2001: A Space Odyssey is Kubrick's 1968 film credit. The work has continued to inspire generations of researchers in artificial intelligence and space technology.
Illustration: One of the most iconic stills from Stan Lee Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey; Credit: Kubrick et al
As early as a year before we sent humans to the moon, the most outstanding film of Stan Lee Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey, was released. This epic film from half a century ago caused a huge sensation in the film and scientific circles as soon as it was released.
Designed by filmmaker Kubrick and sci-fi veteran Clarke, 2001 began with alien objects discovered by astronauts on the moon. The film's unique philosophical ideas, exquisite production, realistic visuals, and iconic soundtrack made it a groundbreaking work in the world of cinematic art.
Inspiring a new generation of science fiction filmmakers, from George Lucas to Steven Spielberg to Kristo Nolan, 2001 opened the door to science fiction blockbusters for decades to come.
In addition, "2001" also has a great influence on the scientific community: the future technology and creativity shown in the film are far more than the era in which the film was produced. At the time of making the film, NASA was frantically trying to send humans to the moon, so Kubrick and Clark knew that their design and props had to surpass the new technology available, or the film would soon become obsolete and obsolete.
So they tried to hire astronauts, aerospace engineers, and former NASA employees to give some professional advice on the design of spacecraft, master control panels, display systems, communications equipment, and more. This close and careful professional consultation not only makes the work extremely scientifically rigorous, but also produces some predictions about the "reliable" future technology of mankind.
If you look closely at the movie, you'll find that tablets, touch screens, robots, and artificial intelligence are all used in the movie's space station. Clark said: "I never thought that the predictions in 2001 were rigorous, indeed a possible future. "Because of the film's profound influence on creativity, design, and physical application in many industries, much of what it depicted in 1968 is now a reality.
In an article published in Science in 2018, American computer scientist and roboticist Robin Murphy said that the film not only anticipated many developments and challenges in robotics, but also influenced the public's understanding of artificial intelligence.
Many of the technologies in Spacex Falcon 9 are "descendants" of the technologies depicted in Kubrick's films. Image by bill ingalls/nasa
Murphy of Texas A&M University wrote: "One of the film's greatest achievements is that it brought artificial intelligence into the mainstream consciousness of cinema before the birth of the first artificial intelligence robot Shaky (1969). She points out that the artificial intelligence in the film --- hal (the supercomputer on the spaceship) introduces the public to a robot that was born not to replace coolies, but to communicate, computer vision, and reasoning.
"2001: A Space Odyssey introduces people to a nascent artificial intelligence and robotics industry."
Hal functions very similarly to modern voice assistants like Siri and Alexa. As a tribute to the movie, when you say to Siri "open the hatch," his fixed response will be "I'm sorry, I can't do that." The scientific advances demonstrated by HAL can also be seen in today's hot unmanned vehicles, robotic customer service services and algorithms in Amazon's warehouses.
Lewis Mitchell, a mathematician at the University of Adelaide in Australia, believes that even without the film "2001", we would have developed and owned AI technology, but the visionary creative ideas in the film and the innovations of other types of films have undoubtedly promoted the design and application of these technologies.
"The emergence of hal has influenced and shaped today's gentle personal voice assistants who can talk to humans"
Video telephony is a good example of the same: "Obviously, we're going to evolve video calling. But without the inspiration of the movie, would Apple and Microsoft have so quickly added video calling to the iPhone or Skype? I'm not so sure. ”
Hal's rebellious design in the film deals with deeper moral issues and anticipates the fear that AI is being used for evil thoughts today.
Mitchell said: "How much autonomy should we give AI? What should we do if ai says something we don't approve of, don't like, or have a negative impact on humanity? These are the questions we are struggling with now. ”
Of course, not all predictions are reflected in real life.
For example, Robin Murphy believes that some of the film's expectations of AI are unrealistic: "Hal works in a way that is still difficult for human technology today. It tracks crew members with multiple cameras, can read human facial expressions, and it can even read lips. ”
Illustration: The sound style of the AI voice assistant (alexa) in Amazon's smart home system is derived from hal, picture: smith collection
In this film, humans have successfully achieved space travel, space station hotels, moon colonization, and Jupiter-related missions in the future. Duncan Steel, of the New Zealand Space Technology Centre, said: "When the film first came out, the Apollo program was in full swing. We did expect that 30 years later, in 2001, humans would be able to go into space as depicted in the movie. "Although to this day, our technology has not developed as advanced as the film depicts, but this film has really promoted the development of space technology.
"The film has really changed the way people think about space tourism," said Andrew Dempster, director of the Australian Space Engineering Research Centre, "the mystery of 2001 also adds to the romantic nature of space." Karlie Noon, an astronomy graduate student at the Australian Scientific Research Organisation, said: "The use of AI by humans in space travel has always been a hot topic. She noted that much of SpaceX's technology relies on machines' self-learning. In 2015, Falcon 9 was successfully landed by relying on the route predicted by the algorithm. ”
Similarly, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory relies heavily on the machine's self-learning to correct its rotation parameters. This technology makes unmanned aerial vehicles possible. ”
Obviously, this film also influences the way humans approach the universe. The Odyssey, which was launched by NASA in 2001, still orbits Mars today, and its name is derived from this movie.
In April 2018, Kubrick and Clark's "fame" extended to the borders of the solar system. The two main peaks on the Pluto moon were named Kubrick and Clark.
However, much of 2001's impact is not as specific and straightforward as described above. Quantifying the film's impact in every area is hard. For example, how does it change the way people think about humanity's place in the universe? And how does it inspire innovation and inspiration in the science of the future? The film's VFX supervisor Douglas Trumbull said in the early years: "I often meet scientists, engineers and astrophysicists, and many people say that their choice of their industry is largely influenced by this film. "2001" profoundly influenced a group of people to believe that something would become a reality. ”
Steel, who has seen the film n times, agrees with this statement. "Because my father was the manager of the cinema, I was born in the cinema in Midsomer Norton, UK. When 2001 was first screened, I watched all the shows of the movie in the cinema during the week. So you ask me if the film inspired my passion for working in space science? I swear yes. ”
Lewis Mitchell has said something similar, believing that the film "2001" definitely inspired his passion for a career in science. Recalling his time in elementary school with his mother, he said, "'2001' was the first science film I ever saw. My mother's interest in science fiction and science was one of the important factors that led me to success in my career. Being guided to watch "2001" at a very young age is a good example."
This is not uncommon among scientists across disciplines. Dempster also watched the film with his family, which indirectly led him to work on space engineering. And Noon, a self-proclaimed sci-fi nerd, confessed that the film not only brought him a great sense of excitement, but also made him perceive the crisis that future travel could bring.
Apparently, the film's impact far exceeds its 161-minute length. It laid the groundwork for many science-inspired films that followed, and continues to inspire scientists to this day.
2001: A Space Odyssey exists at the intersection of art, science and technology, which also proves that these fields are not mutually exclusive, but more mutually confirmed and mutually reinforcing.
Resources
1.Wikipedia encyclopedia
2. Astronomical terms
3. Cosmosmagazine - Mango no - Lauren fuge
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