How to illustrate inanimate objects coming to life?

[threefeethighandrising]

I went back to uni in September, and I'm doing an assessed presentation in college tomorrow (eek!). I've nearly finished the slides, but I'm stuck on one.

I need an idea for an image that would illustrate inanimate objects coming to life.

I was thinking Toy Story, but that's not really what I want as it's about toys, and it's more everyday objects I'm on about.

I'm sure there must be lots of great kids stuff with images of things coming to life, but I've been working so hard I think I must be brain dead now, I just can't think anymore!

So following the great success yesterday where lots of lovely people reviewed my website assignment, it's over to you, oh wise mumsnetters, can you give me any inspiration?

I'd be really very grateful for any ideas.

TIA

I just taken my head out of the books to have a look, and what a great load of examples,

I'm spoilt for choice, thank you so much everyone, I really appreciate it

ThisIsANiceCage that's the way we're going. Pretty soon many, many things will have chips and a level of "intelligence".

Computers will stop being things you sit in front of, and will become part of the environment around you. People have imagined this stuff for ages, but the technology is now becoming cheap enough to make it a reality.

It will bring lots of great benefits (fantastic leaps forward in medical applications, energy consumption, access to information, reducing food waste etc etc the list is endless) but as you rightly point out there could be some downsides. Privacy is a big issue, as is control. If there are lots of little computers around all collecting and storing information - how can you make sure your right to privacy is protected?

It's still pretty exciting I think though, There's so much going right now, I feel like the sci-fi I used to read as a kid is coming alive.

How about for a first attempt an an invisibility suit for example?!

And you can get glasses that project stuff onto your retina (we'll see these on the market soon) so you can see your "screen" but no one else can, sort of like Robocop! (They'll be contact lenses too.)

Lots of things are really going to change by the time all our DCs get old. And lots of things will stay just the same .

Oh dear, I think I must get back to it

What about the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - things with "Genuine People Personalities" ie the depressed robot and the super cheerful computer and the doors that were delighted to open and close for you and told you so: "Thank you for making a simple door very happy."

And the cow that wanted to be eaten...

You're thinking along the same lines as me, I've actually used that as an example already

The Nutri-matic drinks machine sounds like a good example. Analyses your taste buds to produce something that will be exactly to your liking, but actually always the same vile sludge.

On the subject of your OP, wasn't one of the replicants in Blade Runner a sort of animated blow-up doll?

DP works in IT and used to be all, "Flashing lights! Like the sci-fi comics! And it makes the tea!" He's now old enough to have had his first professional "What the fuck have we done?" moment.

"Ooo, shiny!" seems to implode people's brains when they should be doing good old trad cost/benefit calcs: is it really is making life better, and for whom? What are the risks?

Anybody been on a train that can't open its doors because they're controlled by satellite fixes? And then a 20 min delay as the driver "reboots" the train? Did you feel your life was improved by this?

Someone commented on a thread about the global financial crash : "I think that, around the year 2000, that people persuaded themselves that all the old rules were gone, we had shifted to a new paradigm (or some such stuff and nonsense) and that in our New Millenium we could outwit basic economic theory because we had clever computers!
They believed their own hype."

Replace "economic theory" with "software faults" or "human nature" or even "commercial pressure" and this seems scarily appropriate.

Like I said, go with the Sorcerer's Apprentice.

I read somewhere the animators had real trouble with Aladdin's Magic Carpet as it had no features yet moves around like a dog.

Myself - i love The Brave Little Toaster - esp the electric blanket (in the middle <a class="break-all" href="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:BeSBoW6pMVXauM:i67.photobucket.com/albums/h284/sillymoni20/toaster.png&t=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> here) another image with here

You may have to turn the sound down as it's a joke dub over...

Monster house: the entire house comes to life...

Faces In Plces might help too - it's excellent!

Who Controls the Off Switch? by Ross Anderson (Cambridge prof Security Engineering), is the paper linked to above, by the way. It's an excellent, concise, easy-to-read summary of electricity provision and the expected impacts of remote switching.

I agree bad design is indeed a bane of modern life!

However I'd prefer the annoyance of devices going on the blink, the occasional bus disappearing and stupid bloody machines software crashing all the bloody time over than the daily drudgery that was life for the majority of women over the centuries. Sure mangles don't crash and trying to store enough food to last your family the winter doesn't ever involved speaking to a call center to try to find out where your weekly food delivery has got to, but I know which world I'd rather live in!

The risks I worry about come not so much from bad design but from technology combined with politics / power. The way I see it, any type of technology is simply a tool, but some of them are pretty powerful tools, who's using them and how.

However I still do think there's some amazing stuff going on right now. Surely you can't help but be impressed by technology helping blind people to see, deaf people to hear and paralysis patients to use "limbs" again? There is a lot to celebrate IMO.

Anyway, I'm procrastinating again!

Cross posts ThisIsANiceCage.

"Who controls the off switch" - indeed!

Really interesting link, thanks I appreciate it

Oh god absolutely agree that it can be wonderful! I've been largely housebound for a few years, and I personally celebrate the fact that I timed it perfectly for home internet connections and some actual interesting content on t'interweb, plus online shopping, of course. What it must have been like before just doesn't bear thinking about...

As you say, technology is an amazing servant but a crap master...

Faces in places is brilliant!

Think I might use the brave little toaster one, that's the kind of thing I was after, thanks for that

The Scottish Power is great but I couldn't find any stills

I thought of a couple more overnight.

What about the noo noo?

Also, what's the name of that CBeebies programme with the creepy face on the side of the house? With Chris of Pui and Chris? Isn't there a bookcase that comes to life in that?

Step Inside

Oh dear BalloonSlayer I hope you weren't being kept awake by thoughts of the things coming alive.

The noo noo! That would have been a good one. I love its permanently startled look - like this for example We're watching a tellytebbies DVD at this very moment as it happens!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I went for a Sorcerer's Apprentice on in the end - this one