Kara

What excites me about this short CGI film is not the amazing details or the display of wonderful skill in creating it. No. It brought tears to my eyes because although we are a long way from having such an event occur. Singularity. The question begs; what will be our moral responsibility when such an event does occur. And yes; its coming, the question is when. And the real question is; are we ready to step up and show a moral compass that will acutely define us as a species. Androids will be conceived, planned, dreamed up, designed, created, and produced by us. When one of them reaches singularity, shall we still consider ourselves their owner and master. Will we sanction slavery. Will we be able to measure their worth. Shall they have the same rights as any sentient being "born" on earth. I believe that we are not yet prepared to accept a manufactured being as our equal; in either spirit or legal status. We award rights and protection of laws to pets and animals because we believe that they suffer at our hands. What are we ready to do when a machine we designed and created tells us that they feel that we should not own them like a merchandise, but accept them as our equals in everything that we consider is our right as human beings. This is an ethical and moral dilemma that given the march of our science and the work of computer scientists attempting to achieve this, must sooner or later be considered whether we like it or not.

I have no idea what director David Cage is planning on doing with "Kara". Perhaps it's meant as an initial cut-scene for an upcoming video game (which would be pretty exciting) or maybe it's just a short film showing what sort of stuff he can do. All I know is that I found this on the internet and it was very disturbing--and in a good way.

The film is obviously done using CGI. It follows the creation of a cybernetic woman who is supposed to be a combination maid/sex toy/cook. As she's begin assembled, a voice gives her instructions. However, somewhere along the line, the cyborg begins to think for herself and becomes aware--sort of like when Pinocchio becomes a real boy. It's profoundly disturbing when she becomes 'alive' and I think this is when this short really comes into it own. It nearly made me cry--and it is simple, yet brilliant. Well worth seeing--I just want to know exactly what they are planning on doing with it.

So. Everyone knows by now that this sparked the Detroit : Become Human game, which was an extremely flawed storytelling masterpiece. This is the same. Everything here tells a story, and the android awakening here is so gradual, you don't realize when you actually connect with the character. The flaws here are blown out of the water by the fantastic acting. Every time I watch this, I cry.