Hacker Cinema
Lucy
2014 · Film · 89 min
Directed by Luc Besson
A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.
1 positive11 negative7 neutralfrom 19 commenters
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21 comments on Hacker News
Maybe because it's the most famous recent good movie about voice interface AI?
He's wasn't citing Lucy or whatever other garbage.
> 4 billion years
Well the computers/CPUs haven't been evolving for a few million years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_human_evolution); let's assume from Mammals onwards.
If a CPU has been developed so much within a few decades, then with the capabilities provided on ML/LLM/AI/and other-such-acronyms, in a million years we should at least have a "Lucy" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872732/) evolved. In the meantime, I expect that in a few hundred years we will have a Borg Queen (perhaps without the interconnectivity).
I love Ted Chiang and that story is a banger. The movies like Limitless, Lucy or Phenomenon don't really take the concept to its conclusions. Limitless posits day trading, or politics, as the highest goal. Lucy goes post human in a silly, fantasy way. Phenomenon was pretty cool except for the telekinesis. But Understand sort of hits all the bases and I really like the thesis that there is an irreducible, existential struggle between Utilitarianism and Aesthetics. And of course, the realization that the protag is actually the bad guy. Not a huge fan of the idea of "programming" another person with engrams and random stuff in the environment, to like, die, but it's more plausible than telekinesis!
He also wrote the best, IMHO, time-travel story ever written: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchant_and_the_Alchemist%27s_Gate. A gorgeous little tale.
> Salt, Black Widow, Lucy,
Salt was not that good (backpedaling from trash -- it wasn't that bad), but the lead was for a man, if that contributes to the conversation...
Lucy was trash, and I wont relent from that without hard evidence.
Not because of the cast or other movie related things, but because it would have been better as a sentence.
>This entire "zomg bad film + female character = woke mind virus!!11" is just silly.
Nobody is saying this. (Strong) Female main characters have been in many successful movies and video games before and nobody bat an eye, quite the contrary, they loved them: Sarah Connor - Terminator, Trinity - Matrix, Ripley - Aliens, Lara Croft - Tomb Raider, Blood Rayne, Salt, Black Widow, Lucy, Charlie's Angles, etc, I could go on and on, and I'm no movie/video games enthusiast to know all movies with female leads.
The big difference is that those females were always written as the main characters in their own stories from the start, whereas what Disney is doing, along with Gemini and other woke corporations, is they try to replace established male characters of beloved IPs with female leads in the worst way possible, by disrespecting the original character that made the franchise popular and shoehorning a fake Strong Girl Boss™ stereotype with no personality and no character arc in his place, and then when the movie inevitably flops they blame the CIS white male audience for being incels "unable to handle strong females".
Do you think people would go to see James Bond or Top Gun Maverick if they replaced the male lead with some female actress that's trendy right now? Or would they see Tomb Raider if they replaced Lara Croft with Tom Holland? You can try for diversity's sake of course, but the audience and bean counters might stop you.
