The Test of Character

In southern literature there is something called "the test of character".  In this trope, the main character, or one of them, has to choose between doing the easy thing and doing the right thing and doing the right thing is much harder.  

Several friends of mine are unfortunately in a situation where they have to choose between doing the selfish thing or doing the right thing and I am sorry to say that they are probably going to do the selfish thing. 

This is my expectation and it makes me sad but then at least I will know.  The cost is that I will be more cynical, but then what did I expect.   

I am already bitter, but maybe not bitter enough. 

If you dont know what I am talking about then nevermind, you will never understand unless you have had the experience.

"The Test of Character"

Trump, Rape, Republicans, Ethics

 

Which is worse: having a candidate who is a known rapist or failing to act on that knowledge and disqualify the miscreant?  

I was not really aware that Trump is a serial rapist and abuser of women until recently.  I thought he was just an entitled jerk who said stupid things when the microphone was on ("grab them by the pussy").  But no, there are no less than 26 women who have brought complaints against him and the things they complain about is not an off-color comment in the work place. I suppose we should give him credit for being honest about his abuse, i.e. he literally meant "grab them by the pussy" but it makes me very unhappy.

We have a lot of abused women, we have a Republican party that could not be honest or ethical to save their life, we have a jerk who became president of this country because the electorate supported a known rapist, a justice system that couldn't commit justice in even an extreme case, and a news media that could not be bothered to remind people that Trump is a rapist.  

Its extremely clear that our system of government is failing the people and that we have a lot of citizens who are either severely deluded or so blinded by their lust for power that they are willing to ignore the clearest evidence.

Its so boring.

Here is a good article from The New Yorker that goes over the abuse of women in more detail.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/24/documenting-trumps-abuse-of-women

The Whole World is My Garden

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For those who use Voltaire's garden as a way of excusing their failure to stand up for what is right, my response is that my garden is the whole world.  If you fail to stand up for what is right you will not be forgiven by history.

Further Thoughts on the Google / DOD / AI Controversy

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On further reflection, I am taking back my criticism about the whole Google/US Military kerflop (if thats a word).  I thought it was odd for employees of Google to refuse to do an AI military project given the role of the US Military (aka DARPA) in inventing and supporting AI and in particular computer science at Stanford.  But now I think they have a very reasonable point to make, or might be making, since after all, I dont really know what people at Google think, since what I know comes from the news media and has not gone into much depth.

Several people who know at least as much as I do about the history of AI and post war computer science dispute my assertion(s) about the role of the military elite in the creation of those fields, and the fact is that all I have are my impressions, not the result of serious research into the details of what I think I know on the subject.  So often in the past my impressions have been entertaining but by no means the whole story.

But even if I have a minor point to make about the history of science and technology, other considerations far outweigh this.

These considerations include (a) Our military has been voluntary since Vietnam, so it should certainly be the case that wherever original funding may have come from, people should be able to choose whether or not they work on a military project.  (b) When they chose Google there was absolutely no reason to think that they would be involved in such a project (directly at least, indirectly is another kettle of fish), (c) Google is an international company and their reputation and success may depend on not being perceived as being directly involved with the military, any military, given the bad reputation such militaries have, (d) Other companies that work for the federal government directly (e.g. by taking contracts with the IRS or the DOD) generally set up a separate company or division to deal with such things.  Thus their employees can make the conscious choice to work with such a company or division or not.  I am sure that not all such choices may be entirely voluntary (e.g. we have a project for you over here, you can take the project or be unemployed) but even so, it gives people fair warning about what is up.  And last, but not least, (e) As much as I respect our military, it is the tool  of our political elite, and our elite has been involved in questionable military adventure after adventure in my lifetime.  However much I may respect various aspects of our military, which is iteslef a long discussion, there can be no argument that they are often put to the most appalling use and it is completely reasonable to try and live ones' life without out being involved in such things, at least as much as is possible given that we must all swim in the same ocean.

Finally, and last but not least, to the best of my knowlege, Google has been very open about their work and research, and there is nothing preventing another company from doing this sort of work.  In fact, since working with the US Government is such a complicated thing to do, it is likely that this other company (whether new or existing) might do more of what the DOD really needs.

In other words, even if I maintain (provisionally) my point about the history of technology, there are plenty of other reasons for Google to abstain from this work if their employees so request.

This post is just a work in progress and its very clear to me I dont know the whole story.

Anecdotes about Unions from the Early Days of Computer Graphics

The recent disturbances in the force involving visual effects and computer animation people protesting their lot in life is a good thing I think. I may feel that some of it is misdirected, and some of the goals and beliefs are incorrect or unachievable, but I have no doubt that the workers must organize in order to look after their interests. Even if they do not achieve their goals, they are guaranteed to not achieve them if they do not organize.

