• Replies 4 replies
  • Subscribers 29 subscribers
  • Views 62 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Ann Droid the TV show - somewhere to chat about it

Phased
HI all
What really stood out to me about the recent BBC TV comedy series Ann Droid is how much the robot character feels like an accidental metaphor for the autistic experience. Watching a character try to navigate the world by logically analyzing social rules, copying behaviors to fit in, and managing literal interpretations of language feels very familiar. And I admit I found that a little unsettling.
Underneath all, I experienced it as it's a really sharp social commentary about how growing old has become in our society.  Massive gaps in social support and the way techno fixes are being looked to to patch over an overstretched social care.  Also how family and informal social care networks are overstretched too for supporting their loved ones.
I am maybe overdoing my analysis, but I'd suggest that it manages to be a profound, dark critique of modern social isolation whilst still managing to maintain its warmth as a light comedy.
And in my opinion less "cringemaking" than some of Dianne Morgan's other work...
Oh and it made me laugh too!
thoughts and discussion good people?
Parents

  • I agree that Ann Droid made excellent social points about lack of care services which will worsen in the future, the dangers and positives of AI taking on this role and perhaps even performing care better than humans. It was also about relationships and what is perceived as 'duty' - is it a 'duty' to care for an elder family member or easier to palm it off on a machine on the grounds of '24 hour care'. Do some cynically perform duties in order to benefit from the old person's estate, not caring about the person. Will love become another cynical term for gratuitous sex, with some not bothering about old forms of dating and using robots in lieu of partners. Should kids be told the truth about the dangers posed by unlimited use of AI and the despoiling of the planet, or should it be sugar- coated, leaving them vulnerable through lack of knowledge from an early age.

    And yes, Ann Droid or Linda did appear to be a portrayal of autism, though it did not worry me. I found myself laughing at some of the faux pas I have made, misunderstanding situations, trying to be over-helpful and also being truthful when that was not wanted. 

    As a comedy it was brilliant and very well acted. I did find Diane's Philomena Cunk annoying at times, but the reaction of some of the experts was priceless so I would watch these again. As Ann Droid, Diane's deadpan face and mechanical movements were sustained really well and must have been very difficult to perform. I was not so keen on the son/daughter in law roles. I hope they commission another series!

  • in reply to Marianne72

    Thanks  

    Yep, automated care services - hmmm... a tech solution for health and social care.  I read today that new graduate jobs have gone down by half in the UK in the last year - with AI replacement being one reason given.  Which begs the how will society pay for itself if the workforce aren't being employed...  scary stuff bit I personally am trying to adopt a bit more of a "what will be will be" approach on a whole lot of stuff I can't personally influence as much as I'd really like to for preservation of personal sanity and well-being.  that said talking about the really horrid stuff is, at the very least, something one can do.

    If society is kept safe and happy by AI automation and robotics and it doesn't mess with people having a good chance of a happy and fulfilling life I'm OK with it.   Maybe this will free up time for "human to human social communication" but I suspect that a lot of that takes place when humans are physically caring for other humans as well so drop the practical need and the contact might disappear...  absence might make the heart grow fonder but out of sight and out of mind also... we'll see I suspect

    Reckon you're further on the journey of coming to terms with autism than me w/r/to the misunderstandings etc. hehe or maybe yours haven't been as big as mine!

    maybe i'll drop in on Cunk on TV again some other time - the bit with Prof Brian Cox I did enjoy tho' as (probably due to competitive jealously as my wife like him so much) I find him a right annoying know it all!  (ah Professor Alice Roberts tho' that's another matter... ) 

    On the subject of gratuitous sex and love, I will play a word trick on that if it's OK and side step it a bit - on the level of what perhaps crudely and inaccurately and inappropriately has been described as the oldest profession those sex robots in the programme are paid for - and no I don't think that on the whole that's a choice I'd make for society.  Respecting the rights of those who engage without compunction and might safely and healthily enjoy that job that is.  If that payment is also in the soul - well I think you may be right.

    that bit about truth telling to kids was really dark but yep spot on - and then there was the bit left hanging that she gave the kid some "magic" fudge to make up for it!!!!  (sugar coating of a really heavy duty variety...)

    I understand that a second series is "tipped to be in the offing"

    i remember the talking toaster and Kryten and Holly from "Red Dwarf", Marvin the paranoid android from Hitch-hikers guide and a whole lot of other fiction robots and artificial intelligences from fiction -  we're living in a world where that's increasingly close to reality and Ann Droid is uncannily close maybe...

Reply
  • in reply to Marianne72

    Thanks  

    Yep, automated care services - hmmm... a tech solution for health and social care.  I read today that new graduate jobs have gone down by half in the UK in the last year - with AI replacement being one reason given.  Which begs the how will society pay for itself if the workforce aren't being employed...  scary stuff bit I personally am trying to adopt a bit more of a "what will be will be" approach on a whole lot of stuff I can't personally influence as much as I'd really like to for preservation of personal sanity and well-being.  that said talking about the really horrid stuff is, at the very least, something one can do.

    If society is kept safe and happy by AI automation and robotics and it doesn't mess with people having a good chance of a happy and fulfilling life I'm OK with it.   Maybe this will free up time for "human to human social communication" but I suspect that a lot of that takes place when humans are physically caring for other humans as well so drop the practical need and the contact might disappear...  absence might make the heart grow fonder but out of sight and out of mind also... we'll see I suspect

    Reckon you're further on the journey of coming to terms with autism than me w/r/to the misunderstandings etc. hehe or maybe yours haven't been as big as mine!

    maybe i'll drop in on Cunk on TV again some other time - the bit with Prof Brian Cox I did enjoy tho' as (probably due to competitive jealously as my wife like him so much) I find him a right annoying know it all!  (ah Professor Alice Roberts tho' that's another matter... ) 

    On the subject of gratuitous sex and love, I will play a word trick on that if it's OK and side step it a bit - on the level of what perhaps crudely and inaccurately and inappropriately has been described as the oldest profession those sex robots in the programme are paid for - and no I don't think that on the whole that's a choice I'd make for society.  Respecting the rights of those who engage without compunction and might safely and healthily enjoy that job that is.  If that payment is also in the soul - well I think you may be right.

    that bit about truth telling to kids was really dark but yep spot on - and then there was the bit left hanging that she gave the kid some "magic" fudge to make up for it!!!!  (sugar coating of a really heavy duty variety...)

    I understand that a second series is "tipped to be in the offing"

    i remember the talking toaster and Kryten and Holly from "Red Dwarf", Marvin the paranoid android from Hitch-hikers guide and a whole lot of other fiction robots and artificial intelligences from fiction -  we're living in a world where that's increasingly close to reality and Ann Droid is uncannily close maybe...

Children
No Data