Daily Archives: March 7, 2021

Now before we get into the topic of mind uploading, we have to confess, we have some terrible news for you.

Your music collection is doomed. Your DVDs and CDs? They are slowly falling apart. They will soon become unreadable. In fact, many early CDs no longer work at all.

This is actually all completelytrue. It's called disc rot (or deterioration) and it's a real thing.

Now maybe you're young enough that you will just laugh at that. Your reply is that you've never bought a CD in your life. Everything's always been MP3's, iTunes, Spotify.

Or maybe you say, I have nothing to worry about! I backed up my CD collection years ago. Everything is on the cloud. What difference does it make if the original CD falls apart? I couldn't care less.

Do you see where I'm going with this yet?

You're not worried what happens to your physical CDs because you've got the music stored in a way that guarantees you'll never lose it.

But what if we applied this thinking to our own minds?

Like our CD collection, or anything that exists in a purely physical form, our bodies, our minds, and our selves will ultimately cease to be. Once our bodies stop working, our consciousness will go to wherever it goes after we die.

But what if we could back up our consciousness to another form?

What if we could turn our brains into information, and stay alive by becoming part of the cloud, or a massive database? We could still make decisions, we could still hang out with our friends. We'd probably even have time to watch all those shows on our Netflix list.

Maybe we'd hang out in some matrix-like program, constantly evolving in the confines of an artificial world. Or maybe we could be removed, dusted off, and transferred back into a physical body.

Mind uploading. It's the ideathat just because we lose our bodies doesn't mean we have to lose our lives.

But is this something that could ever be possible? Or is it justa lot of rot?

The Benefits of Mind Uploading

Although instinct may initially tell us that this would have only negative consequences, could there be any sort of advantage to mind uploading? Either on the individual or small scale?

There's no doubt that mind uploading would radically change our notions of being human. That would happen the instant someone made the first successful transfer.

What if mind uploading became an option for people in the larger scheme?

It would almost certainly create an even further imbalance in society, as it would be prohibitively expensive. The only people who would be able to afford such a costly procedure would be the super-rich, who would use the technology to consolidate their power further.

The moral implications of mind uploading are generally negative. Fans of Philip K Dick's Altered Carbon will know what we're talking about here. Just as the technology would have a lasting effect on society, so would the ways in which that technology would likely be abused.

But what good could come of it?

We Could Use a Lot Fewer Resources

There are good reasons for wanting to find a way to upload our consciousness onto a computer.

For one thing, what if we were able to exist in a scenario where we weren't constantly requiring food, water, and other physical necessities?

What if the planet could avoid having to use 94 billion barrels of oil every day? What if we could stop cutting down 15 billion trees a year? If we were free of needing to use up natural resources at this rate?

Certainly, there is no such thing as zero impact. The initial costs of mind uploading would be significant, as would energy costs of storing a consciousness on a computer.

But when you consider that the technology would undoubtedly get smaller and more efficient as time went on, it may not be as much as one would think. Especially when compared to the long-term burden of having billions of people on the planet.

We Could Exist In Multiple Places at Once

Who hasn't wished for this at some point?

Either you wish you had more hours in the day, or you could be more places. If only you could split yourself into multiple versions so you could get more things checked off your to-do list

Mind uploading would allow for people to exist in multiple places at the same time, no longer confining a person or a consciousness to a single physical location

We Could Learn Things Way Faster

If you remember the first Matrix movie, you remember the scene where Neo (Keanu Reeves) plugs into a program that uploads information directly into his brain. His eyes pop open and in astonishment he says I know Kung Fu.

Getting your advanced degree may be as easy as this. Just fire up the right program and zap a bunch of information right into your mind.

In this case, it's mind uploading in the other direction.

But one imagines that if it came possible to do mind uploading, it would also quickly become common practice to make enhancements on the computerized version.

At this level, access to knowledge would no longer be a barrier for the majority of people what would matter would be the application of that knowledge.

We Could Explore the Stars

As fun as sci-fi shows can be, there's a lot they usually get wrong about deep space exploration.

It often goes like this.

A bunch of people leave the solar system in search of other habitable planets. They are on a big, fancy spaceship that looks like a cross between a futuristic submarine and a Caribbean cruise ship.

The ship inevitably discovers something incredibly cool and possibly supernatural (we're not saying it's aliens, but)

Then one of the humans does something selfish and stupid, messing it up for everybody. Laser guns, fight scenes, dramatic and noise action.

It will come as no surprise that real space exploration wouldn't be like this at all. Because in space there's just a lot of nothing.

The distance between other planets and Earth is almost inconceivably vast. And if a bunch of humans wanted to make that trick, their bodies would be subject to all sorts of radiation, biological stress, and probably other elements we haven't even thought of.

But a computer could go for years on another planet, calmly doing its job. Just look at NASA's Opportunity Mars rover, which spent fifteen years quietly photographing and analyzing the unforgiving Martian surface, long after it was expected to stop working.

We Would Basically Be Immortal

So technically immortality is probably impossible. There's no way of knowing if the universe will last forever, and scientists seem to be pretty sure that there is a heat death of the universe, at which the whole show will come to an end.

But in the meantime, people could live many lives at once. Or simply make sure that they would not cease to exist if their physical body broke down. It may not be immortality in the perfect sense, but it's the closest thing there is.

But There Are Still Many, Many Problems

Of course, this raises many moral questions.

The issues raised here are interesting, but they will probably not be ones we have to solve any time soon. At least not in the next few decades, and possibly not for another century.

In order to understand why, we need to take alook at the way the brain works.

The Supercomputer Already in Your Head

The major problem lies right between our ears.

The brain we already have. It's something we still don't know very much about.

If the brain is a machine, it's an incredibly complicated one. Far more complicated than even the most advanced computers we currently have developed.