Many of us, myself included, have strong mixed feelings about unions. There are several reasons for this in my case, including coming from a white collar, intellectual family where unions were seen as good things, but for the blue collar worker. I am not sure that that association (union with blue collar) is either fair or correct, however, but it is something for me to overcome.

The second reason I never appreciated the need for a workers union or force is because I was treated so damned well early on in my career. The University of California at first and the RAND Corporation second, were very fair and good to me. Thus I had false expectations for the future.

I want to describe two events from the Robert Abel period, because I think they are relevant to this whole discussion.

Although I was only involved in computer graphics R&D, I deliberately chose working at Abel's in order to pick up what I could of other special effects filmmaking technique. So, I would hang around the camera department, and talk to Tom Barron over at Image G and so forth. From time to time, Abel's would have a big shoot on a stage and one day they were shooting a 7UP job with Bob Abel directing and Randy Roberts the art director. It was a big front projection shoot, Bob was on a crane and I was watching. I remember hearing an assistant whisper into Bob's ear "Meal penalties, Bob! Meal penalties!"

I later figured out that this meant something along the lines of "if you don't stop and let people have a lunch break by 4PM in the afternoon, then the production will have to pay everyone extra". In other words, Bob, the obsessive perfectionist, would not have stopped for lunch unless someone put a gun to his head, or his wallet.

The second thing that I saw, as we moved raster graphics into production at Robert Abel & Associates was how producers would move elements that could have been produced any number of ways into the 3D department. Why? Because if people worked 12 or 16 hour days in 3D, it did not cost them any more. 3D was on a fixed hourly rate, a certain number of hours a week. But if they did it in a department that was involved with a union (even if there were special deals with the union as there were), then people had to get paid more.

Oh, I thought as I watched. That's interesting. You mean you are willing to burn people out and damage their lives to save a few bucks? And the answer to that question, was "Yes, absolutely, we have no ethics whatsoever". Oh. Ok. Thanks.

What if A Visual Effects Supervisor Made An Ethical Stand Against Stupid Visual Effects?

[By the way, I am quite aware that Josh Whedon is a genius and the issues I discuss below are taken out of context.   But there is still a point that holds true, even if that sequence may (or may not) have been representative of the movie as a whole]

I was in Fry's the other day admiring a fabulous flat panel display. This one happened to be an LED LCD display, but it doesn't really matter, there are excellent displays of all the different technologies, each at their various price points, etc, etc. None of that really matters except to observe that the economy must be doing well for some people, or there would not be as many people buying these things.

The point of mentioning this is that I happened to be watching The Avengers (2012) and it looked beautiful on this 50" display. Except for little thing. Just one little minor point. Hardly worth mentioning. Well, I guess I will mention it anyway.

It was incredibly stupid. Stupid beyond belief. A fabulous clusterfuck of excellent digital visual effects without a neuron to rub together with another neuron, as far as I could tell. A giant robot that looked like a big fish, undulating through the sky and emitting bad people who wanted to blow up office workers in NY.  And a healthy looking guy and his drop dead gorgeous, yet wholesome, girl friend in black spandex, shooting arrows at bad fish while saving school children on a bus.  Well, I gotta tell you, you will need a lot more big giant robot fish undulating through Manhattan to make much of an impact on the number of office workers there, I thought to myself.

Then suddenly, without any warning, I felt as though I was surrounded by light.  The light became blinding and I was graced with a sudden vision.  A vision of a better world.  

What, just imagine for a second, what if the next time someone brought a really stupid movie to a visual effects supervisor, if this visual effects supervisor, he or she as the case may be, stood up and told the producer and director "Enough is enough, this movie is stupid. More stupid visual effects! I will not allow the noble art of visual effects to be dragged through the mud of your lack of imagination. Money! Is that all you think about is money?! What about art? "

Can you imagine our noble visual effects supervisor or visual effects producer standing up to them like that?

No? Well, neither can I. Nevermind, it was a silly idea.

Anybody seen my script?

Since Josh Whedon directed this thing I am sure that there is more to it than was apparent in 10 minutes of sitting in Fry's.  I know this.  Yes, I realize, I need to see the movie.  I know.   I know.  I am sure, since its Josh Whedon, that it was very entertaining and probably very intelligent in ways that are not obvious from the totally out of context segment that I saw.   I do realize this.

Nevertheless, I will still hold to my foolish vision of the visual effects supervisor making a stand for integrity and content.   In another world, a better world, I am sure.

The Avengers on IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848228/