Memes R Us on the Edge-V3.2

7/29/2019 Memes R Us on the Edge-V3.2

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Memes R Us on the edge

By

David M. Sherr

(c) 2013, David M. Sherr email: [email protected]

Twitter: @davidsherr

Voice & Text: 925-788-6076


2/9

ON THE EDGE STUDIO

CASTNicolette Kahn, Web/Cable Show HostNicolette Kahn, the Tech Wo-Man.

Nikki is a hip, 30ish technologyand media savvy observer. Look isa bit Steampunk with a patternedvest and white flowing blouse.

Nicholas Jude, Web/Cable Show HostNicholas Jude, the Techno Dude.

Nick is a suave, 40ish technologyand media savvy observer. Dress isItalian chic--black with vest,narrow ties, slicked hair, with bitof beard stubble.

Dmitri Kanos, Berkeley Futurist

Dmitri is an urbane, tweedy 50ishex hippie. He teaches Strategy inthe Societal Innovation JointProgram in of Berkeley Haas Schoolof Business and the College ofEngineering. Clean shaven, butsomewhat wild hair.Key Costume Props SuppliedVests for Nicolette, Nicholas andDmitri. Ties and Jackets.

FADE INTO GRAPHICMEMES R US--on the edge

MUSIC ONLY FROM CLIPTheme from Beethovens 9th Symphony

(A Clockwork Orange:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=249MaK8UaIE: 0:00-0:08)

MUSIC FADE OUT

CUT TO STUDIO CAMERA

NICOLETTEWelcome to this "Memes R Us"segment of "on the edge."

NICHOLASWelcome!

(Turning to Nicolette)

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)


3/9

CONTINUED: 2.

NICHOLAS (contd)Hey Nikki! Whats a meme?

NICOLETTEWell, Nick, for starters, ouropening music is an

example. Beethovens 9th Symphony4th Movement theme. It was used astorture in Kubricks A ClockworkOrange:

CLIP

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=249MaK8UaIE: 0:00-0:08)

NICHOLASI get it. A meme is somethingeveryone is familiar with.

(Thinking)Ah, yes. My 10-year old nephewplayed the 9th Symphony theme withhis recorder class in school.

NICOLETTEYup!

More specifically, it is acultural idea that goes viral. Inthe case of Ludwigs theme, it ispersistent through many years, manyage groups and centuries as well.

NICHOLASSay, are some memes short-lived?

CLIP

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0: 0:22-0:30)

NICHOLAS (CONTD)I think PSYs Gangnam Style isover. The over a billion views sofar has saturated the World.

I saw only one 2013 Superbowl adwith him and nothing since.

Cant remember what the ad wasabout except there was day-glogreen in it.

(CONTINUED)


4/9

CONTINUED: 3.

NICOLETTEYes! Thank the Universal LifeForce he may be going.

Another example is like therecurring background content in

RoboCop:

CLIP

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-q29hbEP04)

NICHOLAS(Smiling pointing to screen)

Id buy THAT for a dollar!

That one is more like a commentaryon the influence of media itself.TVs were playing everywhere always

showing the "Id buy that for adollar" guy.

The Bad Guy who got toxic wasted inthe mill used the phrase severaltimes in the film.

NICOLETTEGood point, Nick!

But not all memes are Culture asseen through movies or TV.

NICHOLASHuh? Like what else?

NICOLETTEThe idea of meme is more aboutcontent than the media whichtransmit them. Meme originatedwith Richard Dawkins, a BritishBiologist.

In his famous 1976 book, TheSelfish Gene, he ...

GRAPHIC" ... coins the term meme for aunit of human cultural evolutionanalogous to the gene, suggestingthat such "selfish" replication mayalso model human culture ..."

(CONTINUED)


5/9

CONTINUED: 4.

NICHOLASYeah! Now I remember. I sawDawkins five years ago ata Berkeley lecture talking aboutreligious ideas.

As he put it:

CLIP

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEVt5e2w32w: 0:49-1:04)

NICOLETTEWord!! You got it!

NICHOLASGood! This is a fun and reallyuseful idea.

Lets dive a little deeper into ameme close to our Techno hearts:Man-Machine-Space.

NICOLETTEOooh! I like where this is going.

Just one problem there, Mr.ChauvenistNick! PERSON-MACHINE-SPACE iscorrect.

Lets think of that meme throughthe past 50-100 years.

NICHOLASOK!