Sure, humans may not be able to perform mathematical calculations as quickly or accurately as computers can. And chess computer programs can beat humans now, too even champions like Gary Kasparov.

But these computers, while fast, are also often fairly uncomplicated. They way they operate is very structured and logical.

But the way people make decisions? Not so much. Or if we do operate logically, we have not been able to crack the puzzle of how yet.

What we do know is where in the brain certain things happen. For instance, we know that the part of the brain responsible for processing vision isn't very near the eyes. It's actually in the back of the brain, in the Occipital Lobe.

And the part of the brain that is near the eyes is the part we use to focus and to make decisions. That's the Frontal Lobe, and some people think that's where our sense of right and wrong exists (many psychopaths have damage or unusual activity in this region).

But when it comes to wiring a complicated device, knowing the general area isn't nearly exact enough. For a real chance of success, we need to understand it on a minute scale.

That's where the study known as neural networking comes in.

You Gotta Learn to Network

Neural Networking is a specialized scientific field that involves the study of the brain's physical architecture and biology.

It's no small task the human brain has about 85 billion neurons. Each one would need to be mapped and understood.

Not only would scientists need to do this; they would also need to map and understand the connections between neurons. Because each neuron is connected to up to 10,000 other neurons.

In very basic terms, the process is like this. If you want to copy a road map, you have to get all the details.

The neurons are the cities or towns. The connections between the neurons are the roads themselves. Without having both thoroughly accounted for, you don't have an accurate map. Not one that gets you anywhere.

Essentially, the challenges of mind uploading would beas follows:

First, we'd need to figure out a way to map the brain.

Next, we'd need to make sure to do this in such a way that we could transfer the person's consciousness to some sort of storage device.

Obviously, we'd also need to build some sort of mechanism capable of storing a consciousness.

We would need to be able to make this transfer safely, so that the consciousness was not harmed in the process.

And finally, we'd need to have a device that could not only store the information indefinitely, but would allow it to actively function in real time.

As it so happens, some people are already working toward doing just this

The Great Emulator

That's a lot of steps, but people have been thinking about this for a while. One particular neuroscientist named Randal Koene has given it more attention than almost anybody else.

Randal Koene is a Dutch-born neuroscientist who believes that humanity should be able to transfer consciousness from a biological brain to some sort of computer mechanism.

Koene describes it using the term emulator.

One could think of it the same way that one can run a Mac program on an IBM, or vice versa. They are different machines, but with the help of an emulator, it's possible for one machine to run programs that were originally written for a different operating system.

Koene is a fascinating person just check out this interview with him here:

But what would Koene's emulator look like? And what would be necessary to unlock the mystery of making it work?

Some scientists believe that you need to start with a large-scale understanding of the brain, in order to understand how to build it from the top down.

Others think that understanding the brain in this way may be impossible, and that you should start by learning and copying all of the physical components, so that you can replicate the brain. If you were able to do this exactly, you wouldn't need to worry about the big picture and the many theoretical elements that come along with it.

This brain map must be somehow derived from the brain itself. And it might be difficult to do that without taking the physical body into account. That's because the brain isn't designed only to think, but also to move a physical body.

So for a whole brain simulation to work, this network map would also need to pretend that the mind was being transferred to a human body (even if that wasn't the case).

One possiblemethod might be a technique called serial sectioning.

Brain scientists have used this technique for a long time in order to gain a better understanding of how things work. When a person donates their body to science, one of the things that can happen is to take very thin cross-sections in order to see how all of the pieces fit together.

It's a laborious process. Preserving a brain requires freezing it but carefully, so as not to damage the sample by allowing water crystals to form in the organ and damage the physical structure.

Then, these cross-sections are studied under an electron microscope. Researcher record how everything fits together in meticulous detail.

The hope is that making a perfect copy would result in a perfectly functioning brain. However, the technology to make these kinds of measurements is still years away, and there is also the possibility of failure. Even if a copy is made, would it still work like it is supposed to?

Somewhere Over the Brainbow

Researchers at Harvard, Columbia, MIT and many others are tackling the question of how to construct an accurate map. Part of the challenge is that it's not enough to see the pieces of a frozen brain that comes from a dead animal or person scientists need ways of studying a brain while it is actually working.

So far, one of the methods developed is nicknamed a brainbow.

This map allows scientists to look at individual neurons in a live mouse.

They invented the brainbow by taking bioluminescent proteins from jellyfish. Then they colored these proteins differently, so that they would be easier to differentiate when they showed up on scans.

The result is that each neuron reacts with the proteins to form an individual color of its own. Eventually, it may be possible to learn how to copy a human brain with the knowledge gained from these studies.

But of course, this all supposes that everything we are, all of our identity, can be expressed simply as a result of the physical structure of our brains. Is there anything more? What if there's another element; something that can't be copied?

Read more:

3 Reasons Why Mind Uploading Will Never Work

My most recent post, Living in a Computer Simulation, elicited some insightful comments from a reader skeptical of the possibility of mind uploading. Here is his argument with my own brief response to it below.

My comment concerns a reductive physicalist theory of the mind, which is the view that all mental states and properties of the mind will eventually be explained by scientific accounts of physiological processes and states Continue reading The Impossibility of Mind Uploading

Many scientists believe that we will soon be able to preserve our consciousness indefinitely. There are a number ofscenariosby which this might be accomplished, but so-called mind uploading is one of the most prominent. Mind uploading refers to a hypothetical process of copying the contents of a consciousness from a brain to a computational device. Continue reading Living In A Computer Simulation

John Searle (1932 ) is currently the Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his PhD from Oxford University. He is a prolific author and one of the most important living philosophers. Continue reading John Searles Critique of Ray Kurzweil

Many scientists believe that we will soon be able to preserve our consciousness indefinitely. There are a number ofscenariosby which this might be accomplished, but so-called mind uploading is one of the most prominent. Continue reading What Will Life Be Like Inside A Computer?

