Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Amitabh Bachchan Wins Personality Protection
The Delhi High Court awarded Amitabh Bachchan interim protection for his personality rights:
Mr. Bachchan apparently has a personality worth protecting:
The court barred not just identified entities from using Bachchan's persona, without his consent, but also passed a John Doe order, or an order against world-at-large, from infringing his personality rights. The lawsuit before the court flagged Bachchan's name, voice, images, pictures, likeness and his "unique style of dialogue delivery" among the traits which fall under legal protection. Counsel for the actor told the court that mobile applications, telephone numbers and websites had mushroomed that monetized his images or likeness without permission. "Personality right is a strong right to enforce for persons with high level of identifiability and strength of association," said Eashan Ghosh, a lawyer specializing in intellectual property rights. "Both these factors hold true for Amitabh Bachchan."
This would seem to protect Mr. Bachchan from a number of science fictional futures, including, but not limited to, Frank Herbert's ego-likenesses from Dune (1964) and recorded personalities from Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988).
Poul Anderson described a system for transferring personality in his 1974 story The Voortrekkers, published in Final Stage: The Ultimate Science Fiction Anthology published by Charterhouse:
“Turning human beings into robots. Not exactly like Columbus, is it? Though I grant you, thinkers always did point out how machine-like the astronauts were ... and are.”
“If you please,” the spokesman repeated, “value judgments aside, who’s talking about making robots out of humans? Brains transplanted into machinery? Come! If a body couldn’t survive the trip, why imagine that a brain in a tank might? No, we’ll simply employ ultra-sophisticated computer-sensor-effector systems.”
“With human minds.”
“With human psychoneural patterns mapped in, sir. That is all.” Smugly: “True, that’s a mighty big ‘all.’ The pattern of an individual is complex beyond imagination, and dynamic rather than static; our math boys call it n-dimensional. We will have to develop methods for scanning it without harm to the subject, recording it, and transferring it to a different matrix, whether that matrix be photonic-electronic or molecular-organic.” Drawing breath, then portentously: “Consider the benefits, right here on Earth, of having such a capability.”
“I don’t know about that,” said the commentator. “Maybe you could plant a copy of my personality somewhere else; but I’d go on in this same old body, wouldn’t I?”
“It would hardly be your exact personality anyhow,” admitted the spokesman. “The particular matrix would ... um ... determine so much of the functioning. The important thing, from the viewpoint of extrasolar exploration, is that this will give us machines which are not mere robots, but which have such human qualities as motivation and self-programming.
“At the same time, they’ll have the advantages of robots. For example, they can be switched off in transit; they won’t experience those empty years between stars; they’ll arrive sane.”
Just for fun, I have to include this clip of Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher describing the effects of Lucasfilm's ownership of her likeness on her life:
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 2/25/2023)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Culture ")
Has Elon Musk Given Up On Mars?
'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.'
'They Erased My Memory' Says Ariana Grande
'...using a neutralizing electronic impulse.' - Edmond Hamilton, 1948.
'Spikeless' Brand Swizzle Stick Detects Spiked Drinks
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...' - Frank Herbert, 1964.
Musk Proposes Sites For Martian Cities
'...its streets were of remarkable width, with few or no buildings so high as mosques, churches, State-offices, or palaces in Tellurian cities.' - Percy Greg, 1880.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Quaise Uses Beams Of Energy To Dig Geothermal Wells
'The peculiar quality of this light, which gave it its great preeminence over all other penetrating rays...'
Robots Repair And Modify Themselves
'The overworked leg motor would have to cool down before he could work on it...'
Waymo And Tesla 'Autonomous Cabs' Are Piloted By Remote Drivers
‘Where to, sport?’ the starter at cab relay asked.
Robot Janitors Get To Work
'A few mechanical cleaning devices crept here and there...'
Robots Learn To Install Charged Batteries Into Themselves
This is nothing new for science fiction fans!
Robot Rabbits Entice Pythons
'That little robot rabbit knew what it was talking about...'
LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
Has Elon Musk Given Up On Mars?
'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.'
Bacteria Turns Plastic Into Pain Relief? That Gives Me An Idea.
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
When Your Child's Best Friend Is An AI
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'
China's Drone Mothership Can Carry 100 Drones
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'
Drones Recharge In Mid-Air Like Jets Refuel!
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'
Australian Authors Reject AI Training Of Llama
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside?
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'
Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.
Is Agentic AI The Wrong Kind Of Smartness?
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'
