Boiling Point: Super Computers

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 15, 2008

bp-supercomputer

Movies are all about the suspension of disbelief.  I get that.  When I stroll into a theater to check out a movie about an alien Keanu Reeves piloting a giant orb down to Manhattan, I’m not going expecting an experience that stings of reality.  When I watch Super Cops in CSI: Miami, I want one liners and extravagant murder plots.  I shouldn’t be bothered by little things, right?  Well, I am.   And what’s bothering me this week is super computers.  Not even some HAL-9000 stuff.  This bullshit 3D floating screen touch sensitive bull.

I get that computers are advanced and sure, I guess the government might have access to some sweet technology.  But seriously.  What the fuck is going on with all these like, floating 3D touch computers?  You’ve seen them.  Someone is in a room surrounded by images and digital screens and they reach out and touch them and toss them around the screen and move them in and out of order.  Bah.  CSI: Miami is probably the worst, as the screen is literally some future Star Trek hologram bologna.  I’ve been to a government office and it’s more like huge white box CRT monitors running Windows 3.0.

A slightly more realistic version of this technology was in Quantum of Solace, where MI6 had some touch sensitive flat screens that they gleefully scrolled through.  Sure, this technology is plausible, but is it necessary?  A similar system was in The Day the Earth Stood Still, where people effortlessly maneuver images around and access all sorts of files without the aide of a keyboard or a mouse.  Just point and touch and flick and grab or whatever.  I think I figured out how to reduce government spending, cut down on these damn touch flick screen computers!  Tony Stark in Iron Man also had one, complete with a fully tactile 3D modeling system, though considering he built a suit of powered armor and is one of the smartest men on Earth, I’ll let that one slide.

Who is it in Hollywood that thinks these things are so cool?  Why are they so prevalent?  This is a lot like my rant on free running from last week.  Sure that shit is cool, but when anyone and everyone can do it, it’s not cool.  Same here, it makes sense for some people to have these awesome computers, but the cops in CSI: Miami? Lab assistants and scientists and Kathy Bates, magically waving their hands around and accessing files without the use keyboards or mice.  These people could easily achieve the same effect with a desktop and a projector, but no, they have to be ultra hip and modern and cool.

So maybe I’m the only one who notices, or the only one who cares, but I’m tired of this magical invisible hologram touchy screen computer things.  They’re just everywhere and that’s not cool, they’re over exposed and over used and in the weirdest of places.  All I know is that when I see random ass people mastering a weirdo floating computer screen hologram thing I bubble past my boiling point.

What do you think about these floating super computers?


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  • Dee
    I thought I was the only one!
  • Shootsy
    The computer from Day the Earth Stood Still is the Microsoft Surface... It's startup screen is the exact one from Microsoft's promo vid.
  • Nevernude
    Microsoft have, for a while now, introduced something known as Windows Surface. Sure its not mainstream yet, but it soon could be. Its intended to revolutionise computing i.e no more mouse/keyboard. Either, Microsoft are sponsoring movies so they can deftly introduce this product as a product of the future, or its simply a much more "hip" /"advanced" way of doing this. I dont mind seeing this technology in QoS or TDTESS. Of course its unnecessary, the Bourne movies didnt have any of that bs, but its really up to the studios to use it or not. And i couldn't care less.
    What i do have a problem with, are computers that are depicted in such a way that they can think and make decisions for themselves. See Eagle Eye or i, Robot. A future where computers exist independent of any human interference is quite some way off. The fact that we are still yet to see robots walking all over the place is proof of this.
  • This rant should be re-titled "Boiling Point: Touch Screens." Which is a shame as I was looking forward to you ripping a new USB port into the omnipotent super computers in ridiculous films like Eagle Eye.
  • I was smart enough not to watch that movie. But I'll catch it on DVD and then RAM its DOS with my HUB on the LAN.
  • When I was working in "The State Department," we were still using Novell and Windows 95. Yay, government effeciency! But movies are all about the suspension of disbelief - you're right on that front. A ton of movies also feature black presidents. Like that'll ever happen! Zing!
  • TheGinna
    What about TV shows and films where the characters are surfing the net or pulling up files, and when the 'computer' finishes it makes a noise, a click, a ziiit, noise. I work with computers all day and I hear nothing. Do these shows treat the viewers like idiots? Do we really need to hear a noise when the criminal's photo id appears to re-iterate what's happen on screen?! And why do search results and web pages always look different on tv and film compared to real life.

    </rant> Or is it just me?...
  • Ok now, in Iron Man, that was actually within the realm of believability - Tony Stark was a genius, remember, and could have designed & built that computer himself. But other than that, yes, Hollywood once again goes too far with the flash. Touch-screens are only barely out for retail now, and I'm not hearing good things about them. Let's keep this in the set-in-future sci-fi, shall we?
  • I couldn't agree more with this topic.
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