Continue reading here:

Mind Uploading | Reason and Meaning

At age 14, Norwegian native,Marie Ulven, better known asgirl in red, began cutting through all the internet noise and clutter and uploading her own music to YouTube. By the time she turned 18, the singer started seeing glimmers of success with her 2018, bedroom pop-inspired track I wanna be your girlfriend.

Listen to your favorite Alternative music now on RADIO.COM.

Now 1.69 million YouTube subscribers later, girl in red is at the precipice of Alt Queen stardom as fans await the release of her debut albumif i could make it go quietand as they consume the singers newest single Serotonin.

At first, Ulven tells RADIO.COM, I think Ive just been really lucky, but then quickly pivots to explain, At the end of the day maybe I havent been lucky, at the end of the day Im not trying to be a social persona I kind of just want to live off music.

The artist who was clad in a perfectly over-sized sweatshirt and a Spiderman beanie conveys that authenticity is the name of her game and that her ability to be candid and so forward in her music stems from wanting to write lyrics that lay it all out on the table. I dont really connect with lyrics that I dont feel have some sense of honesty in them, notes girl in red.

In Maries lyrics, listeners are given the chance to understand the inner workings of the singers mind whether she is singing about her own mental health experiences or yearning for everything from true love to late-night hook-ups. When she approaches a new song the artist says, I think like when I write a song Im usually over it, like whatever Im writing about because then its a lot easier to look at it from like oh okay that was the entire situation' and also have a better perspective of how I am now its easier to reflect on things when theyre done.

Serotonin which serves as a masterful introduction to what fans can expect fromif I could make it go quiet, is also a blossoming of thoughts pouring right out of Ulvens brain and into our ears. The track personifies the artists ability to get up close and personal with her listeners and weave the nitty-gritty details of her mental health experiences into a big, bold, and beautiful song jammed packed with twists and turns.

Technically, this song has been in the works for Marie since she was 12-years-old. My dad was in a car accident when I was 12 and that like f*****d me up completely, and that like triggered so much s*** for me, girl in red begins to explain. That has stuck around pretty much up until now and I went to therapy and I learned a lot about intrusive thoughts and OCD and I learned that a thought is just a thought. And I think learning when your mind makes you think or what your mind makes you think you want to do isnt necessarily always real.

Coming to terms with understanding intrusive thoughts allowed Ulven to realize that she was not alone in her mental health tribulations, and coming to terms with how to navigate those thoughts brought us to what we now hear on Serotonin. While she cant completely pinpoint the moment where she decided to process her intrusive thoughts lyrically, Marie shares, it sort of like poured out of me last summer. The first rap part that I call it, just came out of me really quickly, and then the second one took a little bit longer to get out because obviously I wanted something that meant a lot to me.

While Marie can be credited with the melody and lyrics that feel like we are getting a tour of her brain,FINNEASstepped in to assist Ulven on the production of the song. The two collaborated to build a fitting sonic feeling after girl in red felt a little bit stuck I had the rap part, and I had the chorus but I felt like I needed a new head and a set of fresh ears.

We sent it to FINNEAS and he was really excited when he heard the song and he seemed genuinely stoked about the rap part. After back and forth between the two artists and various zoom calls Ulven landed on what we hear now.

In the future, if girl in red collaborates with any artists going forward, whether FINNEAS or some of her favorite musicians likePhoebe BridgersorTaylor Swiftshe wants it to be in person. A lot of energy gets lost in translation, notes the Rue singer. However, at this point, Marie enjoys working alone. With grace and honesty, just as she conveys in her music, Ulven says, right now Im not sure if Im in the right headspace for like duets and stuff, or like those types of collabs. But I definitely want to get there and be able to let someone in, like in that part of making a song. when it's other people writing and singing thats like something different.

With three singles already out forif i could make it go quiet, girl in red is gearing up for the debut of her first studio album, and quite frankly at this point in time, this feels like the next natural step in her musical progression. Ive been working on this album for a long time now, and it couldnt come out sooner in my opinion, Im just really really stoked for it to come out because I think its like my best work so far, Marie ecstatically affirms.

For Ulven, when listeners take in the new album, she wants fans to exhume their own experiences from her feelings that are spun into melodic stories.if i could make it go quietis a body of work that demonstrates that Marie has grown as a musician.

WATCH MORE: 5 Surprising Facts About Taylor Swift

The name of the album comes from lyrics on one of the upcoming tracks. I just feel like its such a statement sentence because its like if I could make it go quiet but then its like this album full of stuff, and things and things I want to say, muses girl in red. She continues to tell us, that the last track on the LP, which is called it would feel like this, serves as an answer to her big initial declaration, if i could make it go quiet.

girl in reds debut album arrives everywhere on April 30th.

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Read more:

girl in red's 'Serotonin' is a beautifully bold introduction to the artist's unapologetic candor - RADIO.COM

Im a huge fan of driving games, especially if they arent taking themselves too seriously. I cant get on with ultra realistic racers, but those which fall on the arcade side of the genre normally hit the right note. With this in mind, Burnout Revenge took a step back from the racing, and explored the idea of using your car as a weapon, taking out your opponents in a wide manner of stylish and cinematic ways.

I thought this was a great idea, which thankfully had no realistic consequences for the driver inside. What it did provide is plenty of opportunities to pull off some insane moves, usually ending in one or more cars getting smashed to pieces. You could compete in lap races too, however the focus of Burnout Revenge was firmly rooted in aggravating other drivers and doing whatever you can to take each other out. You might say it was a very extreme example of road rage.

A couple of personal favourites were the Eliminator and Crash modes. The first saw you take part in a race, however every 30 seconds the player in last place exploded until the last man was left standing. The latter had you attempting to orchestrate the worst crash possible at a busy junction, by driving straight into it to trigger an epic chain reaction. With your final breath, you could detonate your car to try and keep the carnage flowing by causing more unsuspecting drivers to crash around you, otherwise known as a crashbreaker. Earning crash dollars relative to how much chaos you caused was the name of the game here. This mode was so much fun to play, and felt different from anything else, tasking you with combining strategy and destruction.

