Continuum: SyFy's Battlestar Galactica/Caprica Re-Employment Vehicle

I've got to say that Continuum is proving interesting. However, one notable thing about it is that it seems to employ a number of actors from Battlestar Galactica and Caprica. Caprica's GDD Officer Jordan Durham becomes Vancouver's Police Chief Inspector Dillon in Continuum; Battlestar Galactica's Karl Agathon becomes Union President Jim Martin. There's even an appearance by Daniel Graystone's associate Cyrus as a peddler of black market sperm from high value donors.

Caprica: The Genesis of Cylon Monotheism vs. Human Polytheism

One of the more interesting aspects of Caprica and Battlestar Galactica is the religious aspect of the conflict between humans and Cylons. To wit, Cylons have developed a monotheistic religion, complete with churches and priests/priestesses, which we witness at the end of the Caprica series, while humans have emerged as a polytheistic civilization. This is an interesting overlay of the conflict between humans and Cylons and was absent in the original series. Additionally, it was added into the original series, during the height of the Post-War Occupation of Iraq, giving the series a more politically relevant context. There's even a webisode and episode focusing on the use of suicide bombers by human POWs to inflict casualties on human collaborators and their Cylon masters.

The polytheism of the humans seems to track well with the fact that the Human Civilization in Caprica/Battlestar Galactica has colonized 12 planets, each named after a sign of the Zodiac, and each possessing its own patron God(dess). Battlestar Galactica acknowledges that the human race evolved on one planet before a diaspora, but still seems united under one political system instead of evolving into the planetary versions of nation-states. In fact, the 12 planets are referred to as the colonies, implying control from one central planet.

The development of the Cylon monotheistic religion is more interesting.  Zoe Graystone, the developer of the Zoe Simulacrum and program for the development of the Cylons was an adherent of the Soldiers of the One (STO). STO is a militant religious organization dedicated to advancing monotheistic beliefs in a judgmental, all-knowing God who wanted humans to understand right from wrong. This is a reaction against the perceived excesses, sexual and otherwise, of the polytheistic majority. These excesses are first, and best, witnessed in the Virtual Club where we first meet Simulacrum Zoe. There is group sex, murder for fun, and human sacrifice, all of which is dedicated to some God or other.

The STO didn't just come into existence weeks before the series show. According to the show's mythology, it's a long-existing cult, at least decades old. It has been driven underground because of its "extreme" views on human morality. Zoe Graystone, as an adherent of the STO imbued her Simulacrum with those same beliefs. Lacy Rand, Zoe's best friend and fellow STO member eventually becomes high priestess. Between the two of them and sister Clarice they indoctrinate all Cylons into the STO's monotheistic religion.

(To Be Continued...)

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.