HPlus discussion

[Ahriman238]

New sci-fi online video series that starts this Wednesday. Will be available through youtube and facebook.

In the none-too-distant future, a technology called H+ becomes available: a tiny chip easily inserted in the human brain, which allows mental access to the internet. However, shortly after the technology becomes truly widespread, a computer virus kills off 1/3 of the world's population, because they had the chip and were now susceptible to computer virii.

The story picks up from this event, showing the changes that come in the wake of this disaster, and the struggle between the creator of the H+ technology who wants to warn people of the dangers of this technology, and the company that still wants to sell it.





So is anybody else going to bother to watch the pilot/premier of this thing?

[jollyreaper]

If a third of humanity died off because of this thing then there wouldn't be enough of the inventor left to spread across toast.

[Grumman]

I'll watch the pilot, but I'm not expecting much. I've written about a similar technology in the past (a transhumanist "drug" called Gestalt), but my first impression here is that it's little more than a stand-in. Maybe it will exceed my expectations and H+ will be treated as more than a generic dangerous thing that is pushed by an evil corporation, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Ahriman238]

If a third of humanity died off because of this thing then there wouldn't be enough of the inventor left to spread across toast.

Possibly. But how many people will a.) know exactly who the inventor is and b.) hold him personally responsible for his creation being vulnerable to hacking? I mean, from the fragments and trailers it seems the inventor is well-known in IT circles, but that doesn't necessarily translate into general notoriety. If anything, I'd expect people to turn on the company that sells it, which is apparently still there.

Heck, how many people do you think would be involved in building, testing, and approving a neural interface technology before the first one was sold? I'm thinking at the very least the FDA would raise a massive stink.

I also find it mildly ironic that I was just reading about OA 'Knowsense' which is rather like the H+ tech, conceptually, for my thread there. I am cautiously optimistic about this webseries. I feel we could use more good (or even just half-decent) sci-fi entertainment.

[Grumman]

Well, I've watched the first two episodes. Total length: 9 minutes (and two minutes of credits).

Not enough yet to say what the series is going to be like, but exposition man irks me.

[Ahriman238]

Yeah, for some reason I'd assumed the episodes would be, if not tv length, at least 20-30 minutes. On another show, these two episodes would be the teaser.

Don't look now, but I think 'Exposition Man' is our protagonist, the inventor of the thing.

[Grumman]

Don't look now, but I think 'Exposition Man' is our protagonist, the inventor of the thing.

To be precise, it's not the character but how he was used that bugged me.
Spoiler

When it's an explicit plot point that the character isn't in contact with the outside world (as in, "Stay out of contact or you die"), he shouldn't be in a position to tell the others that it was a global attack.

[Ahriman238]

Spoiler

I assume that instead of watching people drop and putting the whole thing together in about half a second, this is something he knew and/or worried a lot about in advance. Or he has no freaking idea it's global, he's either naturally pessimistic or wants everybody to err on the side of caution because they will literally die the moment they leave the spot of zero reception.

It's going to be a long time before we get close to answers if they just give us 5-10 minutes of footage every week.





Assume from this point on there's no point in fussing over spoiler tags.

[Ahriman238]

4 updates this week, making maybe half an hour of footage for the series.

Will every video have a 1st person POV for the first minute? It's slightly distracting.









All the time-skipping around isn't helping either.

Does anyone know what language they're speaking in the last one?

[Ahriman238]

OK, a bit more. Am I the only one who thinks the Doc in the first is lying about not having the implant? Either that or he has some issues.

So we seem to have settled on four different plot threads. The cyber-cop and 'Prophetess' (which I'm guessing is her handle, if she's a hacker.) the parking garage moments after the die-off, the girl getting an implant, and the post-apocalypse world after.

I'm thinking the girl will be the vehicle for exploring what the implant can do, the cyber-cop plotline to help explain what went wrong, the other two for showing the fallout both in an immediate visceral way and in the years to come.

[Ultonius]

Does anyone know what language they're speaking in the last one?

I assume Italian, since that's where we're told it's set, and the characters have Italian names like Matteo and Giuseppe.

One thing I'm wondering about is why people are using gesture control. If I remember correctly, we already have brain-computer interfaces that can let you move a mouse by thinking about it, so why not use that instead of gesture control, which can be tiring if you use it for a long time. Additionally, using gesture control means that there isn't much advantage to having an implant over digital contact lenses, which should be as achievable with the same level of technology. Contact lenses would also be far safer, since if they get a virus the worst that can happen is that your vision is obscured until you remove them, whereas with the implant, as we've seen, a virus can kill you.

[Ahriman238]

I assume it's an affectation, as we've seen people do without or use their implants subtly (like the guy watching the game while driving) when finger-flicks would probably be a giveaway.

[Ahriman238]

Episodes 10-12 up.







Getting 15-20 minutes of plot development a week is really dragging out the mystery aspects of the series. The disjointed plot threads into several episodes isn't helping. Still, the threads are beginning to come together. I did like the long chilling shot of the dead.