> Ultimately, I'd like to provide a story that could be made into film
> that has the optimistic impact of "Contact" and not promote the scare
> tactics of oldies like "Colossus: The Forbin Project" or newer ones
> like "The Web" or (gag!) "Virtuosity" just because the
> artistically-deprived and generally bored people of our culture will
> lap up anything that has a few moments of dazzle, suspense or
> intrigue, even if the bulk of the offering is laden with predictable
> outcomes, black "plot" holes and generally require wild suspension of
> disbelief merely to enjoy the 1.5 to 2 hours.
I've been trying to do the exact same thing. The problems I find are: trying
to be optimistic and still hold the attention of todays audience (who have
been made to believe genetic engineering will create mosters and AI's will
eat their children) and trying to present highly complex, world changing
technologies in a way the audience would understand. For instance, how do
you show nano-technology or uploading in a movie (without resorting to "I can
feel something... something strange... entering... my... body... something
small... almost nanoscopical in size" or "as you can see, virtual reality
technology has progressed so far that everything in here looks _exactly_ like
it does in the real world!").
--Wax