The recently released movie with Jonny Depp – “Transcendence”, was based around a brilliant idea. Encoding the content of the human brain into machines, in order to create artificial intelligence. The idea is powerful, interesting, relevant and captivating. Yet, the execution was rather exaggerated – from implications to inevitable “end of the world”, to wars between humans and machines and of course the romance element (as all Hollywood films would have it).
I’m not a qualified movie critic, but couldn’t help but feel distracted from the idea that got me so excited about watching this film in the first place. I wondered what this movie could have been like if it was made by some festival film director, who would have nurtured and built on the core idea more. How did they manage to encode the whole content of the human brain into a computer (with current technology, this task would require a computer the size of entire New York city)? What would this mean for humanity (now let’s dig a bit deeper, beyond the “doom and gloom” of the predicted rise of the machines)? Would it make us immortal, or offer a rather uneventful existence – equivalent of being on an interactive life support? While movies are certainly a matter of personal taste, when the core idea is so big and profound surely it doesn’t require so many deviations in the story line.
What lessons can companies take from this? How many times have we witnessed companies try to “improve” their products or campaigns, by adding additional elements that ultimately distract customers from what they originally did best? While extra features or campaign diversification may appear to offer more value, sometimes keeping the focus on a single-minded idea or a core benefit of the company can be far more powerful than taking “the more the better” approach.
Written by:
Lana Bruskina – Strategy and Insight Manager
For further information on THINK Global Research, please contact Kristy Ihle (Managing Director) at info@thinkglobalresearch.com.
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