‘Interstellar’ demonstrates human ingenuity

Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” is big and complicated. It is ambitious and emotionally charged.

In this science-fiction film, Earth faces a huge food crisis and will soon be inhabitable for human beings. A group of space explorers takes on an important voyage in the universe to find a planet that could be a new home for humanity.

Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) pilot turned farmer, finds himself back in his old job through his 10-year-old daughter Murph’s (Mackenzie Foy) belief of “ghosts” trying to communicate with her. He then meets his previous boss, Professor Brand (Michael Caine), who tapped him to join the team in exploring space to save the human race.

Nasa believes that a wormhole found near Saturn is the way in transporting them to another galaxy and finding a new habitable planet. The exploration will follow three previous space trips that aimed to find sustainable planets.

Brand’s daughter Amelia (Anne Hathaway) joins the exploration along with scientists Doyle (Wes Bentley) and Romilly (David Gyasi), and robots named Tars and Case. The mission is called Endurance.

Endurance requires years to be completed and would mean Cooper sacrificing a long time away from his family. There is also no assurance that he would be coming back to Earth after the project.

The primary plan of Endurance is to find a habitable planet, while Brand researches on how to mass-transfer humanity to a new home world.

But if the research is not completed in time, they have to save the human race by repopulating humanity through a bank of fertilized human embryos that they brought with the journey, leaving everyone on Earth dead.

Knowing the possible consequences of the expedition, Murph disapproves of her father’s decision. But Cooper promises to return no matter what happens.

“Interstellar” highlights the ingenuity of human beings. In the film, Cooper talks to Professor Brand saying that humans will always find a way to solve the problems of Earth.

But the film does not only center on scientific findings and space explorations. It also tells the stories of love and relationships. It shows how nothing less than an emergency of apocalyptic proportions takes its emotional toll on people.

As a sci-fi movie, “Interstellar’s” strongest suit of course is the visuals. The new planets created in the film are stunning and are beautifully shot by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema.

Written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, the narrative inclines to be too sentimental at times. It also tends to be messy and difficult to understand.

But Nolan is known for his complicated plots and tricky narratives. Some of Nolan’s cerebral and complex movies are award-winning films such as “Inception” and “Memento.”

McConaughey gives a very impressive performance. He knows how to handle his roles well, and he effortlessly shifts his emotions from being a stable pilot to a caring father.

His coactors did not disappoint. Jessica Chastain, who plays the older Murph, is subtle and beautiful. Caine and Hathaway also give outstanding performances.

“Interstellar” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is available in four formats: IMAX 70mm Film, 35mm Film, IMAX Digital and Digital 2D.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

Cambridge to study technology’s risk to humans

LONDON – Could computers become cleverer than humans and take over the world? Or is that just the stuff of science fiction?

Philosophers and scientists at Britain’s Cambridge University think the question deserves serious study. A proposed Center for the Study of Existential Risk will bring together experts to consider the ways in which super intelligent technology, including artificial intelligence, could “threaten our own existence,” the institution said Sunday.

“In the case of artificial intelligence, it seems a reasonable prediction that some time in this or the next century intelligence will escape from the constraints of biology,” Cambridge philosophy professor Huw Price said.

When that happens, “we’re no longer the smartest things around,” he said, and will risk being at the mercy of “machines that are not malicious, but machines whose interests don’t include us.”

Fears that machines could overtake humans have long been the subject of science fiction — the computer HAL in the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey,” for example, is one of film’s best-known computer threats.

Price acknowledged that many people believe his concerns are far-fetched, but insisted the potential risks are too serious to brush away.

“It tends to be regarded as a flakey concern, but given that we don’t know how serious the risks are, that we don’t know the time scale, dismissing the concerns is dangerous. What we’re trying to do is to push it forward in the respectable scientific community,” he said.

While Price said the exact nature of the risks is difficult to predict, he said that advanced technology could be a threat when computers start to direct resources towards their own goals, at the expense of human concerns like environmental sustainability.


He compared the risk to the way humans have threatened the survival of other animals by spreading across the planet and using up natural resources that other animals depend upon.

Price is co-founding the project together with Cambridge professor of cosmology and astrophysics Martin Rees and Jann Tallinn, one of the founders of the internet phone service Skype.

The university said Sunday the center’s launch is planned next year.

source: technology.inquirer.net