Beyond Meta and the A.I. Mining of Books: We Need New Copyright Laws
If you recall the days of VHS tapes, you’ll also probably remember the scary FBI warnings at the beginning of movies that cautioned against piracy. Although a little heavy-handed, it always acted as a staunch warning: You own the tape, but you don’t own the content. Today these types of warnings still exist with piracy […]
The post Beyond Meta and the A.I. Mining of Books: We Need New Copyright Laws appeared first on Den of Geek.
After 113 years, Titanic is still a source of innovation. Dives to the wreck have provided glimpses into its tragic story, but now technology unveils the full picture with Titanic: The Digital Resurrection, a groundbreaking special from award-winning Atlantic Productions and National Geographic, which shows how we can preserve the past and protect the future.
Using exclusive access to cutting-edge underwater scanning, the special, now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, reveals the most accurate digital twin of the Titanic ever created– built from over two years of research, 715,000 images and 16 terabytes of data painstakingly pieced together.
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But this 90-minute special is about so much more than the Titanic.
Parks Stephenson, a featured Titanic analyst, hopes audiences will go in not only hoping to learn more about that fateful night in 1912, but also observe how we can engage with history going forward, using it as an avenue for education.
“[The 3D model] is a baseline from which all future work is going to be done,” Stephenson says. “We’ve got to understand the depths before we go charting in and exploit it,”
The special follows a team of leading historians, engineers and forensic experts, including Stephenson, metallurgist Jennifer Hooper and master mariner Captain Chris Hearn, as they explore the twin, constructed by the deep-sea mapping company Magellan.
Stephenson, Hooper and Hearn stand in awe of the digital twin, projected on a massive, curved LED volume stage that renders the ship at full scale in breathtaking detail. With the wreckage preserved exactly as it lay in 2022, the team is able to walk through the model and use the reconstruction to challenge long-held myths.
They examine the jagged break of the hull, which is evidence that the ship didn’t split cleanly in two, but was violently torn apart, shredding through first-class cabins where passengers like J.J. Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim may have taken shelter. A single open valve in the boiler room confirms that crew members stayed at their post after impact, keeping electricity running and sending out distress calls. Even the position of a lifeboat davit, frozen mid-motion, provides evidence to exonerate First Officer William Murdoch, accused of desertion.
Those details, preserved on the ocean floor, are now accessible without going near the wreck. The seafloor is not a renewable surface, and digging or drilling through it can cause irreversible harm. Stephenson believes technology like the digital twin can revolutionize the way we study the ocean, without disturbing it.
A naval analyst, historian and expert in maritime forensics, Stephenson has long been at the forefront of history and technology. After retiring from the Navy, where he served as both a submariner and a flight officer, he went on to advise filmmakers, historians and deep-sea expeditions. He stresses that as tools for underwater expeditions grow more advanced, so does the need for ethical boundaries.
“If we’re going to understand the sea, we need to know how to study it properly,” Stephenson says. “And this technology is going to be the way of the future of ocean exploration. Not just of shipwrecks, but geological formations– basically the way things look down there –we’re gonna be able to bring it up and be able to study it in full detail.”
Stephenson is also the executive director of the nonprofit USS KIDD Veterans Museum, where he helps preserve the WWII-era destroyer USS KIDD (DD-661). At the museum, he inspires younger generations with the excitement of learning about a historic warship, while also imparting important teachings about character.
There are many lessons to take away from the Titanic. One of the most abiding is the selflessness shown by many of the men on board, who gave up their chances of survival so women and children could escape first. Through the nonprofit, Stephenson hopes to educate future generations on the virtues of service, sacrifice and citizenship, rather than just on the ship itself.
“There are elements from our history we can use if we educate the coming generations properly,” Stephenson says. “We won’t lose some of our best customs, and maybe we’ll get rid of some of our worst customs.”
Stephenson’s work with the nonprofit will be his final job as he prepares for retirement. By preserving the KIDD, he wants to keep the vital lessons of history alive and use them to help guide future generations. Working with young people and caring for a historic warship has brought a new meaning to his career.
“Now, I am responsible for a very tangible piece of our history, and it’s my job to preserve it,” Stephenson says. “All of this led me to something that I finally feel has given me real purpose in life; being a steward of history.”
The post Titanic Still Has Secrets, And A New Doc Has Bigger Answers Than You Might Expect appeared first on Den of Geek.
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