However, what made Burnout Revenge truly special was the ability to create rivals during your race. Instead of you just randomly performing takedowns on whoever you could (which was still very fun), this feature allowed you to focus on a particular opponent (usually one who had just caused you to crash horrifically). Successfully striking back against this rival was known as a revenge takedown; the games hook, and cleverly created a feeling of elevated AI with certain racers targeting you in particular.

Despite the main aim of Burnout Revenge being to cause as much destruction as possible, the single player campaign offered some structure in the form of the world tour mode. You were tasked with upping your revenge rank by competing in a whole host of events taking place across the globe. During this you were able to experiment with all sorts of different cars as you smashed, bashed and crashed your way through numerous different scenarios.

Burnout Revenge offered something quite unlike anything else at the time. The hybrid gameplay of racing and combat worked surprisingly well, and taking out a rival always felt satisfying. Not long after its original release in 2005, the game was given a makeover for the Xbox 360, dropping in March 2006, featuring a much more comprehensive online mode, including the ability to show off your moves by uploading in-game clips to Xbox Live.

However, despite how well the game was received there has only been one proper sequel in the last 20 years. This was Burnout Paradise, which was also remastered only a few years ago in 2018. This saw the series move to a more open world format, with a focus on exploration as opposed to taking on a pre-set series of races and events.

Burnout Revenge is well worth a revisit as it blazed the trail for combat-based racing without the fancy items, instead proving that your car can be the most deadly weapon of all. Its flashy effects provided the wow factor and events were perfect for shorter play sessions, instead of you having to tackle a huge open world (which was no bad thing). The good news is that Burnout Revenge is on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S backwards compatibility list, available on the Xbox Store. So theres really no reason not to go and check it out, especially if youre partial to causing a bit of carnage.

Here is the original post:

Looking Back to 2006 with Xbox 360's Burnout Revenge - This Time It's Personal - TheXboxHub

Directed by Don Hall and Carlos Lpez Estrada and from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Raya and the Last Dragon travels into a world where everything once lived in harmony before an evil force fractured and divided humanity. That same evil force sends Raya on an epic journey five hundred years later, with the hope of finding the last dragon and restoring all of the life that had been lost.

During a virtual press conference to discuss all things Raya and the Last Dragon, co-stars Kelly Marie Tran (Raya), Awkwafina (Sisu), Daniel Dae Kim (Benja), Gemma Chan (Namaari), and Sandra Oh (Virana) talked about making this movie from home during a pandemic, pulling off the comradery of the story when they couldnt be together, why audiences can identify with these characters, the father-daughter dynamic between Raya and Benja, finding Sisu, and the importance of this film at a time when there has been a rise in attacks against Asian Americans.

Question: Because of COVID, you made this movie from home, which is unbelievable for a Disney production of this quality and this magnitude. What was that like to do?

DANIEL DAE KIM: It was really great, actually. I love the character a lot. Hes someone that I aspire to be. Its nice when you can really take a lot of pride in the person that youre playing. It was amazing, actually being able to record from home. Living in Hawaii, any time I travel to go shoot something, its at least five hours, eleven by plane. So, to be able to walk downstairs in my t-shirt and shorts was pretty great. Although, I will have to say that it wasnt without hiccups. In one of my very first sessions from home, most of his dialogue, where hes talking about Kumandra and establishing a relationship with Raya, went missing. We had put in a good hour and we did some great stuff. At the end of the hour, we were supposed to upload our packets to Team Disney, and as I was uploading my packet, I realized that I had recorded none of that past hour. Thats what happens when you leave the recording and the technical stuff to the actors. So, we lost that hour, but I learned my lesson. It was hassle-free, the rest of the way.

How did you manage to pull off the comradery of this story, when you couldnt be together?

KELLY MARIE TRAN: Honestly, I feel like all the credit has to go to the story team, the editing team, and all of the incredible teams behind the movie. All of the actors, at least in my experience, were isolated and we were recording by ourselves. To see the movie now, totally finished, and to see all of the chemistry that these incredible characters have, that says a lot about the expertise of Disney animation and the incredible talent working behind this movie, and also about the cast. It was an incredible experience.

What was it like to see the details of the culture in this?

AWKWAFINA: Im gonna be honest, I saw the first clip that was put together at D23 and I was a little confused because I was like, Is this a live-action movie? Let me get my agent on the phone. It looked so realistic, with the rain and everything. But then, you realize all that really goes into this. Were recording simultaneously, as its being animated. When I first saw the human version of Sisu, I was like, Okay, all right, thats me. That looks like me. Those nuances are very, very trippy and very, very mind-blowing.

Sandra and Gemma, what aspects of your roles do you really want audiences to take away, especially when it comes to Southeast Asian cultures?

SANDRA OH: Im not gonna really speak about the Southeast Asian culture. I dont think that I really can. But I would say what I appreciate about Fang and our characters is that theyre complex. Theres no black and white in these characters, which I greatly appreciated. I was extremely moved by the message of this film because I feel myself struggling to learn how to trust, as well. So, to play a section of the film where it seems we are antagonists, or the people who are struggling to take power, I feel like the storytelling and the characters, particularly with Gemmas character, Namaari, has a very nuanced and more complex look at things, which is where I feel like we need to bring storytelling anyway, for a more nuanced point of view. I was really happy to be a part of that.

