Thumbs up for the movie "Simone", starring Al Pacino and Simone, a virtual(real) actor(impersonator).
I know we have discussed the nature of reality many times here in the forums, and for most of us this simple movie may sound like "old hat", but I would still highly recommend its viewing.
The premise is simple enough. The movie is a forecast of what some futurists have predicted will happen in the business of entertainment. Computer generated actors replacing real ones. To some extent this has already happened with John Wayne appearing in commercials, and the newest computer generated cartoon flicks, but I don't think most people realize how close we are to transforming society with virtual reality. Anyway, the movie is pretty simple but they do an excellent job of presenting the human side of creating and managing (and killing) a virtual actor. It is also quite comical. What is best about the movie is that you can take it further (think deeper into it) than the writers probably intended. I talk about and think about the nature of reality all the time but I don't know if anything brought it into the forefront of my mind as much as this movie. I walked out of the movie and into the bookstore next to the theatre. The first book I saw was "Shout3D, creating interactive 3D web graphics". Here was a book (written last year) imploring me the create animated 3D characters for everyone to view on the world wide web. It was like a religious experience. I walked out into the daylight and really wondered (like deep down inside) is our world real in the way that most people experience it (or think they experience it). I know someone else once posted (I wish I could remember who to give credit to) that virtual and real will become indistinguishable soon. I know this has been written about in many other novels (even many years back), but the future is rapidly becoming the present. Anyway, I know not everyone will like the movie, but I thought it did a lot better job a presenting the future than Matrix or Minority Report.
If Simone flops at the box office I will really believe what Lazarus said when answering Michael Assinimov's singularity poll - that hardly anyone will notice any change when the singularity occurs, because if it doesn't affect their pocket book, next meal, or their favorite tv show they could care less. Simone makes a statement, but will the general population notice?
