Academic

Artificial Intelligence academic – “How Smart Machines Think” (MIT Press, 2018) – Sean Gerrish interview

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Sean Gerrish is a software engineer and has worked as an engineer for Teza Technologies and as an engineering manager for machine learning and data science teams at Google. We spoke about his latest book on machine learning. Sean’s comments in this interview reflect his views and not necessarily those of his employers.

0:41 – Sean talks about how he got into studying machine learning.

2:26 – Sean talks about the book and how it’s broken down. He touches on self-driving cars, IBM’s Watson, and machines that can play Atari games and so on.

4:31 – Sean talks about the most difficult concepts for people to understand.

6:51 – Sean talks about what intelligence in machines is.

12:01 – Sean talks about machine learning and the future of robots that can think for themselves.

15:39 – Sean talks about the large amount of labor needed to create machines that learn.

18:53 – Sean talks about AI and the marketplace.

24:01 – Sean talks about how he did the research for the book.

28:46 – Sean talks about a problem he grappled with in the research.

32:02 – The book has a sci-fi related Easter egg.

39:16 – Sean can be found on twitter @seannyg, and he writes frequently on Quora.

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Sean Gerrish

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: Netflix, Watson, Atari, machine learning, intelligent machines, robots, bladerunner

 

Latin American horror movies – “The Migration and Politics of Monsters in Latin American Cinema” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) – Gabriel Eljaiek-Rodriguez interview

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Gabriel Eljaiek-Rodriguez teaches Spanish and Latin American studies at the New School in Atlanta, GA. We spoke about his latest book on the politics of Latin American horror films.

1:04 – Gabriel talks about how he got into studying horror and monstrosity. He discusses the kind of horror cinema that can be found in Colombia and which he was exposed to.

Colombians have always been interested in things from other cultures.

6:12 – Mexico is a powerhouse as far as producing entertainment in Latin America. Gabriel then talks about the book. He has studied the subtle politics behind horror films. He’s looked at movies from the 90s to 2017. He’s also looked at a range from Guillermo del Toro to more cult type films.

13:14 – He compares and contrasts monstrosity in film between Latin America and the US and Europe.

17:11 – Gabriel contrasts the influence of European and Asian immigrants to indigenous peoples on Latin horror films.

19:50 – Gabriel talks about Andean horror made most often in Peru and Bolivia.

23:43 – Gabriel talks about he approached the research for this book.

33:42 – Gabriel was surprised to see how political many Latin American horror films are.

46:44 – He has a page on Academia.edu. He’s also involved with a website that discusses Latin American Gothic. {Note – the website address is different from what Gabriel stated. It’s https://latinamericangothic.wordpress.com/}

 

Links of interest

https://latinamericangothic.wordpress.com/

https://gabrieleljaiekrodriguez.academia.edu/

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Gabriel Eljaiek-Rodriguez

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: horror, Colombia, Latin American film, Guillermo del Toro, Mexico, Buenos Aires, festivals, Vampires in Havana

Horror movie history – “Wasteland: The Great War and the Origins of Modern Horror” (Counterpoint, 2018) – W. Scott Poole interview

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Scott Poole is a professor of history in American pop and folk culture with a heavy emphasis on horror studies. We talked about his latest book that examines the effect World War One had on horror movies.

0:56 – Scot talks about how he got into studying horror.

2:58 – Scott talks about the book and how World War One changed horror literature and stories.

9:58 – Scott talks about directors and creators who delved into horror.

12:45 – Scott talks about how Franz Kafka is associated with horror.

16:03 – Scott talks about the occult, horror and the Great War.

22:57 – Scott talks about French author Celine’s affect on horror.

25:33 – Scott talks about the death of animals affected horror.

28:34 – Scott talks about how he found old horror films and war footage.

35:30 – Scott talks about comedy in early horror.

38:39 – Scott talks about the great emotional difficulty he had in writing this book.

43:11 – Scott talks about an interesting discovery he made about Bela Lugosi.

53:04 – Scott tweets @monstersamerica.

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Scott Poole

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: horror, movies, literature, Kafka, Lovecraft, Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi, World War One, The Great War, Celine, movie directors, Nazis, occult