The movie "Gamer"

Talk about scientific and technological developments in the future
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funkervogt
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The movie "Gamer"

Post by funkervogt »

The movie is free on YouTube. It was probably the worst movie I've seen in at least the last year.



The only reason I mention it here is that it had an interesting sci-fi technology:
There are two games that dominate the world of Gamer: Society and Slayer. In both of these games, the human actors who actually perform the physical actions of the game have no free will. Thanks to nano-implants, they no longer control their own bodies and motor actions. Rather, they are forced to take orders from the gamers “playing” them. Artificial nanocells are introduced into their brains; these cells reproduce, replacing the original, organic nerve cells with synthetic ones. Once you have undergone this procedure, you have an IP address in your head, and your body obeys whatever commands are transmitted to that address by the player who controls you. You say what they say, and move the way that they want you to move. Of course, this only works one way: actors can’t see or hear their controllers, but the controllers are able to live vicariously through them.
I envisioned "nanocells" on my own a few years before this film was released. They struck me (and still do) as one way to achieve medical immortality. A person would be injected with an engineered virus that would travel to their brains. It would infect their brain cells, and as it did, each infected cell would slowly "transform" into a functionally identical synthetic cell that would be of much more durable construction and have a tiny computer inside of it. The 3D structure of the person's brain and the patterns of interactions between his cells wouldn't change, so the person wouldn't realize anything was happening during it. Towards the end of the process (which might take years), as entire neural pathways were comprised entirely of synthetic cells, the person would notice a sharp speed-up in the specific types of cognition dependent upon those pathways.

Synthetic cells would be capable of sending and receiving electronic communication, which, among other things, is an ability that would enable them to report their positions relative to each other along with their typical patterns of activity. A person with a synthetic brain could thus save backups of his brain and mind onto another device. If part of his brain were ever damaged, he could use the information in the backup to reconstruct it exactly.

The synthetic brain cells might even be motile, meaning they could reposition themselves relative to each other if it were advantageous to enhance or weaken specific mental processes.
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erowind
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Re: The movie "Gamer"

Post by erowind »

I remember when this came out! Yah it is pretty terrible xD The premise stands the test of time though. It's the same appeal as something like Sword Art Online (equally terrible by anime standards) or Snow Crash.

The nanocell thing hadn't clicked when I was a kid though. Will have to add that to my repertoire for consciousness transfers that don't involve making digital copies and killing the original brain. Nanocells is a moravec transfer but it seems more robust in that the cells themselves are a 1:1 improved copy wheras a moravec transfer could be made through intercepting neuron signals and routing them to a computer instead. That computer could also be implanted sharing the job of the brain until the whole brain is replaced.
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funkervogt
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Re: The movie "Gamer"

Post by funkervogt »

I met Ray Kurzweil once, in 2011, and I asked him what he thought about the gradual brain cell replacement idea I described in the original post. His answer was a disappointing deflection that was like: "These technologies will be on our bodies and then will find their ways into our bodies."
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iridescentrae
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Re: The movie "Gamer"

Post by iridescentrae »

Aww, I liked this movie! Lol. I have a short attention span and it was perfect for that. Otherwise, I can see how people might not appreciate the ending. :/
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JackWhite1
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Re: The movie "Gamer"

Post by JackWhite1 »

I'll tell you what: before watching, you should turn off your brains, take a lot of beer and a large company. It's a fucking action movie. Logic does not work here, here the main thing is to enjoy the spectacle. And the film coped with its mission. :lol:
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