Robot and Frank

It's been months since I watched this movie. At first I was a little concerned for the actor for seeming to always get this end of the stick (cast directors seems to frequently pick him to play the role of crooks!). 

But the movie is well done and handles several broad themes from aging to robotics to artificial intelligence to ethics, to parenting. 

There are interesting suggestions about what a future library could look, Iike as well as some notes on the possibilities of what role robots might have in the future care of the aging. 

It is great to watch the relationship between a machine and an aging man and the idea behind what it means to be human. There is a sense in which this movie has borrowed greatly from I-Robot (which I watched on a flight back to Africa-after an extended stay in the U.S.A). 

The similarity lies in the idea that both machines seem to have an awakening. 

Although in this case, this robot leaves you rather wounded and convicted and perhaps a little affected about what you think and how you act. 

I was left rather troubled because in my view the line between robot and human has really gotten blurred. Read up of the definition of an automaton if you need a little more convincing. 

Robots and other machines are built to do those tasks which humans would rather not do or that are too risky for humans to do. This is the standard definition. Think about how many things we have often left to 'lesser' creatures or even to 'workers' who in some way we view as less important than ourselves. 

In short, this one takes the Intersection Award for A.I related projects that deal with the subject of change, transition and Radial Thinking. 

Change for helping to present some ideas on what it means to grow older, transition for attempting to show us how certain aspects of our lives are likely to affect the way in which we think and function and radical in the presentation of options (even if these have been explored extensively in Japan-as she grapples with an aging population).