GEMMA CHAN: Yeah, for sure. One of the things that really drew me to this story and resonated with me is the fact that Namaari is the antagonist, but shes not a clear-cut villain. Its not black and white. I find that really interesting. She and Raya are also two sides of the same coin. You could imagine them having each others upbringing and easily taking each others place. So, similarly to Sandra, I feel like our world is complex and the problems of the world are only gonna start to begin to be solved, if we all work together. The lack of trust and the division is a huge problem. You can also understand why the people of Fang are trying to protect themselves. You can understand why we have elements in society that want to protect their own self-interests. I think these are really complex themes to explore in a family film and I applaud the storytellers for tackling this. It couldnt have come at a more timely moment, when we are in the position were in, in the world right now. Im so happy and proud to be a part of this film . . . And when I found out that Sandra was voicing my mom, everything clicked into place. I was like, Thats my Namaari. Shes got so much to prove. It all just fell into place for me. I was so happy.

Kelly and Gemma, how did you approach your characters, so that we could understand why they both feel very strongly that theyre right?

CHAN: I love the fact that they have this love/hate dynamic, but at their core, they have so much in common. I love the fact that Namaari has this real aggressive exterior, but underneath it all, shes got this huge heart and this real love for dragons thats been there since childhood. I love that first scene where she locks eyes with Sisu and everything just falls away. Its as if shes become a child again. I love that, and that was my way into her, really. Weve all had those people in our lives that we have a love-hate relationship with, and I think its such a fine line. I love the fact that Namaari and Raya have had that connection since childhood and theyre rivals, but they also have a lot in common.

TRAN: I absolutely agree. I think setting up these characters as kids and seeing how authentically they connect at a young age, and then cutting forward and seeing the way that theyve been divided, is really incredible. Theres the idea that we have these two characters that could have switched places, at some point. I think about my life and when things like that have happened to me and how difficult it is to get out of your own biases when youre looking at someone who you see as an enemy, and then how, by the end of the story, Raya and Namaari are suddenly willing to step outside of themselves. They risk everything for this idea of community and this idea of what their relationship could have been this entire time. Its really, really inspiring. Its something that I want to do in my own life. Their relationship in this movie is probably one of my favorites, just because of how complicated it is. And Im just a big Gemma fan girl over here.

CHAN: Its absolutely mutual. It shows how when were young, as children, we dont inherently hate each other. Its something thats learned. Its something that comes through, whether its from a parental or family influence, or from your particular tribe. Those things are learned. Thats something to take from the movie. Those things can be learned, but they can be unlearned, as well.

Awkwafina, Sisu has some Robin Williams as Genie vibes in this. How did you find Sisus voice?

AWKWAFINA: Wow, thank you for that comparison. Its very flattering, obviously. I was obsessed with Genie. Hes one of my favorite characters from my childhood, and therefore, there maybe was this subconscious thing. I think the real beauty here is that when I was approached to play Sisu and heard about what her vibe was, I was given a chance to add my own voice to it and simultaneously build her up with the directors, who were always more than willing to explore and play. She was really born out of that process. But theyre both definitely big and blue. Thats definitely a thing. Those are really big shoes to fill. The really cool thing about Sisu is that she was part my voice too.

Kelly and Daniel, how did you create your father-daughter relationship?

TRAN: I think we met once at an Amplify event for a second, but we hadnt really interacted that much. Awkwafina and I had met at an event for a couple seconds. Now, Im getting to know them both better over Zoom. Benja and Raya and their relationship, for me, is reminiscent of my relationship with my own father. Just with the idea of reverence for your elders and how important family is, he bestows all of those really incredible ideas upon Raya at such a young age. I cried in so many scenes with Benja I love their relationship, and I think Daniel Dae Kim is just the best. Im also a huge fan girl of Daniel Dae Kim.

KIM: I really give a lot of credit to (co-directors) Don [Hall] and Carlos [Lpez Estrada], and the producing team. The pitfall of this character is that he could be just a stentorian orator, or the politician who is the king thats gonna dictate the way everything is. But they kept pushing me to have a really intimate, loving relationship with my daughter, which really triggered something different in me. It really led to finding that relationship. And the second thing is that I know Kelly. We met briefly and Id followed what was going on with her in the news and I knew what shes about. All of those things were the characteristics that I could relate to and connect to. And so, it was not just about our roles as characters, but also knowing who she is, as a person, and feeling like I could connect to that personally. And then, when I saw the scenes between the two of us, I really thought that connection came through, even though we never actually were in the booth together. Its a real testament to her performance.

What does it feel like to be able to represent the Asian community in this film and in the entertainment industry?

OH: It was difficult because we made this in COVID times. Also, with how animation is made, you dont get to meet everyone. All of the directors do. Its really seeing how animation has moved on. For someone like myself, growing up in the 70s and the 80s, I didnt see anything and it has been that same way, representation wise, for a very long time. Im actually just glad that Im still alive to be a part of this type of thing. In that way, its very exciting. Its an exhilarating change for someone like myself to be a part of and to witness.

Whats it like to have this film come out, at a time when Asians and Asian Americans are being targeted and attacked? What do you hope audiences will take away from this?

OH: I was extremely moved by the theme and the ending of the story, which ultimately is about trust and how I, myself, am struggling with that. Art is here to pose questions and to potentially suggest possibility. Even if we start with that question, to see in ones self, Who do I trust? How am I not trusting? Can I trust? Can I trust that other side? Can I trust them when it seems to be proof positive that this is what has been done to me? The theme of the story is that we cannot go on as a society and the world cannot continue without open-heartedness. The truth Raya and Namaari learn is that you have to be willing to have your heart broken, again and again and again, just to keep it open. We know hate is not finished by hate. It is only won over by love. Individually, and then hopefully as a community and society, we have to move towards that way because all of us are in the same boat. Its a beautiful opportunity. If one can see 2020, in all its destructiveness and change, as an opportunity that somehow has also broken all of our hearts open, what can we do with that?

