Do You Trust this Computer?
★ 7.1 · 2018 · 78m · Documentary
Science fiction has long anticipated the rise of machine intelligence, and today a new generation of self-learning computers has begun to reshape every aspect of our lives. Will A.I. usher in an age of unprecedented potential, or prove to be our final invention?
More Like This
Forward a Century
1951
Commissioned by the Festival of Britain to show the similarities and contrasts between 1851 and 1951, by means of the Great Exhibition and the Festival.
More info →
Your Face is Ours: The Dangers of Facial Recognition Software
2023 · ★ 8
New York-based tech company Clearview AI is working to identify and compile the faces of every human being on the planet. The firm claims that its database will serve as a force for good, helping to solve crimes and prevent espionage. But what if Clearview AI’s powerful facial recognition software, that could potentially be used for mass surveillance and profiling, fell into the wrong hands? What if it already has?
More info →
A86 : Le Défi d'un tunnel à double étage
2023
The Duplex A86 is a 10 kilometer underground highway buried more than 90 meters deep. This concrete tube, measuring the equivalent of more than 30 lying Eiffel towers, is the longest tunnel in France. The result of a succession of technical prowess born from the imagination of visionary engineers, the Duplex A86 allows you to cross all of western Paris in a few minutes.
More info →
The Sun Queen
2023 · ★ 8.8
Chemical engineer and inventor Maria Telkes worked for nearly 50 years to harness the power of the sun, designing and building the world's first successful solar-heated modern residence and identifying a new chemical that could store solar heat like a battery. Telkes was undercut and thwarted by her (male) boss and colleagues at MIT, but she persevered. Upon her death in 1995 Telkes held more than 20 patents, and now she is recognized as a visionary pioneer in the field of sustainable energy whose work continues to shape how we power our lives today.
More info →
Digital Tsunami: Big Tech, Big AI, Big Brother
2025 · ★ 8.1
We are engulfed in a digital tsunami—a toxic mix of artificial intelligence, state and corporate surveillance, and social media addiction controlled by powerful algorithms. Digital Tsunami shows how these are all elements of a digital ecosystem that is changing us as humans—just as the prophetic media guru Marshall McLuhan predicted 60 years ago. The unexpected consequences of this digital revolution have created an urgent need for strategies for survival.
More info →
Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine
2015 · ★ 6.6
When Steve Jobs died the world wept. But what accounted for the grief of millions of people who didn’t know him? This evocative film navigates Jobs' path from a small house in the suburbs, to zen temples in Japan, to the CEO's office of the world's richest company, exploring how Jobs’ life and work shaped our relationship with the computer. The Man in the Machine is a provocative and sometimes startling re-evaluation of the legacy of an icon.
More info →
Algorithmes - vers un monde manipulé
2023 · ★ 8.5
By observing the technological developments of artificial intelligence in several countries, this film sheds light on the advantages and limits of algorithms and their repercussions on the lives of citizens. Whether at the level of the State, the police, universities, or companies, artificial intelligences should be used as a tool, but very often become a substitute for the work of the individual. There are many abuses: manipulations, addictions, or centralization of power. What can governments and States do to best regulate these technological advances?
More info →
Omni: An Act against Gravity
2018
When a YouTube video of Alexandru Duru's hoverboard flight goes viral, the young engineer sets a Guinness World Record and achieves the recognition he desires. But fame and fortune don't come easily. Often mocked and ostracized (until they achieve their goal), inventors see the world in a distinct way. Duru is no different. The son of Romanian immigrants, he's driven by a desire to achieve the impossible—and to cash in. Exploring the banality of Duru's trial-and-error efforts, director Bogdan Stoica is an artistic risk-taker worthy of his subject. He allows contemplative scenes to develop in real-time with immaculate framing; a natural tension builds as we witness Duru strapping the equivalent of high-speed lawn mower blades to his feet. Avoiding the temptation to sensationalize and thus trivialize his subject, Stoica reveals a rich story about immigration, settlement and the human desire to transcend our physical confines. -Alexander Rogalski (Hot Docs Film Festival)
More info →
Surviving Progress
2011 · ★ 7.4
Humanity’s ascent is often measured by the speed of progress. But what if progress is actually spiraling us downwards, towards collapse? Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, “A Short History Of Progress” inspired “Surviving Progress”, shows how past civilizations were destroyed by “progress traps”—alluring technologies and belief systems that serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. As pressure on the world’s resources accelerates and financial elites bankrupt nations, can our globally-entwined civilization escape a final, catastrophic progress trap? With potent images and illuminating insights from thinkers who have probed our genes, our brains, and our social behaviour, this requiem to progress-as-usual also poses a challenge: to prove that making apes smarter isn’t an evolutionary dead-end.
More info →
Sexters
2013 · ★ 3
Examining the modern phenomenon of "sexting"; the sending of dirty messages and naughty pictures via a mobile phone.
More info →