The Future of Female

The Future of Female TREATMENT FOR A DOCUMENTARY FILM August 25, 2008 CONTACT: BIG PICTURE MEDIA CORPORATION DIRECTOR/WRITER • Katherine Dodds EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/DIRECTOR ADVISOR Mark Achbar EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/PRODUCER Betsy Carson • [email protected] • 604.251.0770 EXECUTIVE PRODUCER—FRENCH MARKET Lucie Tremblay • [email protected] 514.281.1819 August 25, 2008 CONTACT: BIG PICTURE MEDIA CORPORATION DIRECTOR/WRITER Katherine Dodds EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/DIRECTOR ADVISOR Mark Achbar EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/PRODUCER Betsy Carson [email protected] 604.251.0770 EXECUTIVE PRODUCER—FRENCH MARKET Lucie Tremblay [email protected] 514.281.1819 I, Fembot • TREATMENT • August 25, 2008 • 2008 BIG PICTURE MEDIA CORPORATION 2 I, Fembot Treatment: Overview According to many of the scientists you are about to meet, we are entering a new phase of evolution. Clockwise from top left: Propelled by the exponential advances being made in robot- Annalee Newitz, Tatsuya ics, Artificial Life and computational speed, many scientists Matsui, Cynthia Brazeal, David Levy, Anne Foerst believe we are at a point where it is nearly impossible to know where “natural” ends and “cultural” begins. Roboticists seek to create social, emotional, embodied ”bots.” Yeah, just like us. That’s the idea, anyway. But now that all of this new technology presents us with a chance to really change things, will we use it to create a better world? And whose fantasies – whose nightmares – will we bring to life? I, Fembot • TREATMENT • August 25, 2008 • 2008 BIG PICTURE MEDIA CORPORATION 3 Is the robotics bullet train on a collision course with the horse and buggy of social evolution? As robotics begins to bring science fiction to life, will social evolution keep pace? Or will these new technologies, these real-world marvels of creation, simply tell the same old sto- ries? The same old gender myths, the same old haves and have-nots, the same old double standards that we thought As robotics begins we had overcome? to bring science As we face our post-human future and all its questions and fiction to life, will challenges, a fembot phenomenon takes centre-stage. social evolution GAL 0101, Gendered Artificial Lifeform, is our animated keep pace? fembot narrator. “She” is “every-bot.” A time-traveler. A mys- tic. A teacher. A cartoon. As she looks in on today from her futuristic vantage point, GAL has something very old-fashioned to teach us about gender, relationships – and the future. With GAL as our guide, we explore what makes us human (or humanoid) through the eyes of some very real characters. OUR CAST OF CHARACTERS ANNALEE NEWITZ, the sex and technology writer, takes on some serious questions about the impact of robotics on society, and especially on women. Having written on topics such as fembots, open source software and hacker subcultures for the likes of Wired and The New York Times, Newitz, at equal turns hilarious and disturbing, talks about what her robot utopia might look like. I, Fembot • TREATMENT • August 25, 2008 • 2008 BIG PICTURE MEDIA CORPORATION 4 ANNE FOERST, a robot theologian, has radical notions on who deserves to be called a person and what a new human- ism – one that lets robots in – could mean. Committed to equality, even for robots, Foerst has mixed feelings about what fembots might represent. CYNTHIA BREAZEAL, one of the world’s foremost scientists in the field of Artificial Life and one of the field’s few women in primary research, is a pioneer of social and She believes emotional robotics. She believes that some day robots will that some day be our friends. She’s not making fembots, but she might be robots will be making children, at least from a cognitive point of view. our friends. DAVID LEVY, whose recent book “Love + Sex with Robots” provides a catalyst to examine what fembots might want. TATSUYA MATSUI, rogue designer, is concerned about the pervasive sexist approach to robotics. In response he has created “P-Noir,” the world’s first feminist robot. The evolutionary psychologist DYLAN EVANS is interested in robot emotions – and he’s not afraid to show them. Evans believes in the genetic basis of gender difference, and so fears that the coming wave of fembots – and it is coming – will unleash stereotypical male behavior (that many men don’t want to admit they long for). Soon, the fembot of their dreams will release all social mis- fits from loneliness. Or will she? I, Fembot • TREATMENT • August 25, 2008 • 2008 BIG PICTURE MEDIA CORPORATION 5 Hot Science: Opening Sequence Nexi, the latest robot from Breazeal’s lab at MIT is talking to us. She explains that she is an “MDS” robot – mobile, dexterous, and social. Clockwise from top left: Fumio Hara We see a wonder-inspiring montage of today’s