Edit: Movies, unsorted, from the top of my mind:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Limits_of_Control https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Origins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_East_(2013_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter%27s_Bone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contagion_(2011_film) , seen before Covid, deemed to be realistic, and therefore better than stuff like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warning_Sign_(film) somewhere in between. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizards_(film) The remakes of the Planet of the Apes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28_Days_Later , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28_Weeks_Later a little less so, though it had some great scenes of flying into London City Airport and the modern parts around that. Bladerunner in the original versions, the remake not so much. 2001: A Space Odyssey, the intro and first parts, spaceflight to the moon and such, the rest not. Too boring. I liked the sequel 2010: Odyssey Two better, actually. Avatar. Part one only. All of this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(franchise) with the exception of the crossover stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysium_(film) for the almost cyberpunkish fuckedupness of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula_Untold https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beach_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL-E https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THX_1138 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan%27s_Run_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropia_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollerball_(1975_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southland_Tales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Live https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendence_(2014_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Puppet_Masters_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Survivalist_(2015_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova_(2000_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_(2007_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidden_(1987_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Zero_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capricorn_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangar_18_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_(2001_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timecop Ron Silverman Badass! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(2014_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Blonde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_the_Night_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_(1997_American_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truman_Show https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombiana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowing_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Zone_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_(1998_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adjustment_Bureau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrival_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifeforce_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fourth_Protocol_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_(2013_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_(2009_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Final_Countdown_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paycheck_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypher_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigger_Point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echelon_Conspiracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anderson_Tapes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Parallax_View https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Seduction
TV-Series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors_(1975_TV_series) and the remake linked from there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Train_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho_(2006_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strain_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayward_Pines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_(American_TV_series) and its prequel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_(TV_series)
WESTWORLD!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_(TV_series) Praimfaya! Yeehaa! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpart_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ark_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Carbon_(TV_series) All of Black Mirror! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Experiments_Lain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelers_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Skies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devs_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peripheral_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expanse_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporated_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raised_by_Wolves_(American_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_the_Loop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschland_83 and sequels. ÄXZÄLLÄNNT! JAWOLLJA! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humans_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Night_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Worlds_(2019_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Nova_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gods_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozark_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_High_Castle_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_(miniseries) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_(American_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvation_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Dome_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_(2009_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caprica
This all began about 2006 with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(2004_TV_series) after having abstained from possessing a TV, or watching that by other means (with some exceptions for news and documentaries) since 1996, and mostly no cinema either.
That stuff rehooked me in a binge-watching session. Shit happens :-)
Do yoo vanna häff fries wiff thät?
/nerdsnipe off
I of course believe a better world is possible. That's why I went out and did something that nobody had ever done before: I produced a documented and sprawling API of regex engine internals as reusable abstractions in a separately versioned library. Rust is the only reason I was able to even consider doing that in the first place.
What you're talking about is categorically different. Your idea is so out there that I can't even begin to dream up a programming language that would resolve all of my concerns and challenges with building a general purpose regex library with Unicode support that is one of the fastest in the world, supports arbitrary alphabets and is actually something that I can maintain with reasonablish compile times.
IMO, I'm the optimist here and you're the pessimist. From my perspective, I see and celebrate what Rust has allowed me to accomplish. But from your perspective, what you see (or what you comment on, to be more precise) is what Rust has supposedly held me back from accomplishing. (And even that is something of a stretch, because it isn't at all clear to me that programming language expressivity and the concept of "zero cost abstractions" is arbitrarily powerful in the first place. See, for example, the premise of the 2014 film "Lucy".)
Somewhat coincidentally, I watched it - the film Lucy - yesterday and can confirm that it does indeed get worse. I would have liked it better if the story arc was more like 'Flowers for Algernon'.
Annihilation, Dark City, Riddick Chronicles, Babylon A.D., Guardians of The Galaxy, Fast and Furious, Hummingbird, Transporter, Crank, Hardcore Henry, Revolver, Lucy, Ghost in The Shell, Now you see me, Passengers, Transcendence, Maze Runner, Limitless...
I think we've had a good run; I also think it's easy to be biased and not see it because of some nostalgia-effect of sorts. If you are f.e. 30+ you might more easily dismiss a movie as Limitless or Lucy as uncredible; both are based on a common myth that we only utilize a low percentage of our brains capacity, as an example, so they are that: unrealistic. But I think that's an unfair comparison because of an inherent bias that when you think about a movie like The Matrix you don't see it with the same critical lens because you perhaps had less knowledge of the world in your earlier years. #JustAFewThoughts
> I'm not sure how much of a "plot twist" this is
I was taught differently in 1998.
There was the press coverage of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(Australopithecus) which was referenced in a scene of https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872732/
It can be said that it's a plot twist that was stoked for decades.
Maybe they should exclude people who've seen Lucy and other such movie silliness.
I suggest that they visit all the time. The first thing a truly intelligent species would do is discard the physical form since it's inefficient and it decays over time. Think of the movie 'Lucy' where, at the end, she discards the body and just disappears. This could be the answer to the Fermi paradox since a civilisation would get to the point where this is possible and would basically disappear from the universe. Once the 'being' is part of the fabric of the universe then they could do anything and could 'exist' right in front of our noses.
