Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance

The title of this 1982 documentary is derived from the Hopi word that roughly translates to "life out of balance." In breaking with traditional documentary style, this one word is nearly the only word mentioned in the film's 87 minute running time. Furthermore this is not merely spoken but instead repeatedly chanted by a single basso profundo atop a lamenting phrase played by an organ. This film does not consist of words and scene, but of scene and music. Images that show the frenetic pace of our technology laden world and music that instills in the viewer a feeling of urgency and chaotic anxiety.

Koyannisqatsi is not a film about technology's effect on human life and culture. This film is, as any great work of art is, intentionally open ended to allow the viewer to see what he wants to see. In it simplest terms this film depicts human life immersed in technology. It is not forcing an opinion on the viewer or attempting to settle some battle between the human and the machine. Instead it shows, for better or for worse, condition of everyone in our society: simultaneously benefiting and suffering as a result of technology. Godfrey Reggio, the films producer and director describes his film in the following way:

"these films have never been about the effect of technology, of industry on people. It's been that everyone: politics, education, things of the financial structure, the nation state structure, language, the culture, religion, all of that exists within the host of technology. So it's not the effect of, it's that everything exists within [technology]. It's not that we use technology, we live technology. Technology has become as ubiquitous as the air we breathe..."

The film is the result of a strong collaboration between Reggio and American minimalist composer Philip Glass. Glass' compositional style, using electronic synthesizers combined with organic strings and voice playing endlessly repeating ostinato figures, fits perfectly with the subject and themes of the movie adding a new dimension to the superb cinematography. Due to this close cooperation between director and composer, this film and soundtrack positively compliment each other, producing an experience of deep emotional impact and cultural significance. So much so that the U.S. Library of Congress accepted this film into the National Film Registry in 2000.

Koyaanisqatsi and its soundtrack are both currently available through bookstores and are part of a trilogy of "Qatsi" (meaning "life") films Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi.

Ethical Robots

This summer I came across a very interesting set of papers written by Ronald Arkin at the Georgia Institute of Technology. These papers outlined the foundation of an ethical control and reasoning system for autonomous warfare platforms and would reasonably include both ground robotic systems and Unmanned Aeriel Vehicles (UAV). This software was designed around the U.S. military's Laws of War and Rules of Engagement and funded in part by the U.S. Army.

Meanwhile, in the news where reports of lethal aerial drone attacks on targets in Pakistan. Although these attacks where controlled and authorized by human controllers, it is not far outside the scope of the technology to enable the autonomous platform to make its own lethal decisions. Foster-Miller, a leading maker of warfare robots, has introduced a heavily armed version of their TALON platform for use in combat. YouTube videos show this robot equipped with a machine-gun and engaging dummy targets. See here. Again, these devices a currently controlled exclusively by a human operator and no artificial intelligence is currently in charge of fire control. But it shows that the hardware exists and the only existing challenge is one of software.

The current direction of research is toward increasingly autonomous systems, including independent fire control. This technology is no so far off. Therefore, ethical software on these machines is needed to prevent them from making unethical or illegal decisions.

The popular fear surrounding this technology is the "Terminator" or "Matrix" scenario in which vast numbers of sentient military robots turn on their human creators and either enslave or massacre the entire human-race. This concept it far from reality at this point as robots a far from conscious and still need human intervention to remain operation (such as recharging the batteries.) But this fear is understandable. The thought of unfeeling machines armed with weapons and unable to differentiate between a soldier armed with a AK-47 and young girl holding an ice cream cone is unnerving. I can safely say I wouldn't want to be within range of one of these robots in constant fear that a single glitch could result in the robot firing armor piercing rounds at anything that moves.

Ultimately progress toward this goal will continue and one day, soon, we will hear about completely autonomous aircraft and ground robots on the fighting on the world's battle fronts. For this to be a reality these machines must be embedded with ethical logic and control. I for one hope that this will bring about a new era of warfare where machines, not men, fight and military superiority is determined by who has the best AI and strategy; much like a large, expensive video game. But I'm afraid this vision may be overly naive. Regardless of the outcome, it is essential that we imbibe these machines with at least a trace of humanity before we equip them with weaponry.