MovieChat Forums > Ex Machina (2015) Discussion > Nathan can program these impossibly adva...

Nathan can program these impossibly advanced AI creatures, but the security system is just key cards and readers?


Nathan can program these impossibly advanced AI creatures, but the security system is just key cards and readers?

Like, he couldn't code some intelligence in to the system to pop an alert "hey, someone, who is not you, was in your room last night while you were passed out drunk."

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He probably rushed some of his security protocols so he could go and bang one of them.

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I liked the idea behind this movie, but the one big drawback to it was the cliched mad scientist trope where it's some insanely genius and very wealthy recluse. I also don't get why Dumhall Gleeson keeps getting so much work. He's an equity actor right, but he gets cast like a SAG actor on steroids.

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Most people, especially rich ones don't install their own security system. Even if he could it's time consuming to familiarize yourself with it..even a genius won't be a security system expert in a day, especially if it's not in his area of interest.
Also, the place is in the middle of nowhere in a controllable environment like one visitor at a time.
Of course, it seems like he expected an escape attempt so he should have had a plan b...there was some genius arrogance there thinking he couldn't be outsmarted.
He thought he had control up until the antagonist said he already carried out his plan.

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i enjoy the movie overall but the key card garbage was just too obvious of a reason to "plot"

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I posted this before Covid had me working from home and it's even more ridiculous now.

When I log in remotely to work, there are at least 4 applications that give me some variation of the following.

You last logged in on mm/dd/yyyy at [time]
There have been (x) unsuccessful login attempts since your last login (if I put my password in wrong)

This has been a thing since I was using UNIX systems in college in the early 90s. This tech genius guy building ultra advanced AI doesn't have anything that gives him basic security notices? It's too much for me since it's so central to the plot. Just keycards. Ugh.

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i feel like the movie itself is full of great ideas, atmosphere, characters etc
but this was just lazy writing. they could've come up with some other brilliancy

oh well

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Nobody can program an advanced AI. You can possibly program something that could evolve into an advanced AI. So not that unlikely.

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Maybe program is the wrong word, but the fact remains that he can create humanoids worthy of the Turing test, but nothing to let him know someone, who was not him, was accessing his stuff. Seems too far a stretch.

Also, do you actually command clits?

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I hate when people try to bring down a great movie over such a trivial issue...

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So do I. It's a good thing this is not a trivial issue.

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Oh no, it definitely is.

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For me, once a movie goes to depict perfect humanoid robot indistingushable from human it jumped the shark and from now on anything goes. The movie became a "what if" story, or what I'd like to call a "conceptual" sci-fi. The depictions don't matter now, the only thing that's matter is the concept.

I mean, imagine a humanoid robot so perfect like in this movie. It opens a whole lot of cans of worms. Artificial muscle, artificial skin (that can sweat, no less!), artificial genitals, super duper battery power, micro-motors, living hair (even with all of today's technology, wigs always look dead) etc. If one can make a machine as complicated and advanced (and wireless!) as those robots, then everyday tech would not be the same anymore.

Helicopters can shape-shift, run on battery, the blades has artificial skin / fur on it so it can be silent, it may have eye-cameras all over the body, etc. Houses would be different. Couches may have artificial leather on them that can be hot or cold. Shower room would dry itself. Ridiculously advanced techs would be already available BEFORE we can have robots soooo perfect they're indistinguishable from humans.

Thus, since this movie depicts that. Everything remotely realistic went out the window. It's a conceptual mind experiment type of sci-fi now. Security cards won't bother me at this rate.

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Your post is very well said and is double edged for me.

On the one hand this is almost exactly my point - that before we have the perfect humanoid indistinguishable robot, there would be a lot intermediary and more useful advanced techs. Such as, instead of a card reader, an intelligent "Hal" style security that can assess more than just a keycard and sound an alarm for anything out of the ordinary.

On the other hand, I also agree with you that once it transitions to the impossible, then it's the concept of the event that matters rather than the depiction. At that point, it doesn't matter the mechanism by which he gained access, all that matters for the sake of the story is that he did get access. The details of exactly how he did don't much matter anymore.

It reminds me a lot of older movies where the fight scenes were so unrealistic. Two dudes swinging their fists in front of the others' face as they reel back from each hit, slugging it out until one finally gets knocked cold. No real fight looks like that, but the point is two dudes fought, one lost and one won. It tells a story, regardless of how true to life it may or may not be.

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Exactly! Old movie fight scenes were totally devoid of realism. One of the reasons I'm not fond of old movies, btw.

And I think depiction of humanoid robots indistinguishable from humans is also a tired trope already. Especially if, like in this movie, the movie was actually about A.I. and not robotics.

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