Ruslana’s Science-Fiction Escapade

Ukrainian music star Ruslana gained international fame using Hutzul folklore mixed with barbarian style reminiscent of sword and sorcery subgenre in her Wild Dances project, a strategic approach crowned by winning Eurovision song contest in 2004. Her following album Wild Energy(2007) showed a move towards science fiction.

For instance, the Wild Energy video allegedly was based on the book Wild Energy.Lana by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko. Its current Wikipedia article presents the plot involving a person who works as "a pixel" in huge public entertainment shows, reminiscent of immense choreographed performances in North Korea or China, even though the same style of acts has been used in the West since at least the Olympics in Los Angeles.

The environment in the video shows clear influences of The Matrix, with high quality special effects and perfectly executed costumes and choreography. The video mainly deals with an escape sequence from futuristic agoraphobic architectural structures, similar to depiction of Neo's rescue in the first part of the trilogy.

The book's plot also seems to reflect the main motive of the Matrix: protagonist exploring the artificial reality imposed on the system and finding the truth about the inner workings of the economy, and constrains placed on the members of the society.

These values are present in the second video from the same album, The Moon of Dreams, with a storyline that returns towards general fantasy. The video uses natural phenomena on an epic scale as metaphor for the emotions of the protagonists, including climate changes and turning two dead moons into glowing stars.

The costumes seem to build upon some of the motives from Wild Energy, like the bat-people who do not personify evil per se. The video presents a long-distance conversation with the American singer T-Pain, who seems to play the role of benevolent spirit/remote conscience, and does not actively participate in the love life of the main protagonists, played by enchanting Ruslana and her dashing blond counterpart. The long-distance effect is stronger in the Ukrainian version of the song as each singer using her and his mother language.

The Matrix - a Family Tree

Cyberpunk Neuromancer Johnny Mnemonic Ghost in the Shell (^) + the New Testament	+ martial arts Snake in the Eagle's Shadow Bruce Lee The Karate Kid Ninja Scroll	+ some more science fiction Aliens (tunnels) Blade Runner (rooftops & coats) Men in Black (cool eyewear, dress in black, secret reality to be uncovered) Predator (machineguns) & The Terminator (ditto + evil machines + wreck corporate building; have chopper outside)
= The Matrix

Robot Interaction Leading to Superficial, Instictive Emotional Reactions

According to the article Robotic pets may be bad medicine for melancholy, Sherry Turkle, the director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, and "a clinical psychologist, spoke earnestly and openly about her fears, acknowledging that some parts of her research 'gave me the chills' on a very personal level and that she is 'struggling to find an open voice.'"

Increasingly sophisticated robots--with big eyes that follow our faces or which respond to human voice and touch--trigger "Darwinian" responses in us; we are "wired" to react to objects that track our movement, Turkle said.

"This is not about building AI with a lot of smarts," she said. The impact is "not on what it has but how it makes people feel."

Compare and contrast with:

• The views of Rosalind W. Picard (Affective Computing) and other proponents of emotional computing.
• Animatrix, the Matrix sequel providing background info on that universe, featuring highly emotionally charged sequences in the short story about the start of the war between humans and machines. It includes scenes purposefully envoking associations to worst in human behaviour, based on documentary footage from Nazi contrencation camps, Vietnam war, or South Africa racial riots.

Cyberpunk Ergonomics: Best Position to Jack In

In his early cyberpunk works set in the Neuromancer universe, William Gibson envisioned hackers (cyberspace jockeys, cyber cowboys) jacking in into the matrix not seating in front of a computer, but lying down on their belly in a position resembling driving riding a high-powered motorcycle (approx. 45-degrees). The protagonists were sometimes depicted wearing VR googles, which obviously removes the need for a monitor.

In the Matrix, which recycled many concepts from Gibson's book, the characters also jack in laying down, this time on their back (around 180-degrees).

Other science fiction movies, such as Johnny Mnemonic and Minority Report, presented user interfaces in which the operator--sits or stands up-in an somewhat more conventional upright position (90-degrees) uses his hands to manipulate objects seen either in VR googles or on a transparent 3D screen.

Recent scientific study suggests that Gibson might got it right the first time, at least in respect of the need to be 45-degrees removed from the uptight 90-degrees:

"A 135-degree body-thigh sitting posture was demonstrated to be the best biomechanical sitting position, as opposed to a 90-degree posture, which most people consider normal," said study author, Waseem Amir Bashir, a researcher at the University of Alberta Hospital in Canada. "Sitting in a sound anatomic position is essential, since the strain put on the spine and its associated ligaments over time can lead to pain, deformity and chronic illness."

The article does not inform if the researchers tried the opposite, 'Gibsonian' position. But it might be a start of a whole new furniture ensamble.

Matrix Revolutions, Dune Messiah: common plots

In November 2003 I published the following observation in a review of the Matrix Revolutions:

The male hero, facing enormous challenges threatening his life and his community, has a female lover who is also his helper (but, without offspring). Tremendous force gathers strength to destroy all that he holds dear. Regular people believe him to be their savior, in spite of his personal doubts. A powerful conspiracy is in the making, including persons positioned very near. The traitor attacks, blinding the hero (burning his eyes out). But, the hero can still see, thanks to mystic power bestowed upon him. He manages to circumvent obstacles and accomplish survival of his project. His mate dies in the process, and he soon follows. But, his destiny is reached; his task, accomplished. Thus ends Dune Messiah, an inspiring novel, part of enormously popular series by Frank Herbert. What a coincidence! Matrix 3 uses all these plot elements, also.

In the meantime the only place I came across discussions on this topic are Wikipedia articles about fiction inspired by Dune. They even seem to be lacking from the official Dune Novels website forums.