Singularity or Bust: In 2009, film-maker and former AI programmer Raj Dye spent his summer following futurist AI researchers Ben Goertzel and Hugo DeGaris around Hong Kong and Xiamen, documenting their doings and gathering their perspectives. The result, after some work by crack film editor Alex MacKenzie, was the 45 minute documentary Singularity or Bust — a uniquely edgy, experimental Singularitarian road movie, featuring perhaps the most philosophical three-foot-tall humanoid robot ever, a glance at the fast-growing Chinese research scene in the late aughts, and even a bit of a real-life love story. The film was screened in theaters around the world, and won the Best Documentary award at the 2013 LA Cinema Festival of Hollywood and the LA Lift Off Festival.
My favorite quote from Singularity or Bust is from Ben Goertzel:
“When I started my career as a scientist I was interested in a bunch of big problems: how to make space craft to travel to other stars; how to make time-machines to go back in time; theoretical physics and simulating immune systems; artificial life; how to make people live forever; and how to make thinking machines… So I figured I can solve all these at one time. But it proved significantly more difficult than anticipated. So in my late twenties I focused 80% of my time on one thing – on trying to make thinking machines…”
Other cool science fiction films
- Keloid: JJ Palomo’s Gripping Robopocalypse Short Sci Fi Film
- The Final Moments of Karl Brant: Short Sci Fi Film about Mind Uploading
- Shelved: Robot Comedy Shows Tragedy of Robots Replaced By Humans
- Tears of Steel: Blender Foundation’s Stunning Short Sci Fi Film
- Stephan Zlotescu’s Sci Fi Short “True Skin” To Become A Warner Bros Full Feature
- ROSA: an Epic Sci Fi Short Film by Jesus Orellana
- Legacy, Ark and the 3rd Letter: The Dark, Post-Apocalyptic Sci Fi Films of Grzegorz Jonkajtys
- Portal: No Escape (Live Action Short Sci Fi Film by Dan Trachtenberg)
- Cost of Living: Short Sci Fi Film by Bendavid Grabinski
- Robots of Brixton (a short film by Kibwe Tavares)
- Somnolence: A Short Sci Fi Film by Patrick Kalyn
- Aaron Sims’ Film Archetype: Your Memories Are Just A Glitch!
- Ruin: A Stunning Short Sci Fi Film by Wes Ball
- Sight [a Short Sci Fi Film]
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