Our iconic movie with thisPERSON-Machine-Space meme is TheMatrix, "Neo is the One":

CLIP

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdkdQtlF-RU: 1:10-1:31)

FADE OUT CLIP(Stream of numerals from TheMatrix clip above 2:17-2:22)

CUT TO BREAK SEGMENT

(CONTINUED)


6/9

CONTINUED: 5.

FADE IN CLIP(Stream of numerals from TheMatrix clip above 2:17-2:22)

NICOLETTEWelcome back!

Thats some really dope stuff!

The Matrix is our generationsAtlas Shrugged. But evenbetter. It is explanatory ratherthan being a shallowsocio-political polemic.

NICHOLASYeah! Less philosophy and moreactionable knowledge. Neounderstands and defeats the

machines enforcer, Agent Smith.

CLIP OVER NICK(Vortex of Smart Phones,Tablets, Laptops overlaidspinning into the stream ofnumerals from The Matrix clip)

NICHOLAS(V.O.)The lesson is that we all live incyberspace much of the timenow. And we must not beoverwhelmed and lose control

through ignorance.

NICOLETTEWord!! Again. We are all machinereadable now with texting, e-mail,Twitter and Facebook.

CLIP

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DukMPx6Fn_c: 2:20-2:49)

NICOLETTE (V.O.)Fritz Lang in his silent moviemasterpiece from 1927, Metropolis,addressed the WO-MAN-Machine as apost Industril Revolution PygmalionStory.

(CONTINUED)


7/9

CONTINUED: 6.

NICOLETTEYou know, like Henry Higgins ...

CLIP

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Doz5w2W-jAY: 0:49-1:00)

NICOLETTE (V.O.)... and Eliza Doolittle of My FairLady

Our serious flirtation with theMan, er, Person-Machine-Space memestarted with Isaac Asimov and his"I, Robot" series of short storiesin the 40s and 50s when ourparents were young kids.

CLIP

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWJJnQybZlk)

NICHOLASYeah! That was the basis of the2004 Will Smith Movie, "I, Robot."Will Smith plays a homicidedetective investigating theapparent murder of the mastercreator of the Robots.

What a great interrogation scene:

CLIP

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0f3JeDVeEo: 0:13-0:32)

NICOLETTEHah! Emotional, murderous machines!That idea came from the replicantsof the 1984 Ridley Scott movie,Blade Runner based on Philip K.Dicks,

GRAPHIC(Book Cover: Do Androids Dreamof Electronic Sheep)

CLIP

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPcZHjKJBnE: 0:30-1:06)

(CONTINUED)


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CONTINUED: 7.

NICHOLASWhoa!

The Killer Machine part of thememecame well before that.

How about Kubricks 1968 film of

Arthur C. Clarkes "2001: A SpaceOdyssey"? HAL sends Daves crewmate into deep space sans oxygenand then attempts to kill Dave:

CLIP

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwBmPiOmEGQ: 0:27-0:48)

NICOLETTELook at that! Here we are 12 yearsbeyond Clarkes vision and all we

have is Siri and iTunes--"Id buythat for $0.99".

NICHOLAS(Holding up SMART PHONE)

Yeah! I would.

But back to the subject, two yearsago in 2011 IBMs Watson wonJeopardy:

CLIP

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMz8X0NB60A: 0:07-0:24)

And dont forget IBMs Deep BlueChess Player in 1997 defeatingGarry Kasparov, the reigning WorldChess Champion.

GRAPHIC

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Deep_Blue.jpg with a person of approximatelythe same size)

NICOLETTEImpressive. Not perfect, but prettygood. Just a matter of time. Ithink that Deep Blue wascontinuously updated by a team ofcomputer scientist during thematch.

(CONTINUED)


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CONTINUED: 8.

NICHOLASYup! It seems the new ArtificialIntelligence (Agent Smith of TheMatrix notwithstanding!) is aperson machine integration like Neojacked into The Matrix.

NICOLETTEMore like Augmented Intelligence.

Is this an exciting or scary idea??

Well, that brings us to the finaletoday.

For all you Trekkies out there, weare becoming the Borg:

CLIP

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZEJ4OJTgg8: 0:00-0:38)

FADE TO STUDIO CAMERA

Nicolette and Nicholas appear, smiling to each other, eachadorned with Borg eye apparatus, he Locutus and she Seven ofNine.

FADE OUT TO CLIPFADE IN OPENING MUSIC

(Stream of numerals from The

Matrix clip above : 2:17-2:22)

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Memes R Us on the Edge-V3.2