It is my assumption that the creation of a true AI will more or less come hand in hand with our own post-humanism. As you say, man vs machine would be a collaboration, rather than a conflict.

Perhaps it is a naive sentiment of mine to assume that in order to develop advanced and potentially ruinous technology we, in the development process or by virtue of its creation, advance ourselves to the point where we can mostly avoid destroying ourselves. mostly. Hey! The Bomb has worked out fine! so far.

The CV/AI (computer vision/artificial intelligence, I assume) challenge is certainly the more interesting part of this competition. The trouble I have with many man vs machine competitions is that it's often possible to design a robot that focuses on just one specific aspect of the game that it can do so well that it renders complex CV/AI work obsolete. Robots can often win in uninteresting ways that make the competition boring to watch. And humans can often exploit AI flaws or physical limitations of the robot to claim victory in equally non-spectator friendly ways.

In ping pong, if a robot can position its paddle in the right place to return a ball at all, it should be able to return it so fast that a human couldn't stop it. Strength and speed are the easy part. At the very least, the robot is pulling its punches (or more likely, it was not designed to punch as hard as it could have).

The competition just seems staged as a result. My guess is that both the human player and the robot are purposefully playing in such a way to create the most interesting looking match, rather than playing in the way most likely to win.

Well, if it turns out to be a smart film (not getting up my hopes here), we might get a man vs. machine / free will vs. programming story which would be nice and an acceptable change from Jesus identity crisis Verhoeven did. However, nowadays action movies tend to be less smart if not done by Nolan.
And while I can dig black Robocop, I don't like the suit like look. Dude just seems to wear a helmet, 80's Robocop's face was attached onto a robotic head. Rob Bottin FTW!

>> ^campionidelmondo:
I think Transformers was about space robots defeating other space robots.

Yes. Robots aided by Americans. I also seem to recall our FBI or CIA or something being involved, as well as our military. Some scenes took place on Air Force One...

As for the other movies, they're all pre-Bush. The international perception of american patriotism has taken a turn for the worse thanks to Dubya.

Ah, people can still handle American patriotism. The hatred isn't as intense or as widespread as some people seem to think. Of course it's there, but not to the point where G.I. Joe would be largely unwelcome. I don't know for sure, of course, but because I'm an ESL tutor at my university, I know many international students (South Korean, Mexican, Canadian, British, German, Vietnamese, Haitian, Bulgarian, South African, Romanian, and more). I've also had a Mexican roommate and a Canadian roommate. I've talked to several of these close friends about the international opinion of the U.S. (not just their own opinions), and it doesn't seem all THAT bleak. I'm not basing my opinion solely on this, but it helps.

Also, while some movies might seem very american to you, they sell well abroad because they have an easily relateable theme. Matrix told the story of man vs. machine, Independence Day man vs. aliens, Armageddon man vs. giant rock etc...

Don't be silly. Almost ALL movies have an easily relatable theme. My point is that all of these movies happen to feature American Man vs. Global Threat. What is more annoyingly ethnocentric and American than that?

>> ^thepinky:
... Some of the most popular and internationally highest-grossing American movies of all time are not only very American (Gone with the Wind, Titanic, Forrest Gump) but pretty ethnocentric. Independence Day, Transformers, The Matrix, and Armageddon are all enormously popular movies overseas. And guess what? They're all about American heroes defeating international threats! What is UP with that?

I think Transformers was about space robots defeating other space robots. As for the other movies, they're all pre-Bush. The international perception of american patriotism has taken a turn for the worse thanks to Dubya.

Also, while some movies might seem very american to you, they sell well abroad because they have an easily relateable theme. Matrix told the story of man vs. machine, Independence Day man vs. aliens, Armageddon man vs. giant rock etc...

Why are we allowing robots to sift videos?! Have we learned nothing from the countless man vs. machine cautionary tales?!