Ex-Machina and Rise of Super Cool Scientists

I have just watched Ex-Machina (2015) in such a calm and lovely Sunday afternoon. As a sci-fi maniac and enthusiast of future of machine - human interaction, this movie has been on my list for a while. I am very glad I did it. Well, it should not mean that I am totally in love with the movie but instead it made me realize in a crystal clear vision that the image of science and scientists in public has taken a steep: scientists of old times with their obsessively cleaned lab-coats, thick glasses and anti-social behavior has been buried! Now, is the century for good-looking, sexy, rich scientists and their lost souls... In Ex-Machina, Oscar Isaac (very cool name) is starring as Nathan Bateman, CEO of a search engine company (can we say equivalent of Google?) Blue Book. He lives in an isolated place, in the middle of Nature, where is actually a research facility that he does some cool stuff in there like creating AI and lifting weights to stay fit. He also hates to speak like old-fashioned scientists and avoids using jargon. He likes to stick to street style. 

Domhnall Gleeson (Caleb) is an employee in Blue Book and apparently there was a competition going on inside the company in which the winner would be prized to spend one week with Mr Bateman in his house. So the guy ends up in his house and soon after he learns that the reason of his presence is to test newly created machine, highly intelligent Ava, whether she is capable of passing the Turing Test. Ava is a beautiful AI, has perfect body ratio that can manipulate any men's decision making. So, according to Caleb the Turing Test is biased in this situation because Ava’s sexuality is clouding his mind. I don’t want to give more details for those who would like to watch. You can learn after watching movie, whether Ava passed Turing test or not.

My overall observation is the new age scientists are imaged as super-hot, muscular or if woman slim/slender but curvy, fit and so relax… We get used to see scientists in their lab-coat, exploding things here or there, most probably asexual but handsome, fit and into sex? It must be a new trend. I also observed this phenomenon in new trend of “entrepreneurship”. Like Elon Musk… Is it some kind of selling strategy? Because It was proven that cute faces, men or women, tend to be more successful in life. People around them tend to trust them more than to the ones with less cute faces… Can it be the same strategy that Ava did to Caleb? Or is it simply our thrive for perfection?

Perfection in mind and body…

Cloud in the Sky

Awesome lyrics and melody by Archive from their Take My Head (1999) album.

Awesome YouTube Channel: Kurz Gesagt - In a Nutshell

I have just discovered a YouTube Channel named Kurz Gesagt - In a Nutshell. They have brilliant animated videos about everything that tackles our minds: What is Life?, Evolution, The time, Alien life and much more. I feel like I can move aside all my work and watch all the videos one by one in this Sunday afternoon. Here is the one I last watched.

Have You Passed Through This Night?

I discovered Austin, Texas based band Explosions in the Sky in this year. I am very into post-rock, post-metal genres and don't have problem with any of the band that fall into this category. I have some favorites of course. Explosions in the Sky have become one of them.

Have you ever felt great when you loved a song and found out that it had been used in the movie that is in your to-watch list? Somehow I feel complete when I find such coincidences. I was planning to watch "The Thin Red Line" in this week and found out that my favorite track in Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever album has a passage from The Thin Red Line! I feel awesome. Listen this. You're welcome.

The Day I Left World for Only One and Half Hour and Still Worth It.

Today was very hot in Singapore. Not surprising, yes I admit. But today was one of the hottest one in recent days. However there was Northern breeze that had came all the way from Iceland. It made me feel alive for one and half hour. I am talking about Olafur Arnalds. He is multi-instrumental musician and considered as the pioneer of electronic-classical music combination. And this unique personality performed six pieces at Esplanade Concert Hall with his three awesome accompanists. Especially the Icelandic beauty who plays violin was flawless. 

I don't remember when I discovered his music but what I am sure is it is helping me to forget time and space and makes me feel like I've just escaped from Schrödinger's box, where cat is still captive, without breaking the poison bottle; noone knows whether I am still inside or not. 

