Unraveling the Roots of a Spielberg-Kubrick Classic

It’s the UConn Popcast, and A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Steven Spielberg’s 2001 movie, is a strange and profound text on human-AI relations. Centering on David, an artificial child who is embraced and then abandoned by his adoptive human mother, the movie has the structure of a fairy tale and the sensibility of a horror film. We found the text to have significant things to say about the ethics of creating, and rejecting, artificial life, as well as functioning as something of a meta-commentary on related movies like Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey. But we were most intrigued by Stanley Kubrick’s influence on the movie, which was a longtime project of his that he abandoned in his final years and handed over to Spielberg.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society