Computer-Generated Media People?

[Joe]

One thing it could be used for is blackmail, big time! Just make a model of someone, create an embarrassing or disgusting scenario, show it to the victim and threaten them with exposure unless they cooperate. That way, even potentially decent politicians could be easily co-opted.

yeah, and can you imagine the mind job it would do on the person in question, seeing themselves and yet knowing that they were never in such a situation!

 

[spyraal]

One thing it could be used for is blackmail, big time! Just make a model of someone, create an embarrassing or disgusting scenario, show it to the victim and threaten them with exposure unless they cooperate. That way, even potentially decent politicians could be easily co-opted.

History says, that any long term serving politician, even one with the greatest of intentions in mind, is too much of a standing duck for the system to take out. And then what? This is why in the original Athenian democracy (a word that means "people power" in Greek) , the people who held a public office (in government, law enforcement and courts) were NOT elected, but rather randomly selected from the pool of citizens. Even more so, they did not decide themselves about anything: Citizens voted what will become in any given subject, and the randomly selected "officials" were just following their will. No room for "initiative" or corruption. As an extra precaution, they were serving for very small periods of time, in rotating turns, and could be replaced at any moment if the assembly of citizens decided that their will is not respected. So, resting our hopes in elected/selected politicians to be our saviors is first giving away our power, and then providing the PTB with a small and soft target to hit.

My point is that apart from the evident perils of high technology, there is also a fundamental lack of true Democracy and the institutions and "safety mechanisms" that a true Democracy ought to have, that ultimately allow room for manipulation and coercion, even at the aforementioned technical level, and that is something we should keep in mind.

Spyros

 

[no-mans-land]

A faked news anchor came to my mind. Wouldn't it be convenient to have such thing when it will become too risky to have people with a working conscience in front of a camera spreading more and more obvious lies?

With a fake "men" who say everything you want and express every "emotion" you want, make people belief that a real person is speaking, isn't that great?

 

[Tigersoap]

There is one software called keyshot that replicates life like objects or persons

_http://www.keyshot.com/gallery/

and the Activision R&D Real-time Character Demo which is not perfect but slowly closing the gap to blur the lines between what's real and what's not.
I suppose it's priming us to accept fake people as part of our reality...to think of it, it already happened :D

I think that's it certainly possible nowadays to fake almost anyone or anything given that you can downgrade the quality of the movie to make it look more realistic.

 

[paralleloscope]

As far as I'm aware 'keyshot' is only for lighting and rendering purposes, meaning you import the models to finish off the illusion. The Activision model is quite impressive, though there are a few give away, but probably wouldn't notice if not given the heads up and he was just used for a quick message.

 

[Divide by Zero]

The video technology also reminds me of an 80s sci-fi movie called The Running Man.

Ben Richards (played by Schwartzenegger) was accused of a crime he didn't commit (but was actually trying to stop), a massacre of people at a food riot.

They faked the video and audio to make it look like he was the one who gave the orders.

Then when he was thrown into the TV game show, Running Man, at some point they see that he is winning a game rigged against the players.

To stop people from seeing him as a hero, they ask a former hired hero of the show, Captain Freedom (played by Jesse Ventura) to defeat him, and he declines because he sees how futile it is (which matches what Jesse Ventura sees these days).

Instead they take an old 1 on 1 battle with Captain Freedom where a contestant died, and edit Richards face onto the contestant, who "dies at the hands of the fair and honorable Captain Freedom" in order to not make Richards a martyr.

Later on the protagonists of the story find out that all of the contestants that were "winners" really died, and their videos of going off onto exotic trips were actually falsified.

So, yeah, it's a great tool to manipulate people, and moreso to manipulate the masses!

Here's a pretty interesting analysis of the movie. I especially like the last one, about the ending!
http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-things-the-running-man-teaches-you-about-life_p1/

 

[emmanuel]

I like this movie. Beside Terminator one of the best Schwarzy movies.

