Mark Mungo’s Paper/Project Proposal
In my paper, I will propose a hypothetical answer to the “Myth of Total Cinema”, Andre Bazin’s belief that cinema represents a desire to represent reality. While I would not be the first to present virtual reality simulations as the potential end goal, I will outline a more realistic path on how humanity may realize this. I will outline how this total cinema might look, how it would work, and the ways in which it may be developed.
I will seek to prove that the concept of Cinema is a continuation and conjoining evolution that has been going on since the dawn of story. I will outline how story developed as a useful mechanism for survival, to expand our ability for observational learning. Using my essay from undergrad, where I explored these topics, I will dive back into those primary sources. I will theorize that all forms of art have been an evolutionary divergence of reality sharing, through the capturing of an event or idea in a work or performance. The well accepted narrative and non narrative, theatrical, photographic, and aural traditions of Cinema are but a taste of reality we have found ways to share realities. We have yet to share other senses such as touch, taste, and emotion. These are much more complicated to share. Additionally, I will look at the evolution of media viewing as becoming increasingly small and personal. From tribal performances and stories, to the ultimately smaller mediums of today such as the smart phone (the most diverse media tool in history), and proposed near-future developments such as AR and VR, technology has progressively brought the “reality projection” closer to the viewer, the hand-held screen, the ear buds… the proposed glasses and contact lenses… We are forgetting that experience occurs in the brain, which is where total cinema must be played from.
Secondly, I will propose that recent research into mapping the human brain follows the predictions of Raymond Kurzweil, a leading futurologist and scientist, who says that the brain will be mapped by 2030, and we will have superintelligence, in ourselves or in an AI by 2045. Even if his timeline is overly optimistic, it is clear that within the next 100 or so years, our understanding of the brain (which is mostly speculative), will expand rapidly, and technology will seek to keep pace. I predict that once the brain is fully understood, we will be able to augment our brains with supercomputers, capable of stimulating our brains into dream states on command. In this true dream sharing, we will be able to experience another person’s reality or surreality with every sense and emotion desired.
Alternatively/additionally, I will outline how these simulations will require immense processing power, and explore the possibility of Artificial Intelligence assisted artistic creation (rather than creating through code, the AI would intuitively assist design a world to your desires). I will outline the political, sociological, and technological hurdles associated with the development of a singular, god-like AI, and the realities of this world. I will outline the nature under which this AI must be developed, where I posit it is essential that an international coalition of the top scientists work under a UN sanctioned protocol to develop an AI for the specific purpose of governing over us. I will refer to aforementioned brain mapping, and how it is assumed true AI will be based off of the model of a human brain. I posit that the conscience and parts of the brain related to morality of this AI be altered to contain the opinions of all humans who choose to upload a copy of their brains within this AI. The AI would be be driven by the aggregate desires of all humans, and serve utilitarian interests.
This AI would functionally represent, politically, a mix of democracy and dictatorship, and, technologically, a replacement for the internet, and the hardware and software of every piece of technology.
Through this neural network, we would be capable of not just sharing passive total cinema, but also total video game, being able to interact with an infinite number of malleable worlds. These games could be experienced alone, or with others, depending on design/choice. I will outline how this might work, and give examples from my fictional screenplay, StIMULATION, where many of these concepts appear.
Works Cited
Bazin, André, and Timothy Barnard. What is cinema. Montreal: Caboose, 2009.
Kurzweil, Ray. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. New York: Viking, 2005.
Liebert, Robert, and Lynn Liebert. Personality: Strategies and Issues. Pacific Grove, California: Books/Cole Publishing Company, 1998.
Mungo, Mark. Final Essay: Markist Film Theory: A New Comprehensive Film Analysis. Unpublished Essay. York University, 2012.
Mungo, Mark. StIMULATION. Masters Thesis Screenplay (In Progress). York University, 2015.