latest robots Labs, Leonardo, Asimo, MIT robot, and their creators. Some of these bots look so human they NEXI expressions. Centre: NEXI fool the eye. Others don’t look like people but are surprisingly expressive. GAL: We’re going on a trip to see some interesting robots, primitive compared to what will be coming… but this is just the beginning, the starting point where science fiction comes to life. I, Fembot • TREATMENT • August 25, 2008 • 2008 BIG PICTURE MEDIA CORPORATION 6 GAL introduces us to CYNTHIA BREAZEAL. Her robot “Kismet” is the bot that started it all. Kismet is no longer functioning and is in the MIT museum. Fembot scholar DAVID LEVY tells the story of the little girl who saw Kismet and was concerned when the robot was shut down. She said, “Cynthia will be sad, she’s Kismet’s mommy, and she’s going to miss her!” We join BREAZEAL in the Media Lab at MIT. She’s with Leon- ardo, her huggable and furry “sociable robot” that is ca- Robots pable of emotional expression, vision, and “socially guided learning.” need to be BREAZEAL laughs about being a “Mommy” to her robots, nurtured, and explains how infant developmental and evolutionary like humans. psychology play a part in her work, from her time with her then instructor RODNEY BROOKS on his “insect bots” (Brooks is the former director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab), to Kismet, and now to her newest robots. A group of robot insects march into view. RODNEY BROOKS explains how simple bots (like his insect- shaped bots) through interacting with their environments can cause complex behavior to emerge. Key to directing this emergent behavior, says Brooks, is to give the robot a clear “intention” that it seeks to fulfill. BREAZEAL weighs in by stating her belief that, in order to be truly social, robots need to be – not just programmed – they need to be nurtured, like humans. I, Fembot • TREATMENT • August 25, 2008 • 2008 BIG PICTURE MEDIA CORPORATION 7 ANNE FOERST worked with BREAZEAL on “Cog” (the star bot of MIT’s Human Robotics Group) and also on Kismet, and when she talks about these and other robots she sounds like she is reminiscing about old friends. For many in this film, as we will see, Kismet, especially, really is a deeply loved robot. Kismet, It is with Kismet that these “softer” values have crept into especially, the hard science of robotics as roboticists discover the is a deeply significance of the groundbreaking theory of “embodiment” loved robot. -– the idea that, like people, even a robot’s existence is shaped by its physical interaction with an environment and through responding to others. The theory of embodiment has shifted the entire robotic paradigm. The other key areas that have revolutionized the development of humanoids are the emotional and the social. GAL: It’s funny how this “embodiment” stuff was discovered by men, but it took a woman to take it to the next level. Sure, Mr. Brooks was amazed at how little brain it took to get bots to develop au- tonomous behavior, but BREAZEAL was more interested in making sure those bots behaved! Bodies and interaction affect the way both we and robots develop intelligence. The holy grail of embodied bots are the “humanoids.” We rent an “actroid,” the cream of the crop of the humanoids, a female bot whose likeness to a female human is nothing short of stunning – and disturbing. We take her along on our robot journey. I, Fembot • TREATMENT • August 25, 2008 • 2008 BIG PICTURE MEDIA CORPORATION 8 GAL: Something, isn’t she? She’s what you’d call the baby steps toward the evolution of truly autono- mous bots that can think and feel for themselves. Just like me! I don’t mean to freak you out, but the bots who evolve will have bodies, they will learn Suddenly, from their environments, and they will require Robosapien emotions for decision-making. As you would define it, they will be “social beings.” lunges at Leonardo, and We see that the actroid is not alone. our Actroid says She is watching the cute and cuddly Leonardo interact with a “Robosapien.” (Robosapien is a bang-em-up toy biomor- firmly, “Behave! phic robot produced by WowWee toys.) Leonardo seems amused, and responds to the sounds the Robosapien makes. Suddenly, Robosapien lunges at Leonardo, and our Actroid says firmly, “Behave!” BREAZEAL, laughing, pulls the Robosapien away from Leon- ardo. Staying with Leonardo, we cut to a demonstration of Leon- ardo taking the “Sally and Anne Test,” a developmental psychology test that measures social cognitive ability. Devel- oped to detect autism, the test is usually failed by children under age four. Leonardo passes with flying colors. GAL: Yes, your discovery that Artificial Intelligence is actually based on relationships will be impor- tant. It’s rooted in an understanding of “self” and “other.” You’ll have made a great leap then.

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