Apr 21
Uptown Film Center at the Thalia New York, NY
TicketsJanna Levin
Cosmologist; Author; Professor of Physics, Barnard College
Her— What It Means to Be Human
Program Description
What happens when artificial intelligence learns to love, and evolve beyond us? Released in 2013, HER was strikingly ahead of its time, anticipating today’s world of AI companions, chatbots, and machine-mediated intimacy. Set in a near-future Los Angeles, the film follows a lonely writer who begins an intimate relationship with an advanced operating system designed to meet his every emotional need. As their bond deepens, the film turns questions of artificial intelligence, consciousness, and human-computer interaction into a moving meditation on how machine learning and emotional algorithms reshape what it means to be human.
Astrophysicist Janna Levin will introduce the film with a reflection on our rapidly evolving acceptance of AI in all dimensions of our lives and the spiraling of our reality towards Spike Jonze's prescient vision of HER.
Film Synopsis
A lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with his newly purchased operating system that's designed to meet his every need.
In the near future, a sensitive and soulful man earns a living by writing personal letters for other people. Left heartbroken after his marriage ends, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) forms an unlikely bond with a new operating system that has the capacity to develop into an intuitive and unique entity in its own right. He starts the program and meets the voice behind the OS1, Samantha (Scarlett Johansson). Though friends initially, the relationship soon deepens into love. Nominated for five Academy Awards, this film marks director-producer Spike Jonze’s solo screenwriting debut.
About the Speaker
Janna Levin is a cosmologist, author, and cultural force at the intersection of science and art. A professor of physics at Barnard College, Guggenheim Fellow, and presenter of PBS’s NOVA, she bridges science and philosophy. Her work on black holes and gravitational waves has reshaped how we understand the universe, and how we tell its stories.