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Information Systems in Movies & T.V.

The Geographic Information System

The Expert System

Natural-Language Processing

  • Released in 1999, The Matrix is one of cinema's biggest blockbusters and it got the attention of a lot of people. What most people don't know is that the matrix itself is a personification of an actual, although very complex, computer information system with the central deus ex machina being the expert system of the A.I., the "agents" being the commands implemented by the deus ex machina, and the matrix itself being one big program influenced by thousands upon thousands of smaller programs. Programs within the Matrix cause the weather to change, doors to open and close, and gives certain foods and drinks unique tastes. All of these programs function without the direction of a human operator. The deus ex machina is a good example of an expert system because not only does it operate independently, it makes decisions that would normally be made by an actual human operator in the manner that an operator would make them. It is capable of learning, updating, and correcting itself when it makes mistakes and develops its system to function optimally.
  • The Matrix casts A.I. in a very negative light, as do most Hollywood movies based around the subject. Assuming that a system has advanced far enough to where it has gained the ability to govern itself autocratically, since the intelligence of an A.I. grows along with human intelligence, it would be very unlikely that an A.I. would be able to advance its own society and govern a society that consists of human intelligences as well. Even with all this happening, a portion of the program that operates security protocol manages to break apart from the main system and function on its own. Unless the Smiths, the rogue program, had a deus ex machina of its own, it would be very difficult for it to combat a more advanced system capable of learning on an accelerated level.
  • Released in 2012, Zero Dark Thirty is a film based on the true events that occurred in 2011 when U.S. Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6 located and killed Osama bin Laden, one of the leaders of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda. As was shown in the film, the military utilizes many different variations of geographic information systems. In the film, drones were used to get a layout of an area before special forces were sent in to infiltrate it. the military used, and continues to use, GPS systems for orienteering purposes and obtaining geographical information on certain points of interests.
  • Unlike most movies straight out of Hollywood, the film does a good job of keeping the events in the movie similar to how they occurred in reality, but still manages to soften it up a little. Most GIS's require an extensive amount of source data in order to retrieve the best information from a survey. There are many steps that must occur in order for a successful digital representation to be produced. In the film, the drones were able to throw up specific multi-dimensional representations like it was 2048, when in reality, either someone had to be on location to provide specific information or multiple surveys had to be taken over the course of an extended amount of time in order for that kind of representation to be provided. Perhaps since the film didn't have the time to show the year-to-year process of locating bin Laden, shortcuts were taken to save time and add cinematic appeal to the film.
  • In 1983, a film was made called WarGames, starring Matthew Broderick, that raised awareness about the importance of communicating with advanced computing systems and how their proper function could mean the difference between security and disaster. When a computer scientist accidentally connects to system with complete control over America's nuclear weapons arsenal, he is challenged by the system and has to try to convince it not to launch the nuclear weapons. He implements code after code in an attempt to "talk to" the system. He needs to either beat the system at it's own game or coerce it into shutting down the launch. The film demonstrates how important being able to communicate with and understand the functions of a computing system.
  • The film separates from reality and moves toward the entertainment perspective because in reality, the system would probably not be allowed that much control over something as powerful as a nuclear arsenal without so much as a fail-safe or manual override. There also didn't seem to be any other people besides Broderick with skills in programming languages that would be able to shut down or rewrite the system. With a system as advanced as the one in the movie, there would be many people familiar with its programming and the risks involved with operating a system capable of launching nuclear weapons.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086567/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790885/

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The Group Support System

The Artificial Intelligence

  • There have been many movies made about A.I.'s and how their existence would change the way humans lived their lives. In many cases, the A.I. posed a threat to humanity and had to be altered, disrupted, or permanently destroyed.
  • One such film that depicted A.I.'s as an enemy to mankind was I, Robot. Released in 2004, the film's idea of the future was that people would one day enlist the help of robots to take care of household chores and make lives easier for their owners. One person was skeptical of their loyalty, a detective (Will Smith) who went as far as to accuse one of the newer model robots of committing the murder of the company's founder. The robots were all controlled by a central A.I. that went corrupt and used the robots for it's own goals.
  • The film shows the power that an intelligent system would have if given the right to dictate its own actions and control the subordinate systems connected to it. Often times we automatically expect an A.I. to work for our benefit and not turn against us. Given enough intelligence and the freedom to use it, it is very likely that A.I.'s would conduct themselves of their own accord, regardless of how that conduct interferes with human life.
  • Although the risk is great, the movie made the hostile takeover by the A.I. seem a little more sudden and without obstruction than would most likely occur in reality. We, as humans, would naturally take into consideration that with more power given to the A.I., the greater the risk involved and would most likely implement a means to shut down the system if it ever got out of control, instead of having police officers blow it up cinematically.
  • In 1991, Law & Order took off as a popular criminal justice TV series and ran up until 2010. Because it is a show that focuses on working together as a group to track down and apprehend criminals who attempt to evade the law, it is imperative that the group be able to communicate properly and perform tasks efficiently. There is no one episode that can be isolated because each episode revolves around the same style of strategy: come together as a group, formulate a plan of action, set the plan into motion, apprehend the criminal, and if the last step fails, repeat the process from step one. Investigators use a variety of systems to perform tasks, but here the focus is on the group support system. Depending on what kind of investigation the team is conducting and what type of criminal the team is attempting to locate, certain strategies will be used. The investigation team will create and utilize their own type of group support system to help them collectively formulate a plan of action.
  • Law & Order is generally a romanticized perspective of the reality of criminal investigation and is fictitiously conceived for the purpose of dramatic entertainment. GSS, in reality, isn't always successful at providing the resources needed for a group to come to a collective consensus. In the hour long shows, the team was usually able to concoct a plan of action without very much conflict between group members, but in actuality, groups may find themselves having to conduct trial and error to find a system that works well for most group members and even that one may not work for everyone or all the time. Perhaps if the show was able to specify which types of strategies are most effective and how strategies are changed when they don't work, it would better reflect reality.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343818

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098844/

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