Reflections: A Book

19: AI Am Robot, True Blood Shark Bait, and Kid4ADay

It's War Chest Wednesday!
Prompt for March 19, 2014
Artificial Intelligence: If a "robot" looks, acts, and thinks like a human, but was created not through "natural" processes, should it be considered part of humanity? Give us your thoughts about the future of Artificial Intelligence in science.

By 'natural' I assume you mean, biologically? As in it needs batteries over food/organic matter to survive? Well considering "organic" is now a fad as far as food is concerned and a majority of us can only afford the basics are apparently only consuming organic 'based' products; generations from now may barely be considered fully 'human' ourselves. But I digress.

No, if it's not human, it isn't a part of humanity.

Now, that opens up a bigger picture. What's the latest on that stem cell research anyway?! Will test tube babies be considered humans? They still require the use of sperm and an ovum correct? Other than missing a belly button, they should be just like us. Theoretically....

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Talk about the moment when a favorite show of yours jumped the shark.*

*"Jump the shark" is an idiom (named for a scene in Happy Days where the Fonz did just that) that essentially means the point at which a show begins to decline, often after a particularly cheesy, unrealistic, or gimmicky scene that feels like the show just threw it in there to try to keep interest alive. Some examples of "jump the shark" moments include:

Roseanne winning the lottery on ROSEANNE
The reveal that Karen's dead husband Stanley was actually alive on WILL & GRACE
The musical episode of GREY'S ANATOMY
The reveal that Vaughn isn't actually Vaughn in ALIAS
The gigantic red orb hovering over the city in ALIAS

I've often pondered to true definition of this term. I think in a way it has morphed into this amalgam of analysis techniques to say: Ok, that's kewl and all, but they could have introduced it in a much more interesting and convincing way, had they bothered to take the time to do so. IOW: What was the rush?!

It's refreshing to know that the term is so new! I know Happy Days...sorta. Leave it to the Fonz, am I right!?

The most obvious one on my mind is True Blood. The last couple of seasons have been mediocre at best. I haven't been able to get into reading the books to offer an educated comparison, but I've heard they were fairly close for the first couple seasons then the production decided to veer off and that's probably where they went wrong. Now next season is the last one, but I KNOW the books have a ton more to them *tear*.

Plots I thought jumped the True Blood shark:
Season 6
         Bill is seriously a God now? For realz?!
         The whole Tara/Pam dynamic, I get it...but then again I don't.
         Sookie's Dad tried to KILL her!? And now Warlow's a good guy? What?!
         Steve Newlin and Gov. Burrell deserved better....
         O ok, so Warlow was still really bad all along? O ok.....
         Whyyyy kill off all those fairies in fairyland!?!?!!

Season 5
         Roman, Russell, Hoyt and the Fairy Queen deserved better.....
         I appreciate all the asides with/about Terry....but WHY bother if he just dies anyway?! Too depressing

Season 4
         Soooo faeries are 'evil' in that they are forcing mixed breeds to stay in fairyland...but we don't hear more about it after this season.
         Tommy and Jesus deserved better. Least bring back their ghosts more often or something.....
         This whole Alcide/Sookie maybe, probably not ruse got old fast. And proved pointless in later seasons.

Season 3 - 1
I was pretty much satisfied with all those plots. Sure some of the 'big baddie' deaths were a little kooky, but for such a new series, and without reading the books, it worked.

*Spoiler Alert* Note: When I say a character "deserved better" it means, they could have died with way more dignity and in a much more interesting way than they did.

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Blog City Prompt was done yesterday. I running list of this month's prompts posted under a dropnote on the forum page would be useful....."18: Kid 4A Day and Popular Cliffhangers"