Earth's Passengers: AI's Titanic

Not every film you see at the cinema is going to win Oscars. Sometimes you just want an evening out, some entertainment and pure escapism. Even if the reviews don’t appear that favorable in advance, you can usually trust Hollywood to provide an hour or so’s entertainment. It was with that in mind that my son and I headed for our local cinema on a cold winter evening. Passengers offered more than we bargained for. Sometimes a diverting tale can reveal serious undercurrents when you reflect afterwards.

Chemistry and asteroids

If the onscreen chemistry between Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt didn’t remind you of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic, Hollywood seemed be dropping other hints. Hibernation pods that couldn’t possibly go wrong? Think unsinkable Titanic on her maiden voyage - just replace the iceberg with an asteroid.

Implausible v. plausible

Yes, the plot is probably full of holes. No doubt, any knowledgeable scientist would tear it apart. We don’t have the science to make 5,000 people hibernate for 90 years until they reach a distant new colony on a remote planet. I hope that we would possess the technology to communicate with Earth in real-time by the time we can make people hibernate.

References to the Homestead company sent shivers down my spine. The idea that the safety of thousands of lives would be placed in the care of a private timeshare company with greedy shareholders was unnerving. It seemed so plausible.

Chris Pratt, initially the only human awake on board, is reminded of the astronomical bills that he is running up. The Titanic similarity is further underlined when he discovers the nutritional difference between a third-class and first-class breakfast. By that time, he’d been eating the former for a year with all the other 5,000 passengers asleep. Their lives end up depending on the out-of-the-box thinking of this third-class engineer.

AI's Limitations

Our hero engineer also spends a year trying to break into the hibernating crew’s quarters. All the spaceship’s controls are designed to keep passengers out. The ship is designed to repair itself. It’s a warning for the direction that artificial intelligence (AI) is currently taking. The Internet of Things is already poised to take control. Humans design machines to deal with any risk or worst case scenario that they can dream up. How they are supposed to design spaceships to go into the Unknown beats me.

We still can’t get cinema/train ticket machines, Wi-Fi, computers or printers to work 100% reliably without human intervention. There’s a risk that we will stop training basic engineering skills or out-of-the-box thinkers and dispense with capable human standbys.

The robot barman highlights the serious issue with AI. He’s programmed to handle cheerily all the normal human soul-searching associated with the role. He’s happy endlessly polishing glasses even in a life or death crisis. His inability to handle the complexity of human ethics puts the only two humans awake on the spaceship in near-murderous conflict. He isn’t programmed to deal with the complex set of circumstances before him. It isn’t supposed to happen – like the Titanic sinking.

Pure Hollywood fiction?

This is just a Hollywood film. I wonder. If you worked in total secrecy at NASA and were uneasy about some of the ethical decisions and directions being taken, how would you handle it? Get the US President to speak to the people like they do in the alien and apocalypse movies? It always causes widespread panic and rioting.

Gracious. The President-elect is causing enough worldwide consternation by his very appointment. If I were in NASA, I would get Hollywood to explore scenarios. Come to think of it, there’s quite a glut of space movies of late.

The New World

Space exploration is exciting. It’s the new frontier, the New World all over again. Leaving planet Earth even with thousands of first-class passengers would mean leaving billions of ‘second- and third-class’ human beings behind.

We still don’t know enough about the long-term health effects on astronauts - usually the fittest among us. I noted that an astronaut died of cancer at Christmas. We do know that the best international scientific expertise and resources are devoted to exploring how we could live and survive in space.

Space colonies sound like a Kennedy PR exercise given that the world’s problems are piling up. Why are the world’s best brains working on them?

Priorities?

What about making global warming solutions and feeding an ever-growing world population on Earth the major international priorities? The World’s population is estimated at between 7.4 and 7.5 billion as I type. The United Nations predicts that it could reach 9.7 billion by 2050 and over 11 billion by 2100. In a March 2016 article for the BBC, David Satterthwaite of the International Institute for Environment and Development in London said:

“It is not the number of people on the planet that is the issue – 

but the number of consumers and

 the scale and nature of their consumption’.

What about sorting out the United Nations or creating a new global body so that no rogue nation can threaten global security with the technology that we have already got?

I know, I know. I’m daydreaming. Passengers is just a Hollywood movie. 

Still, it’s alarming to be a Passenger on Planet Earth in Third Class locked out of the cockpit. People are questioning the new Captain’s suitability and motives to handle the dark times ahead. Artificial Intelligence may end up rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic*.

*rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary and Thesaurus definition: used for saying that someone is wasting time dealing with things that are not important, and is ignoring a much more serious problem.

Karen Andrews is a freelance French to English translator, transcreator, content writer and editor. She has a strong background in marketing and project management.

Email Karen for further information via karenanglicityen@gmail.com in French, German or English.

2017 French Trade Shows and Events

Selective list of 2017 trade shows and events in Paris, Bordeaux and Lille.