KIM: We also cant undervalue the power of the fact that this is a Disney movie and the people that will be watching this movie will, by and large, be families who are seeing this kind of representation and understanding what is possible. Im also thinking about all the children who will be seeing Raya for the first time and seeing a strong Asian female who kicks ass and becomes a queen. Shes on the path to becoming a ruler and shes being groomed by her father to do that in a loving relationship. All of these things are such a positive portrayal. Its exposure that brings understanding, and that understanding is what changes perception. What this movie does, on the scale of those things, cannot be underestimated.

TRAN: Theres a moment with Raya, towards the end of the movie, where she gets to feel justifiably and absolutely unapologetically angry. For me, seeing a young woman in a movie like this just get to feel that righteous anger, and then recognizing that the thing that pulls her out of it is seeing her friends and how theyre helping other people feels so real to me. I dont wanna speak for everyone, but I can say seeing these attacks happening, over and over and over, consistently, you do get to that place sometimes where you feel like, This is a very broken world and Im feeling a lot of things right now. That moment felt so grounded in reality. Acknowledging that theres a lot of pain that happens there and recognizing that, the only way to really get through it is to look for the bits of hope in your community. I see so much hope on and Im grateful to be making a movie with these characters who are also trying to fight for a world that feels impossible and hopeless sometimes.

CHAN: Were talking about everything thats going on at the moment and its easy to feel overwhelmed with hopelessness and anger, but where I get my hope from is that there are helpers. There are people that have been helping and I wanna shout out all of the grassroots organizations and individuals that have been doing the hard work on the ground for a long time and that maybe are not getting the airtime or the attention that they should. Now, it feels like there is this moment to spotlight their work because theyre already building these cross-community alliances that we need. I feel so grateful that theyre there, doing the hard work on the ground. Weve all got our part to play. As storytellers, we put out our film, which I hope has a message that resonates. And then, we also have amazing people within our communities who are doing that work today, so I just want to shout them out.

Raya and the Last Dragon is in theaters and available to stream at Disney+ Premier Access.

Hopefully, this is now the final, official time to die.

Christina Radish is a Senior Reporter at Collider. Having worked at Collider for over a decade (since 2009), her primary focus is on film and television interviews with talent both in front of and behind the camera. She is a theme park fanatic, which has lead to covering various land and ride openings, and a huge music fan, for which she judges life by the time before Pearl Jam and the time after. She is also a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association.

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Raya and the Last Dragon Cast on the Movie's Messages and Filming Remotely - Collider

After WandaVision, there are now three versions of Paul Bettany's Vision that have existed in the MCU. Here's how they're different from each other.

After WandaVision, there have now been three incarnations of the Vision in the MCU, each played by Paul Bettany. In both the comics and the MCU, Vision is a major player in stories related to the Avengers. During the 1960s and 1970s, Vision was arguably the teams most important member, as he even served as the face of the group and was a constant on the roster across numerous line-up changes.

In the comic books, Vision is a snythezoid created by Ultron from the android body of the original Human Torch and the brain patterns of the superhero Wonder Man. After turning on his creator, Vision became a mainstay of the team and developed a romantic relationship with his mutant teammate, Scarlet Witch. The Android Avenger was brought to life on the big screen for the first time in 2014s Avengers: Age of Ultron. He returned for key roles in Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, where he met an unfortunate end.

Related: Why Mephisto Wasn't In WandaVision's Finale

The first TV show to be made by Marvel Studios, WandaVision, brought the iconic Avenger back to the MCU for a story that made his return a nine-episode mystery. This was fully explained in the final minutes of the second-to-last episode. Plus, WandaVision introduced a new take on the hero that was inspired by his role in the West Coast Avengers comic from the 1980s. In total, three versions of Vision have existed in the MCU, and each has key differences from the others. Heres whats important to know about all three Visions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Vision that appeared in Age of Ultron, Civil War, and Infinity Warhas an origin story that differs a bit from the one that the comics gave him, but the essence of who he is as a character isnt far off. Though he wasnt made from two existing superheroes like his comic counterpart, the MCUs Vision shares with him the concept of a hero born from the combination of multiple elements. Vision was constructed with vibranium by Ultron, who sought to make an indestructible body for himself. He also implanted the Mind Stone into Visions head, which would grant him superpowers once activated. His plan didnt work out the way he intended, though, as the body was seized by Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) and the Avengers. Believing that Vision could be the key to taking down Ultron, Tony Stark decided to bring the snythezoid online by uploading his A.I., JARVIS, into his systems. Captain America (Chris Evans) arrived and tried to stop Iron Man from implementing his Vision plan, but Thor (Chris Hemsworth) settled the matter by shooting lightning through the device that held the synthezoids body. As a result, Vision was born in a moment mimicking Frankenstein's Monster being hit with the spark of life.

Vision was indeed a remarkable being who possessed the ability to think, feel, and even lift Mjolnir, Thor's hammer, itself, whether it be because he was considered worthy of its power or for some other reason. Either way, he was treated like an equal by the Avengers, who eventually welcomed him onto the team. Vision remained with them until he became a casualty of Thanos hunt for the Infinity Stones in Infinity War. Since he wasnt killed by the snap, he remained dead while most of the dead heroes were revived in Avengers: Endgame.

At the beginning of WandaVision, Wanda was seen living a happy and blissful life in the suburbs with Vision, but it quickly became clear that not all was as it seemed. After all, audiences knew that Vision had died in Infinity War. For this reason, it was presumed that though Vision seemed to have all the powers and personality traits of the character from his previous MCU appearances, he was created by Wandas reality-warping abilities. This was confirmed to be the case in WandaVision episode 8, which used flashbacks to explain where Wandas powers actually came from and how she created her fake world in Westview. The show revealed that in her grief, shesubconsciously manifested Vision out of thin air, rather than stealing his corpse from SWORD like Hayward (Josh Stamberg) had falsely accused her of doing. That explains why Vision was unable to leave the Hex that surrounded Westview. Since this Vision was never real beyond the Hex, he couldnt exist outside Scarlet Witchs magical fantasy. In the season finale, Wanda further explained what this Vision actually is. According to her, he comes from the power of the Mind Stone. A piece of it remained within her when her abilities were awakened. Now that the Hex has fallen apart, theconstructed Vision has disappeared for good.

