Comments on: Rise of the Apes: We Must Care for the Minds We Create

By: BradC

BradC — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:47:43 +0000

Don’t leave the theater too early! You will miss Will and Big Pharma’s biggest failure (at least for the future of humanity), shown by the post-credits “spread of the virus” graphical sequence: the release of the ALZ-113 virus into the human population, and its spread around the globe!

It wasn’t stated explicitly, but I took this to mean that the virus in fact wiped out a large percent of the current human population, leaving space available for the now-intelligent apes (enhanced by the virus instead of killed) to become the majority population.

By: magpie

magpie — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 20:35:21 +0000

You haven’t seen a thing yet! Wait until the ultra-right religionists get ahold of this! If you thought they were being asshats with their rumblings against Harry Potter, can you just imagine their Dominionist screeching about soul-less simians vs the “redeemed” humans.

By: SchreckenLicht

SchreckenLicht — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 04:53:30 +0000

It’s most unfortunate that so many films portray business people as evil and morally bankrupt; looks like this is just more of the same from Hollywood in that regard. If not for private companies and private investment, there would be a whole lot of scientific research (the kind that leads to good things as well as sometimes those that aren’t so good) that simply wouldn’t get done. Thanks for the warning, though. This sort of proselytizing gets really old after a while (the animal rights stuff has gotten tired and worn as well, looks like Bambi will never die), so I’m sure if I do end up seeing this movie, it will be when it shows up on HBO or, better yet, the Sci-Fi Channel – in other words, basic cable for me.

By: Alondro

Alondro — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:42:44 +0000

The single biggest problem I have with the concepts in this movie are that the apes win. This is the gigantic break with what the ultimate reality of an animal gaining human-level intelligence. First of all, no single drug will do it. The genetic engineering required is so complex it would inevitably be a deliberate act of creation rather than an accident. And there is no way it could simply be spread along to other animals.

While I agree that equally intelligent life should be treated equally, this film failed in becoming a mere piece of animal-rights/anti-science propaganda. Far more effective was an old animated film by Osamu Tezuka “Bagi: The Monster of Mighty Nature”, where a single escaped, enhanced creature was the focus of the film. She didn’t ‘win’ in the typical sense, though she survived and fled into the wild. Her intelligence all but vanished as she aged. Simply put, though again the science wasn’t perfect, there was an element of reality to it; in that it was limited in scope and effectiveness.

Contrast this to “Rise”, in which the drug miraculously increases the intelligence of every single primate species, no matter how distantly related they are, yet somehow fails in humans.

Frankly, a machine intelligence is more frightening, as all it must do is copy its program and hack into our still quite vulnerable data centers to spread around the world at an unstoppable pace. The only way to stop it then would be to shut off all the power (I do hope most power plants still have a manual shurt-off system). And would we have the fortitude to do that, grinding society to a halt instantly to stop this machine entity should its intent prove malicious?

By: IW

IW — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:27:02 +0000

Your links to the interviews go nowhere

By: fievos

fievos — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 15:20:58 +0000

Agree with you completely! I can’t understand how people can find the film’s premise inherently ridiculous, it seems inevitable that sooner or later we will create an animal or machine intelligence with ethical implications, and animal ethics are a question even where the animals do not have enhanced intelligence. Plus it’s a rip-roaring movie. Franz de Waal suggested that we laugh at apes because they are too close to us for comfort; I’m inclined to agree.

By: The Analyst

The Analyst — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 03:56:39 +0000

Interesting, I hear the people who made this movie are planning on making a whole series of films to serve as the prequel for the original 1960s Planet of the Apes. I certainly think later films will deal with the concept of the corruption of a revolution and how idealism can get out of hand, as that one Chimpanzee that pushed the Helicopter certainly had a very bitter, very angry, and very “mirror image of captors” sorta look.

By: Uncle Al

Uncle Al — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:05:26 +0000

“We Must Care for the Minds We Create” Looks to me like they cared for themselves, splendidly – a failure of social activism through a triumph of personal endeavor. ALZ-112 is an allegory of developmental angina pharma sildenafil (Viagra) “side effect” grafted onto Scanners Ephemerol. Yeah ALZ-113 and tadalafil (Cialis)!

“I was shocked by the idea that intelligence enhancing drugs equaled a paycheck ” Energy drinks, wrinkle creams, sports sneakers, SUVs, room odorizers, every “male enhancement” scam… “…caretakers… are cruel and stupid” Congress. “with an IQ beyond that of most humans.” The Los Angeles Unified School District had 694,288 students with average 83 IQ (California Academic Performance Index testing) in the 2007-2008 school year.

Just wait until Caeser bulks up around age 20 and gets his full chimp attitude with a set of muscles to match. They eat each other given the opportunity in the wild. Next time – enhance bonobos. Evolution is a hoot if you are one of the survivors.