20-21 January

Salon du Travail et Mobilité Professionnelle
Careers Fair for job seekers, training advice, aspiring entrepreneurs and expats

Grande Halle de la Villette

Paris

15-16 March
Enova Strasbourg
Parc Expo -Wacken - Hall 7.1
Strasbourg 
France

21-23 March

SIFER 2017

Railway technology and services

Lille Grand Palais

Lille

France

24-27 March

Salon du Livre

Paris Book Fair

Porte de Versailles

Paris

14-17 June

Fête le Vin

Bordeaux Wine Festival

Bordeaux

19-25 June

Salon International de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace

Paris Le Bourget

25-26 June

ICBB 2017

19^th International Conference on Biometrics and Biostatistics

Holiday Inn Paris Montparnasse

Paris

NB: Inclusion on the list does not constitute endorsement of any trade show, event or third party. This list is for information purposes only and all details should be checked on the organisers' websites, as they may be subject to change.
  

Women in Space

I was the first. My first bore no comparison. I made my way through the vast open space. I headed up into the eerie purple light, before emerging into another vast open space.

It was a strange experience to make my way - on my own - through London's Science Museum. I had just visited the new Cosmonauts Exhibition after normal opening hours.

First woman cosmonaut

A vast photo of the first woman in space looked down on the IMAX auditorium. I had just seen the unbelievably tiny "pod" in which Valentina Tereshkova had bravely ventured into space in 1963.

Even Valentina's mother hadn't known about her space mission. She had believed that her daughter was just on parachute training. Can you imagine finding out that your daughter was the first woman in space from the TV? She was present when Valentina collected a bravery medal afterwards.

Science Museum Talk

Broadcaster Helen Keen hosted a talk at the Science Museum on "Women in Space" on 23rd October. Her guests were the French cosmonaut, Claudie Haigneré and British Flight Director, Libby Jackson. Both women have had extraordinarily inspirational careers. As Valentina Tereshova said:

"A Bird cannot fly with one wing only. 

Human space flight cannot develop any further

 without the active participation of women".

Claudie Haigneré

When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, Claudie Haigneré was 12 years' old. She was camping on her summer holiday. She marvelled at the moon in the sky. The inaccessible dream had become a reality. In the absence of any European space opportunities, Claudie embarked on a career in medicine.

In 1985, Claudie saw an advertisement for cosmonauts with a scientific background. She jumped at the chance. Only 10 women applied. Only 7 candidates were selected from 1,000 applicants: 3 pilots, 4 scientists.

Claudie became the only female cosmonaut training at Star City. She paved her own way. She didn't dwell on being the only woman in a male-dominated field. The more appreciable difference is between a military and civilian role.

Cosmonauts' Exhibition at the Science Museum

Libby Jackson

Libby Jackson showed a similar go-getting attitude. She had always been interested in space. Her earliest memory was of the Challenger Disaster. At 17, she had the nerve to ask to shadow a NASA flight director in Huston, Texas. If you don't ask, you don't get! She saw NASA's moon rocks and thought "this is me".

There were no Brits employed at NASA back then. She had to forget the idea.

Libby studied Physics at university. She headed for Munich when she first became aware of the space industry there. She always made people aware of what she wanted to do. She is now delighted with her role as Flight Director at the UK's Space Agency in Swindon.

Libby is very excited about her involvement in Tim Peake's Principia mission in the International Space Station (ISS). The launch date is not far away on 15 December 2015.

Left to right: Libby Jackson, Helen Keen and Claudie Haigneré

Women in STEM

The two women debated how there has not generally been enough progress.  Women are not putting themselves forward. There are still not enough women studying STEM subjects.

It is important for women like Claudie and Libby to share both the technical and human adventure of their stories. Claudie found living in a multicultural environment incredibly enriching for her life and career. Libby similarly spreads the message by visiting schools.

There is no need to act like a man. NASA achieves its best results in mixed teams. Libby stressed that the UK Space Agency employs 44 women and 34 men.

Future missions

Only 500 astronauts have ever travelled into space. Yet, there are countless ground support roles. A Mars mission is a very distant prospect with the journey taking 6-9 months. Revisiting the moon is more likely. A mission's success is the focus of the whole team whether male or female.

Claudie would welcome a mission to the moon. Mars is for the next generation of astronauts. Her funniest story was of a phone call from space. Her daughter claimed she was too busy to take the call, as if her mother was just around the corner.

Impatience

A member of the audience asked about fear. Claudie replied that impatience was the greatest emotion after 5 years for her PhD and 10 years of training.

Libby confirmed that the British astronaut, Tim Peake feels the same way. He is more nervous about missing out after all the training and build-up. 

Britons in space

He won't be the first Briton in space. That honour went to a British woman, Helen Sharman in 1991. Six male British citizens followed her.

Inspiring a new generation

You can see the Principia mission's countdown ticking away on the European Space Agency's website. Maybe the mission will inspire a whole new generation of female astronauts and flight directors?

For further information about Anglicity's content writing services, email karen@anglicity.com.