I don't worry about those things. I feel that any civilisation that has the capability for interstellar travel would have long since understood the laws of the universe and would have evolved past the need for a deteriorating, inefficient physical form. Think of the movie 'Lucy'.
That's why I think there are no super-intelligent species out there, because either they blow themselves up due to petty issues like racism, nationalism, etc. or they have evolved past the need for physical form and basically just disappear off the face of the universe.
This trailer is not that good which makes me feel like the movie is low budget. Too bad. The went too dark and over futuristic. The whole point of the original was that even though people choose to be cyborgs, they still want to be human. The city was still Asian looking. Lots it's lost by making this futuristic. Major never looked Asian to me. Even Lucy looked better than this.
Interesting; I've always had a bit of an issue with the lines between Science Fiction and Fantasy, in that the former is far more interesting to me than the latter. For instance, I enjoyed the movie Lucy as entertainment using a science fiction anchor, and was utterly bored with Guardians of the Galaxy which is a fine and dandy space/fantasy type of thing. I love Hackers as entertainment in spite of its drastic flaws that were obvious then and still are in the 'scientific' context.
Asking for a buddy: Would a computer/technology driven crime and character driven story be applicable in the 'science fiction' wide definition?
Hope you get what you're after and help break some new folks into the scene. Nice that you're up front about the rights too. I know my buddy would love to get paid and then take that money and register his story with WGA West in case of screenplay potential.
Did you actually get coverage on Wired, TechCrunch, etc.? I checked all 4 sources and there's no recent mention of a Lucy. (aside from the bad movie last year).
That's very unethical.
Yeah, well, not mentioning Erowid is pretty counter-intuitive to the entire article. It's ignorance dressed up as education. The path has already been started long before VC/SV smelled something interesting. Maybe if VC/SV had a great track record in investing in actual research science, which in fairness is being choked and driving people out of the profession, then maybe there'd be some hope. Thus far, I see far more risk than reward in complimenting or encouraging the VC/SV community to pursue this field.
Also, citing movies like Lucy and Limitless just feels juvenile. Why not strap on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for some counter balance? Drugs is drugs is drugs...
Interesting, so he's still a (part-time) technical writer for Microsoft? Does he write MSDN articles? I might have read more of his works than I thought...
The news about the planned hollywood adaptation is both exciting and frightening. These are really not cinematic stories as far as I can tell, unless you're ready to transform a story that happens inside someone's mind, like "Understand", into a graphical adventure like "Lucy". But after all, why not. I'm not one to say that a bad movie adaptation can really hurt a book - the book doesn't care.
Looks good!
I think you have a small issue with the Rotten Tomatoes API, for example with the movie Lucy (http://www.movieo.me/240832-lucy). The page shows a 96% audience score, while the Rotten Tomatoes website says 48% (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lucy_2014/).
It matches the movie :) There are many concepts in the film (e.g. controlling metabolism), but little time is used to address them scientifically, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/olympia-lepoint/movie-review-lucy-a-thril_b_5644623.html
Regardless of any received training, smart people don't usually struggle as much as normal people when they are presented with a new, different kind of problem. That's something you cannot learn.
Even a kid's brain will not "grow" more or less depending on what kind of stimulus he is exposed to. But it doesn't mean it's bad to reward and compliment your kid for struggling and working hard instead of just being naturally good at something. It helps the child to build a character and face problems instead of giving up. The article is right about that.
There are also many ways to get a better access to the full capacity of your brain. It's not like the movie "Lucy", but many conditions may prevent you for using it to its full potential: Age, injury or illness, sleep deprivation, stress and exhaustion, lack of nutrients, drug abuse and chemical unbalances, etc. Some of those factors present problems that can be treated or even prevented, and you will (most of the time) function at the same cognitive level as a careless smarter person.
Also, the fact that there is no way you can alter your intelligence without altering your DNA doesn't mean you can't use it to discover and apply better problem-solving patterns for a particular discipline, making yourself effectively smarter.