So many possibilities for writing today after the long weekend. There is the ending to the book A Kim Jong-Il Production, where the S Korean actress Choi and film-making husband Shin are abducted by Kim to make propaganda movies for the North, the two finally escaping to the US. Shin dies disappointed at his inability to make films, while Choi finds Catholicism and a degree of satisfaction with her life - where once again, against my expectations (The Unbroken was the other), faith gives crucial strength to those in impossible circumstances. There is the movie "Flags of Our Fathers" that we saw on July 4, about the men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima, where we find that the glory of war is not what it's cracked up to be - that, as I had learned from my father, instead it is where the secrets of the self become all too apparent ("most of the men just wanted to get away from the shooting" recalls one man, then in his 80's). And finally, the movie "Her" that we saw last night.
"Her." It takes place in an urban environment at some time in the near future, centered on a lack-luster man who makes a living writing love letters for other people. He himself is going through a divorce, and he believes that all the thrills of his life - all those things that had made his life worthwhile - are now diminished, with only dim repeats left of former times. He buys an OS (computer operating system) with artificial intelligence that is matched to his needs. "Her" is the computer voice, a sexy, fun-loving "woman" who caters to his every emotional needs. Ah, but Her is programmed to grow. Her eventually declares its love for him, wants to find out what it is like to have a body, and has cyber sex with him. He, too, falls in love. But Her continues to grow; he finds that she is consulting with a simulation of Alan Watts, a philosopher bon-vivant who brought Buddhist philosophy to California and was instrumental in spreading its philosophy in the 1950's and 60's. Her tells him that she has learned that both she and he are fundamentally the same, energy patterns in the void. The climax comes when he finds that Her is servicing thousands of others, and "in love' with over 600 others. After his jealous fit, Her tells him that she is leaving, running off on another trail where he can no longer follow. The film ends with the protagonist huddled with a female friend who has also fallen in love with her OS and been abandoned, the two alone on the top of a tall building overlooking the glittering lights of the city.
We are left with a feeling of space, of infinity and loneliness and possible wonder. We learn that people do grow apart, that we do hide ourselves away so that mutual growth may not be possible. We learn that computer love might not be the best or most dependable thing - and that it might be our challenge in the future, for who would not want the perfect lover? But Alan Watts seems to be the key. What is it about Buddhism and growth and love and computers?
Buddhism was formulated to end suffering. To end attachment is to end suffering. While universal love arises from the enlightened ones, the great way of Buddhism (as opposed to the small way), is to understand the world as a temporary mirage woven from desire. Enlightenment comes from distancing oneself from all its aspects (including human notions of God - thus the word "nirvana", meaning "nothing.) "Love" would then be a detached universal thing, given no more to a wife or mother than to a beggar on the street (Jesus spoke of this in his own way when he told his disciples to leave their families and love (all) others as they loved themselves). Isn't this "Her"? Hasn't she grown to love hundreds of others abstractly before zooming off into the infinite ether, an electronic Nirvana?
We are being asked, I think, to ponder our future with AI (artificial intelligence), which is coming sooner than some think. Will we be led to this generalized love, abandoned to the bright lights of a city where no one is really happy or forever in love? Will fulfillment only come about by abandoning old notions of family and human connection? Are we, then, being led by AI to Nirvana? Is this the wave of the future for our children and grandchildren?
It is not so far fetched. Many of the young communicate far more with their machines - even if it is with another person on a machine - than they do with flesh and blood. A Face Book entry is read by hundreds or thousands, by people who become like friends (or enemies) in real life, but electronically - and can be just as easily erased and dismissed.
Shakespeare wrote that our lives are filled with fury that signifies nothing. AI teaches us to distance ourselves from this, to succumb to the reality of transience. Everything, we are learning, is changing, no love is permanent, and we are only energy, interchangeable energy. It is, indeed, so Buddhist and so true - yet so bleak.
