The Great Flood --- Can AI Be Truly Human?

A couple of days ago, I watched this new movie on Netflix called "The Great Flood". Well, the title made me curious because we just experienced the worst flood in our life so far which led us to move to our current place. I didn't know anything about the movie, so I thought it's the usual disaster film, but I was wrong.

WARNING: This post may contain spoilers...

IMAGE SOURCE

In the movie, the main character An Na lives in an apartment building with her son Ja-in. She's an AI researcher that focuses on training AI with human emotions or something along that line.

One day, it rained heavily which almost immediately flooded the first two floors of their apartment building. This caused people to panic and seek safety in the upper floors. An Na and her son had to evacuate fast as the water started to reach their floor.

IMAGE SOURCE

As the mother and son got separated amidst the chaos, they were brought back together and supported by a security officer named Hee-jo. At first, he was plainly helping them to get to the highest floor, but as tsunami came one after another... and as the waters rose one floor at a time, he revealed the real cause of the flood and the reason why it's crucial to save An Na and Ja-in.

I won't talk more about the story in case you want to watch it, but I'll be sharing my thoughts on it. If you want to avoid spoiler, you can skip it...

IMAGE SOURCE

As I've mentioned earlier in this post, I didn't have any idea or expectations regarding this movie. It was plain curiosity... but it actually turned out better than I expected.

The first part of the movie was a rollercoaster ride. It brings out various emotions towards what's happening in the film: worry, frustration, sadness, hope, anger, and so on. However, as secrets were revealed one after another, I got more into it than I already was.

The actual event that happened in the first part was heartbreaking and in some way mind-blowing. When they extracted the child's consciousness and memories away from the body and into a container of some sort, I was reminded of an old book I've read called Shadows by John Saul. The film's version was more modern and less gory, though. hahaha

IMAGE SOURCE

Sometimes, you don't need to share the same blood to be called a mother or a family. I like how the film emphasized on character growth especially the mother. An Na who was busy and didn't care much about the child grew into someone who actually does to the point of volunteering to use herself as the model for their research.

The first part tugged at my heartstrings, but the second part when all those simulations and tests happened, my brain activated even more. hahaha I like these kinds of films... it's like playing a game multiple times in order to achieve a certain goal regardless of failing many times.

I'm also a fan of parallel worlds, and I can liken the numerous simulations into several worlds which changed based on the person's decision in life.

The excitement I felt made me forget that the purpose of the simulation was kind of creepy and amazing at the same time. In this day and age, a lot of people use AI... some have even become dependent on it. It has affected people's lives both positively and negatively.

The thought of AI becoming truly human by developing an emotion engine is crazy. As a fan of Science, I'm curious and want to witness that... but when I think about it outside that field, I still don't know. It's still superficial and ingenuine.

The movie ended up becoming a thought-provoking one, which I enjoyed. The actors in the film were also really effective... the mother was amazing with her solid acting, and the kid was great at annoying the audience. hahaha

The setting was simple, but they're able to use it pretty well... and the effects weren't bad at all. All in all, it was a great watch. I clicked out of curiosity, and I'm glad I did.

I'll end this post here. Thanks for reading and see you around! (^^,)/