Critic's View - Sunday, April 6

The Age

Thursday April 3, 2008

Larissa Dubecki

Science: Human Version 2.0

SBS, 8.30pm

French philosopher Rene Descartes famously suggested that our bodily lives are an illusion and we might all simply be brains in vats, his theory at once suggesting a compellingly dystopic vision while simultaneously making the lives of first-year philosophy undergraduates miserable in trying to disprove it. It's a theory that has resonated in popular films such as The Matrix, but this documentary produced for the BBC's Horizon science program argues it's fast leaving the realm of fiction and becoming a reality. So fast, in fact, that by 2029 we will have reached "singularity", a buzzword for the point at which computer intelligence will overtake that of humans. Scientists - the ones enamoured of this brave new world scenario - predict we will be able to use computers to download our thoughts and store memories. Others think the creation of "outellects" more powerful than any single human intellect means we're poised on the precipice of a man-versus-machine doom worthy of a Philip K. Dick novel. Meanwhile, the real-life benefits of singularity are seen in a teenage boy who is unable to move or communicate but is learning, via a radical therapy using electrodes picking up brainwaves, to use a computer to voice the sounds he thinks. It's amazing stuff, if not more than a touch scary, a situation not helped by the part-human, part-machine children who look like they might have been borrowed from a TDK advert.

Animal Emergency

Channel Nine, 6.30pm

You would have a hard heart indeed to remain unmoved by the travails of pussy cats and puppy dogs' tails showcased by a suitably compassionate Georgie Parker in her weekly round-up of the events at North Melbourne's Lort Smith Animal Hospital. This week we have Bella the cat, whose life hangs in the balance after she was treated with dog flea powder (take note, cat lovers: unlike their canine enemies, felines lick it off and poison themselves in the process). There's also Coco the Labrador who, true to the breed's garbage-guts ways, has eaten his leather collar and is suffering from the mother of all tummy aches, plus a cute lamb who was found wandering the city streets and whose good samaritan rescuer is determined doesn't wind up being served with mint sauce.

The Einstein Factor

ABC1, 6.30pm

No ballgown-wearing sidekick, no memento jewellery, no hidden $25 on the scoreboard. The Einstein Factor continues on its humble way, a kooky reminder of the joys of trivia (sorry, in-depth knowledge of a subject) from the days before it became a $64,000 business. The main attraction of the show is its Mastermind-like pandering to the interests of its competitors, which run a broad gamut from the arcane to the truly weird. This typically eclectic week it's the life and music of Petula Clark, the Gracchi family who kicked around Rome from 236BC to 100BC, and Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy. Not all things are created equal in this non-commercial boffins' paradise, however; the Brains Trust is in increasing dereliction of duty, and Gracchi expert Libby has a clear advantage over her opponents in the all-in round. Lucky things remain good-natured because the budget probably doesn't extend to bodyguards for host Peter Berner and co.

Grey's Anatomy

Channel Seven, 8.30pm

Expect the usual eyebrow acting from the preternaturally attractive staff of Seattle Grace, a bit of internecine conflict between Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and her half-sister Lexie (Chyler Leigh), and the excessive use of those L-shaped sheets that reveal the male's torso but preserve the female's modesty as Meredith and the man commonly referred to as Dr McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey), and doctors Izzie Stevens and George O'Malley (Katherine Heigl and T. R. Knight) get busy in the bedroom.

© 2008 The Age

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