Related: WandaVision Ending Explained: Biggest Reveals & MCU Future Setup

The third version of the character is the White Vision, who was made from the originals body. After acquiring his corpse, SWORD tried to bring him back to life but had no luck with it until Scarlet Witch shot down one of their drones. The residual Chaos Magic on the drone was then used by SWORD scientists to reactivate Vision. What separates him from what he was before is that he only follows his programming, and not his conscience. He has no memories yet and so he's like a factory-reset phone or new computer.

An explanation for that can be found in his comic origin. In West Coast Avengers, White Vision was built by Hank Pym after the original was dismantled by the government. The fundamental difference between the two is that he lacks the capacity for emotions, meaning that he bears no love for his wife, Scarlet Witch. The change was reflected by his colorless appearance. The blame for this can be laid at the feet of Wonder Man, who refused to let his brain patterns be copied again. It was his brain patterns that gave Vision a human personality. Without them, he was just a highly-functioning AI in a snythezoid body. In the MCU, the equivalent of Wonder Mans brain patterns is the Mind Stone, so it makes sense that without it, he cant have the emotions of the original hero. This was discussed during the conversation between the two Visions, with Westviews version pointing out that neither of them could be the true Vision.

Ultimately, White Vision had his memories of his past restored by Westview Vision, who wanted to grant Wanda - and his original self - one last gift before being unmade. Since White Vision flew away and didnt return after having his memories restored, there are lingering questions about who he will be now. Having his memories back doesnt necessarily mean the original Vision is back, considering that he still doesnt have the Mind Stone. It could be that he'll be similar to the White Vision from the comicsasa force for good in the world, but still not the person that Wanda loved or at least, not yet.

More: What Is The Darkhold? WandaVision's Book Of The Damned Explained

How Armor Wars Could Bring Back Every (Living) Iron Man Villain

Nicholas Raymond is a staff movies & TV features writer for Screen Rant. He has a degree in journalism from the University of Montevallo, and is the author of the psychological thriller and time travel novel, "A Man Against the World." Nicholas' love for telling stories is inspired by his love for film noir, westerns, superhero movies, classic films, and ancient history. His favorite actors are Tyrone Power and Eleanor Parker. He can be reached by email at cnrmail@bellsouth.net and on Twitter at @cnraymond91.

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The MCU's 3 Versions Of Vision Explained | Screen Rant - Screen Rant

Born on the heels of a tragedy in Avengers: Age of Ultron, it took Vision six years to become the hero that he was always meant to be.

Years after his birth in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Vision finally becomes the hero he was meant to be in WandaVision. Technically a player in the MCU since its inception in 2008's Iron Man, Vision was originallyTony Stark's A.I. assistant J.A.R.V.I.S. The AI helped him in managing his household by running its automation, and later served the same purpose duringTony's outings as Iron Man. Following Ultron's creation, however, he was reborn as a synthezoid, powered by the Mind Stone with his body composed of Vibranium and synthetic tissue made from Dr. Helen Cho's regeneration cradle.

Vision's arrival in the MCU came at a point when the franchise was debuting a series of new heroes following the introduction of the original Avengers. Age of Ultron also brought in Wanda and Pietro Maximoff as Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Alongside Falcon and War Machine, the synthezoid was expected to be part of the new batch of Avengers; Iron Man and Hawkeye had retired, while Hulk and Thor went on their own journeys. However, Marvel Studioswent in a different direction withThanos' arrival in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Since the Infinity Saga capper was the final hurrah for the MCU's founding heroes, the focus was back on the original Avengers until the franchise started a new chapter with Phase 4 and WandaVision.

Related:WandaVision Corrects The MCU's First Comic Book Change

Both Wanda and Vision have been in the MCU for years now, but WandaVision was the first time they were really at the center of its storytelling. Much like how the Disney+ series functioned as the origins story forWanda officially becoming the Scarlet Witch, her lover also had his hero moment in the show, particularly in the finale. Granted that it's more subtle, it seemed like this was Marvel Studios' way of finally delivering on their promise of an omnipotent superhero when Vision debuted in Age of Ultron,as he finally embraced his real identity.

As someone who was in the shadows for the most part of WandaVision, Vision simply went through the motions of his wife's suburbia fantasy. But after several incidents tipping him off that not everything was what it seemed in Westview, he went on a journey to solve the mystery. He learned about his pastbefore living in the hex something that Wanda may have purposefully spared him so thathe wouldn't be haunted byhis tragic death in Infinity War. Vision's encounter with Darcy Lewis wasn't just helpful for him personally it was also pivotal when he found himself pitted against a different version of himself. He used that newly acquired knowledge to unlock White Vision's memories, resulting inthe latter declaring"I am Vision."

This paralleled Tony Stark's iconic "I am Iron Man" line from the original Iron Man movie. Prior to this, Tony was instructed to not announce his superhero persona to the public, but at the very last minute, he decided against it, indicating that he was embracing this identity. Aside from admitting the existence of his alter-ego,the moment wasalso his way of committing to the responsibilities that he had as Iron Man. White Vision's declaration signaled how he's finally found his true self after a brief period of identity confusion.

When Vision was confirmed to debut on the MCU, there was a lot of excitement from comic book readers who knew his character history. Aside fromhaving one of the most unique origins, he's also very powerful, with a really impressive set of skills. However, given the plethora of characters featured in the MCU,Vision's abilities were barely explored after being teased at Age of Ultron. Even when he was tipped to be a member of the second batch of Avengers, he never really went out on missions at least nothing that's seen on the screen. He wasn't part ofthe team's Lagos operation at the start of Captain America: Civil War, and since the Avengers split up not long after that, he never got a chance to operate like a proper hero.