He was extremely polite. I was surprised at first but one second later I whispered myself: "How come a person who can compose beyond-world songs can be rude?". I nodded.

Here are some pictures from the concert. I don't like to be involved in advertisement but this guy deserves it. And in such a capitalist world I am willing to do this for him. Check his masterpieces at YouTube. You will not regret.

And also a lousy video in which he sends gratidudes to his grandma who had passed away couple of years ago.

Haluk'un İnancı

Dün internete bağlanamadığımdan bugüne kalmış olan bir şiiri paylaşacağım. Dün Tevfik Fikret'in 97. ölüm yıldönümü idi. İnternette gezinirken rast geldiğim ve çok hoşuma giden bir şiiri paylaşmak istiyorum. Tevfik Fikret'in dünya görüşünü ve aynı zamanda istek ve dileklerini yansıtan bu şiiri çok beğendim. İyi okumalar.

Bir yaratıcı güç var!  ulu ve akpak,
Kutsal ve yüce; ona vicdanımla inandım.

Yeryüzü vatanım, insansoyu milletimdir benim,
Ancak böyle düşünenin insan olacağına inandım.

Şeytan da biziz cin de, ne şeytan ne de melek var;
Dünya dönecek Cennete insanla, inandım.

Yaradılışta evrim hep var, hep olmuş, hep olacak,
Ben buna Tevrat'la, İncil'le, Kuran'la inandım.

Tekmil insanlar kardeşi birbirinin... bir hayâl bu!
Olsun, ben o hayâle de bin canla inandım.

İnsan eti yenmez; "oh" dedim içimden, "ne iyi",
Bir an için dedelerimi unuttum da, inandım.

Kan şiddeti besler, şiddet kanı; bu düşmanlık
Kan ateşidir; sönmeyecek kanla, inandım.

Elbet şu mezar hayatı zifiri karanlığın ardından
Aydınlık bir kıyamet günü gelecek, buna  inandım.

Aklın, o büyük sihirbazın, hüneri önünde
Yok olacak, gerçek dışı ne varsa, inandım.

Karanlıklar sönecek, yanacak hakkın ışığı,
Patlayan bir volkan gibi bir anda, inandım.

Kollar ve boyunlar çözülüp, bağlanacak bir bir
Yumruklar şangırdayan zincirlerle, inandım.

Bir gün yapacak fen şu kara toprağı altın,
Bilim gücüyle olacak ne olacaksa... inandım.

 

Tevfik FİKRET

Ölüm Üzerine Anlık 27.01.12

Farkında olmadan ölümle her an yan yana yaşıyoruz. Çizginin diğer ucuna geçtiğimizde “ölmüş” oluyoruz diğer tarafında “canlı”. İnternet bazlı sosyal yaşamın olmadığı zamanlarda geride bir eser bırakabilmiş olanlar, o eserler okunarak hatırlanırdı. O kişiyi şahsen tanıyan tanımayan herkes okur ve bir anlamda yaşatırlardı. Fakat bu eserlerin, hiçbir zaman okunan kişi tarafından bir insanın elinden çıkmış olduğu gerçeği hissedilmez. Evet birileri yazmıştır ve o kişi şuan yoktur, bunun bilincindedir okuyucu fakat her satırında bunu hissedemez çünkü resmidir, çünkü üstünde düşünülerek yazılmıştır, çünkü “yapaydır”. İnternet bazlı sosyal medya ile beraber, bütün insanlığın tek tek her birinin, anlık duyguları ve bu duyguların taşıyıcıları cümleleri kaydediliyor. Ölümünden 2 gün önce yazdığı küçük bir cümle bizi (beni) yazmış olabileceği bir kitaptan daha çok etkiliyor. Her bir insanın birçok anı insanlığın ortak hafızasına kaydediliyor ve bir kez daha ölümle ne kadar yan yana yaşadığımızın “farkına” varmamızı sağlıyor. Fakat bu farkındalık da doğamızın bir getirisi olarak, geçici oluyor.