Uneven Steven Has Been On Hiatus

Since late last year, I have been working on a project that did not afford me the time to blog, nor even to delve into pop culture or political debate.

I hope to resume blogging again soon on the following topics:

V - 1980s vs. 2010s - A more in depth examination of the original television story compared against that of the current one. I intend to focus on the difference of the Cold War cultural background of the original vs. the Global War or Terror cultural background of the current one. I also intend to contrast how the more recent Battle Star Galactica & V address the political and cultural events of the last decade. Finally, I would like to do a comparison of the

The Upcoming Congressional Midterm Elections

Some Intriguing Political Developments in Alabama - A Political Upset No One Saw Coming.

Jericho and the Yankee-Cowboy War

I recently rewatched Jericho, and had a thought related to a previous post.

In this post, I discussed the Yankee-Cowboy War as a paradigm for the shift of power from he Eastern Establishment based in Chicago, New York, Boston, and the industrial states (Yankees) to the West and Southwest (Cowboys) with its oil, natural resources and technology based sources of economic power.

Jericho unconsciously (or consciously?) mimics this division of elite economic power by dividing the surviving United States into Cowboy-dominated, Cheyenne, Wyoming-centered Western-United States, Cowboy-dominated Texas, and Yankee-dominated, Columbus-centered Eastern United States. Interestingly, it is the Cheyenne-based Cowboys who are the "bad guys," and the Texas-based Cowboys and Columbus-based Yankees who are the good guys. It's interesting to think that Texas-Cowboys are on the good side because Texas wealth and power is based as much on technology and market trading as it is on natural resources. Meanwhile, almost all of the Cheyenne-based wealth and power comes from natural resources only. This would play well into the growing hostility against fossil fuels in our society...

Caprica: Predicting The Singularity & Coming to terms with AI

The pilot episode of Caprica presents two different, related concepts emerging into the scientific mainstream: that of truly human-level (or beyond) artificial intelligence, and that of The Singularity - what happens when AI surpasses man and man and machine can merge. In the opening scenes we meet Zoe Graystone's simulacrum: an artificial intelligence resembling Zoe, possessing all of her memories, abilities and interests. At first the Simulacrum Zoe is a little buggy, but those bugs seems to work themselves out once Actual Zoe dies in a suicide bomb orchestrated by the Soldiers of the One, a monotheistic cult railing against a polytheistic society that is permissive and seems devoid of the concepts of good and evil. Simulacrum Zoe is even covered in blood after Actual Zoe dies in the bombing and tells protagonist priestess in training Zoe that she "felt" the death of Actual Zoe, as if they somehow were connected.

The theme of more limited artificial intelligence is introduced after we meet Simulacrum Zoe, but before the post-bombing encounter with SZ. The theme of limited artificial intelligence emerges at a weapons lab demonstration of primitive Cylon technology. The Cylon fails to hit, or even adequately aim at, its target during the demonstration due to the lack of a "meta-cognitive processing" MCP unit, which will become more central to the early episodes of the series.

Daniel Graystone, father of Zoe, discovers Simulacrum Zoe and the computer program Actual Zoe used to create SZ. He obsesses over obtaining the MCP from a rival corporation to use not only in the improvement of the Cylons, but also in downloading the Simulacrum Zoe's personality into a Cylon body. The first goal is exceeded wonderfully for Daniel, resulting in a military contract and the side-effect of changing the color of the Cylon scanner eye from white to red. The second goal has unintended consequences for Daniel, and results in the potential loss of Simulacrum Zoe's personality when tried. However, it seems to set up the development of a system used to create 7 of the 12 Cylon models in Battlestar Galactica

The show seems to imply that AI and The Singularity emerged from different programming and technological techniques. It also explores the emotional range of responses humans get from interacting with a Singularity-level AI, which range from disbelief to horror. Acceptance is only a reaction that develops over time.