own benefit. But many in the field claim “it is just another job”. Is relationship now part of the “gig economy” or should our politicians interfere? Will a basic income increase these forms of prostitution or decrease them?

So-called “zero-point energy” is a term familiar to some cinema lovers or series fans; in the fictional world of animated films such as “The Incredibles” or the TV series “Stargate Atlantis”, it denotes a powerful and virtually inexhaustible energy source.

Whether it could ever be used as such is arguable. Scientists at Jülich have now found out that it plays an important role in the stability of nanomagnets. These are of great technical interest for the magnetic storage of data, but so far have never been sufficiently stable. Researchers are now pointing the way to making it possible to produce nanomagnets with low zero-point energy and thus a higher degree of stability (Nano Letters, “Zero-Point Spin-Fluctuations of Single Adatoms”).

Continue reading “Atomic bits despite zero-point energy?” »

Live action version of the world’s favorite arcade game is not sexy.

Human civilization has always been a virtual reality. At the onset of culture, which was propagated through the proto-media of cave painting, the talking drum, music, fetish art making, oral tradition and the like, Homo sapiens began a march into cultural virtual realities, a march that would span the entirety of the human enterprise. We don’t often think of cultures as virtual realities, but there is no more apt descriptor for our widely diverse sociological organizations and interpretations than the metaphor of the “virtual reality.” Indeed, the virtual reality metaphor encompasses the complete human project.

Virtual Reality researchers, Jim Blascovich and Jeremy Bailenson, write in their book Infinite Reality; “[Cave art] is likely the first animation technology”, where it provided an early means of what they refer to as “virtual travel”. You are in the cave, but the media in that cave, the dynamic-drawn, fire-illuminated art, represents the plains and animals outside—a completely different environment, one facing entirely the opposite direction, beyond the mouth of the cave. When surrounded by cave art, alive with movement from flickering torches, you are at once inside the cave itself whilst the media experience surrounding you encourages you to indulge in fantasy, and to mentally simulate an entirely different environment. Blascovich and Bailenson suggest that in terms of the evolution of media technology, this was the very first immersive VR. Both the room and helmet-sized VRs used in the present day are but a sophistication of this original form of media VR tech.

Read entire essay here

20th Century Fox has released the first full Morgan trailer online. The debut film from Luke Scott (commercial director and son of Ridley Scott) stars Kate Mara as a corporate troubleshooter sent to evaluate a terrifying incident at a remote, top-secret lab where she discovers the scientists have created a new form of evil inhabiting a human form.

This modern-day spin on Frankenstein looks promising, especially when you’ve got The Witch star Anya Taylor-Joy in the title role. If anything is detracting from the film, it’s the Labor Day weekend release date, which is usually a sign of dumping the film. That being said, it’s possible that Fox doesn’t know what they have or that it’s just too niche to be widely appreciated in the heart of the summer or the fall seasons. Either way, I’m definitely keeping this flick on my radar due to its intriguing premise and terrific cast. At the very least, this should be an interesting showcase for Taylor-Joy, who was just outstanding in The Witch, and I’m eager to see what she does next.

Check out the Morgan trailer below. The film also stars Rose Leslie, Boyd Holbrook, Michelle Yeoh, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Paul Giamatti.

Fascinating short film.

Check out this well done Sci-fi/Political thriller called “Lunar” set in Los Angeles City, 2057, as an outlaw is captured and sentenced to a lifetime of imprisonment on the LUNAR penitentiaries! To reunite with his family, he must become the first convict to escape the corrupt system and return to Earth.

Continue reading “CGI Sci-Fi Short Film HD: ‘Lunar’” »

* * * Winner the VFX Japan Award 2013.
* * * Winner of the Special Jury Prize, Asian Film Festival Dallas.

Love Like Aliens 3D animated short produced in Tokyo, Japan.

Continue reading “Official Love Like Aliens Short Film HD” »

Nice.

Renowned physicist, author and broadcaster, Professor Jim Al-Khalili OBE, has been awarded the inaugural Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili is the first person to be honoured for his contribution to science with this, first medal of its kind, at STARMUS International Science and Arts Festival in Tenerife on 29 June 2016.

Continue reading “University of Surrey Professor and BBC presenter receives Stephen Hawking Medal” »

Detroit Become Human — E3 2016 Trailer

Detroit: Become Human is the latest game from Quantic Dream — and it’s looking like a knockout.