Related:The MCU's 3 Versions Of Vision Explained

By Infinity War, he was more than willing to hide his identity to secretly meet-up with Wanda who was being hunted down by the government alongside other members of Team Cap due to their refusal to sign the Sokovia Accords. At this point, both of them seemed to be perfectly content living a normal life. It was really only in the WandaVision finale that he's seenusing the extent of his powerssinceAge of Ultron. Granted that he did battle some Black Order members in Infinity War, there's really nothing much that he could do since he also had to be cautious of using the Mind Stone.

Vision's makeup in the MCU is complicated. Whilehis physical form is a combination of vibranium and synthetic tissue, his mind "is made up of a complex construct of overlays. J.A.R.V.I.S., Ultron, Tony, me, the stone. All of them mixed together, all of them learning from one another,"according to Bruce Banner. But despite being an amalgamation of several things, Tony Stark is the real creator of Vision. Aside from spearheading the idea of uploading the J.A.R.V.I.S. AI to what was supposed to be Ultron's physical body, it's the genius, billionaire who created the A.I. in the first place. So the J.A.R.V.I.S. component inside Vision is technically an extension of Tony, making him the dominant part of Vision's intellectual structure. Given this,it only made sense that he embraced his heroic identity that the same way Iron Man did more than a decade ago.

What's interesting is how this relates toWanda's arc in the MCU; she and Pietro blamed Tony for the death of theirparents something that wasn't properly resolved in the MCU considering other pressing matters that needed to be dealt with. But as Wanda resented Tony for what she lost, he, in some way, made up for it by first creating J.A.R.V.I.S. who turned into Vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron. WandaVision may have seen the lovers part ways again, but with white Vision with his memories intact still in existence, chances are that they'll find theirway back to each other again in the foreseeable future.

More:Tony Starks Endgame Death Accidentally Proved An Iron Man Line Right

Voyagers Trailer: Colin Farrell Leads A Chaotic Space Mission

Accidental geek who is perpetually curious, Ana rekindled her love for writing several years back and married it with everything pop culture. The result is a passionate young writer who could ramble (and of course, pen) about films and series multiple hours a day. She has a soft spot for The Lion King, old songs, and home design; is currently obsessed with old sitcoms (The Golden Girls!); and won't dare watch any horror films although shes (ironically) dying to see one. Though a bit late to the party and was an actual Force non-believer, she now finds the Star Wars franchise quite fascinating (fun fact: it was a crazy Jar Jar Binks/Sith theory that drew her in).

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Vision Finally Became The Hero Age of Ultron Teased | Screen Rant - Screen Rant

Rumours that SoundCloud would become the first big music streaming service to adopt user-centric payouts were correct. The company has just announced plans for what its calling fan-powered royalties.

The system wont apply to the entire catalogue of music that is available on SoundCloud, but just to the tracks uploaded by independent artists directly to the platform: specifically the nearly 100,000 who use the companys SoundCloud Premier, Repost by SoundCloud or Repost Select features.

The switch will happen on 1 April 2021, and SoundCloud has launched a website explaining how the new system will work, and encouraging artists to tell your fans about it to drive listening (and thus royalties) once its up and running.

The site includes some examples modelling out how the new system will work. One independent artist called Vincent, with 124,000 followers on SoundCloud, is cited as earning $120 a month under the existing pro-rata model of streaming royalties, but the company says this could increase to $600 a month under the new system.

Another artist, Chevy, with 12,700 followers, stands to earn 217% more per month according to SoundCloud, although dollar amounts are not provided in this case.

The site also explains some of the all-important details of how fan-powered royalties will be calculated. The royalties will depend on how much a fan listens to an artist relative to all of their listening time in a given month, but also how many advertisements the fan has consumed and whether they are paying for a SoundCloud Go+ subscription the services premium tier.

There are some interesting unanswered (for now) questions about the new model: for example, whether its being used for recordings only, or both recordings and publishing royalties. Also about how it intersects with SoundClouds licensing deals with labels, since a SoundCloud Go+ subscriber may be listening to a mixture of independent and label-signed artists.

The significance of todays news should not be overhyped. In 2019, the most recent year for which it has published financial results, SoundCloud generated 99.5m from its listener business ads shown to and subscriptions paid for by consumers, as opposed to its creator business selling subscriptions to musicians and other audio creators. The service has grown since then, but its important to keep the size of its royalties pool in mind before getting overexcited about that pool being divided in a new way.

Still, its a very interesting move from SoundCloud, which can unilaterally launch a user-centric system in a way that Deezer, Spotify and other major streaming services cannot, because it has that community of artists uploading and making money directly from its service.

If you want to dive deeper into the user-centric topic, weve got plenty to read in our archives. Heres our primer on what the model is and how it works, for example, and heres our report on the latest study of user-centrics potential impact, which was conducted in France.

User-centric payouts have also been a key topic in the UK parliamentary inquiry into the economics of music streaming. SoundClouds Raoul Chatterjee offered a cautious curiously so, given that it was only a couple of weeks before the launch of fan-powered royalties assessment of the model.

Its definitely an interesting area, and as an artist-first platform were always looking for ways to make payouts to artists fairer, he said. But the whole investigation into user-centric is a very detailed and complex investigation that needs to be taken. Its one potential path were exploring and it would require industry-wide conversations and support to be impactful.

The three major labels offered mixed views on user-centrics potential in their most recent submissions to the inquiry, but in a session featuring representatives from Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music, all three DSPs indicated a willingness to explore the model but also stressed the need for wider industry backing.

Meanwhile, a recent episode of our Music Ally TV Show asked Deezer why it has struggled to get a user-centric pilot off the ground in France, and heard from the company about why it still thinks the model could be beneficial.

Stuart Dredge

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