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As they say in Firefly Chinese, "Jian ta de gui!"

Director Tonie Hessen Schei focuses on the subject of technology, having previously explored digital media addiction among children in "Play Again" and dealt with automated weapon systems in "Drone". With her new film, "iHuman," she is all in on the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI, the hypothetical intelligence of a machine that has the capacity to understand or learn any intellectual task that a human being can.) The film's title denotes the blurring between human and machine intelligence.

At first I thought that this would be a good information documentary, though a bit light on production values, because early on it's just talking heads back and forth, but eventually "iHuman" picks up steam, until it evolves into a pretty frightening outlook on where we are heading as a civilization. 

Throughout the film, scientists wonder out loud if programming machines to think might turn out to be a problem. This reminds me of every sci-fi flick (see in particular the "Terminator" franchise - ed.) and especially the ones of the late 50's and early 60's, where man is faced with the grim realities of living in a world with nuclear weapons.

Without explicitly delving into politics, "iHuman" still manages to convey the notion that if a country isn't constantly pursuing the latest technology, they are doomed to falling behind. Nowhere is this clearer than with AI and AGI. America, going through a rejection of all things science-based, is projected as the big loser, with China the big winner. It's hard to come away from the film believing anything else.

Trump definitely was aided by the way his campaign and Russia helped him digitally. Sadly, Trump doesn't see the need to apply algorithms to assist America with things that would help the whole country instead of just him.

"iHuman" is disconcerting, to say the least. Whomever controls AI controls the future of power on the planet. If America continues down its current path, it will become the latest empire to crash and burn.