 

[Archaea]

The uses for this technology aren't all bad, maybe we'll finally get to see seasons 4 and 5 of STAR TREK.

 

[H-KQGE]

While digital creations look more and more like human beings, some human beings look more and more like digital creations. The "barbie flue" is apparently developing in Ukraine. After Barbie (Valeriya Lukyanova), two new "living dolls" called Dominika and Anime have emerged on the media scene.

"Barbie" is now spouting more nonsensical stuff. I'm telling you, it's all that "3 meals a day" sunlight diet she's on. It's bound to do weird things to your brain.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2599246/Human-Barbie-Valeria-Lukyanova-claims-interracial-couples-rise-plastic-surgery-making-human-race-uglier.html

Human Barbie' Valeria Lukyanova claims interracial couples are behind a rise in plastic surgery because they are 'making the human race uglier'

Human Barbie’ Valeria Lukyanova has claimed that interracial couples are making the human race uglier and sparking a rise in plastic surgery.

The cosmetically-enhanced model, 28, who is from the Ukraine, told GQ magazine: ‘Ethnicities are mixing now, so there’s degeneration, and it didn’t used to be like that.

‘Remember how many beautiful women there were in the 1950s and 1960s, without any surgery? And now, thanks to degeneration, we have this. A Russian marries an Armenian, they have a kid, a cute girl, but she has her dad’s nose. She goes and files it down a little, and it’s all good.’

Michael Idov, who interviewed Ms Lukyanova, branded her a ‘racist space alien’ following her outrageous remarks.

Ms Lukyanova also told Mr Idov that the idea of having a family is abhorrent to her.

‘The very idea of having children brings out this deep revulsion in me,’ she said.

‘I’d rather die from torture because the worst thing in the world is to have a family lifestyle.’

Ms Lukyanova first rose to fame in 2012 after her ‘spiritual counseling’ videos became a viral sensation worldwide.

Her elfin features sparked controversy, with many wondering how many surgeries she had undergone to achieve her appearance.

But Ms Lukyanova says that she has only received breast implants and that her appearance is otherwise the result of diet and exercise.

Her 18-inch waist, wide-set eyes, diminutive nose, and large breasts appear otherworldly, however.

She told GQ : ‘Everyone wants a slim figure. Everyone gets breasts done. Everyone fixes up their face if it’s not ideal, you know? Everyone strives for the golden mean. It’s global now.’

Her bizarre appearance was not lost on Mr Idov.

‘Her mouth is frozen in a vacant half-smile; the teeth are small and almost translucent. She’s holding a handbag shaped like a lantern. A one-eyed smiling-skull pin perches on her sky blue top, pushed to the side by the veritable shelf of silicone around which her whole body seems arranged.’

Ms Lukyanova has made headlines in the past thanks to bizarre claims that she is ‘not human’ and ‘can time travel’

She admitted in 2013 that she believes she is from another planet - possibly Venus, but she isn't quite sure - but is adamant she isn't human.

'I come from a place where only love and joy exist,' she told Vice. 'But I noticed the media is only interested in negativity: show someone in a bad light, show someone's mistakes.

'Perhaps at some point I was an energy vampire, because I constantly received their negative reactions and enjoyed it. Specifically for them I created posts that would make them angry.’

More recently, Ms Lukyanova described how she practices Breatharianism - a pseudo-science in which people think that they can derive energy from the sun, rather than food. Former Breatharian practitioners have suffered from starvation, dehydration, and even death.

In February this year she said: 'In recent weeks I have not been hungry at all; I'm hoping it's the final stage before I can subsist on air and light alone.'

Ms Lukyanova’s construction worker husband is also her manager.

In August she told The Daily Beast: ‘My husband has known me for more than ten years. He is used to me being the beauty queen at all the parties, from back when we were in school together and now at his corporate parties.’

When asked if her husband is human, she said: ‘I prefer not to talk about that, as I do not want to damage his reputation.’

Funnily enough, she doesn't look that plastic in the video, but "Ken" sure does.