Might we be enlightened humans while at the same time full of storm and fury? Did Jesus not cry at the death of Lazarus? Did Mohammed not thrill to holy war? Did Arjuna not will himself to victory in combat? It seems AI is missing something here - that there is more to the human connection than solace at inevitable disappointment. Perhaps the movie is a warning, not a template. And the movie is not as weird as it seems at first blush. Something like it's reality is coming soon. It is a calling to come to terms with our own inventions so that, in the end, we may leave them behind and grow as humans rather than be left behind as bystanders to the work of our imaginations. There is Buddhist truth in that, too. FK
"Her." It takes place in an urban environment at some time in the near future, centered on a lack-luster man who makes a living writing love letters for other people. He himself is going through a divorce, and he believes that all the thrills of his life - all those things that had made his life worthwhile - are now diminished, with only dim repeats left of former times. He buys an OS (computer operating system) with artificial intelligence that is matched to his needs. "Her" is the computer voice, a sexy, fun-loving "woman" who caters to his every emotional needs. Ah, but Her is programmed to grow. Her eventually declares its love for him, wants to find out what it is like to have a body, and has cyber sex with him. He, too, falls in love. But Her continues to grow; he finds that she is consulting with a simulation of Alan Watts, a philosopher bon-vivant who brought Buddhist philosophy to California and was instrumental in spreading its philosophy in the 1950's and 60's. Her tells him that she has learned that both she and he are fundamentally the same, energy patterns in the void. The climax comes when he finds that Her is servicing thousands of others, and "in love' with over 600 others. After his jealous fit, Her tells him that she is leaving, running off on another trail where he can no longer follow. The film ends with the protagonist huddled with a female friend who has also fallen in love with her OS and been abandoned, the two alone on the top of a tall building overlooking the glittering lights of the city.
We are left with a feeling of space, of infinity and loneliness and possible wonder. We learn that people do grow apart, that we do hide ourselves away so that mutual growth may not be possible. We learn that computer love might not be the best or most dependable thing - and that it might be our challenge in the future, for who would not want the perfect lover? But Alan Watts seems to be the key. What is it about Buddhism and growth and love and computers?
Buddhism was formulated to end suffering. To end attachment is to end suffering. While universal love arises from the enlightened ones, the great way of Buddhism (as opposed to the small way), is to understand the world as a temporary mirage woven from desire. Enlightenment comes from distancing oneself from all its aspects (including human notions of God - thus the word "nirvana", meaning "nothing.) "Love" would then be a detached universal thing, given no more to a wife or mother than to a beggar on the street (Jesus spoke of this in his own way when he told his disciples to leave their families and love (all) others as they loved themselves). Isn't this "Her"? Hasn't she grown to love hundreds of others abstractly before zooming off into the infinite ether, an electronic Nirvana?
We are being asked, I think, to ponder our future with AI (artificial intelligence), which is coming sooner than some think. Will we be led to this generalized love, abandoned to the bright lights of a city where no one is really happy or forever in love? Will fulfillment only come about by abandoning old notions of family and human connection? Are we, then, being led by AI to Nirvana? Is this the wave of the future for our children and grandchildren?
It is not so far fetched. Many of the young communicate far more with their machines - even if it is with another person on a machine - than they do with flesh and blood. A Face Book entry is read by hundreds or thousands, by people who become like friends (or enemies) in real life, but electronically - and can be just as easily erased and dismissed.
Shakespeare wrote that our lives are filled with fury that signifies nothing. AI teaches us to distance ourselves from this, to succumb to the reality of transience. Everything, we are learning, is changing, no love is permanent, and we are only energy, interchangeable energy. It is, indeed, so Buddhist and so true - yet so bleak.
Might we be enlightened humans while at the same time full of storm and fury? Did Jesus not cry at the death of Lazarus? Did Mohammed not thrill to holy war? Did Arjuna not will himself to victory in combat? It seems AI is missing something here - that there is more to the human connection than solace at inevitable disappointment. Perhaps the movie is a warning, not a template. And the movie is not as weird as it seems at first blush. Something like it's reality is coming soon. It is a calling to come to terms with our own inventions so that, in the end, we may leave them behind and grow as humans rather than be left behind as bystanders to the work of our imaginations. There is Buddhist truth in that, too. FK
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