What is scarier than a world destroying alien invasion?
Colony Season 3 Gives Us — The Algorithm
It began in Season 1, with a wall. It was a flying wall from space that came out of nowhere and imprisoned humanity. It was genius. It was elegant.
Yes, there were some flying drones to ramp the tech level a bit. But mostly there were just “redhats”, humans that worked for “the occupation”. Season 1 was a war story. It could have been told against any backdrop. The quick inclusion of “the factory” actually spoke more to a plot from World War II. After all, the “redhats” looked a lot like storm troopers.
Soon though, the drones became more prevalent in the story line. Was that a CGI budget driving the plot or vice versa? That is an interesting analytic question.
Stasis pods and odd religions began to filter in. “The occupation” was still the featured antagonist, but things were changing. Eventually, we finally got a look at the alien “host”.
I have to say, their array of nicknames was more interesting than the motionless space suit. The impact the aliens had on civilization was far more terrifying than their form (even with the radiation poisoning twist). Or was it? Colony has a lot of twists. This would be one of many over its first three seasons.
Season three saw the cast leave “the block”. They also threw in some “walkers”. Not white, or even zombies of any kind… a bunch two-legged, rigidly programmed, death machines. None of this really upped their game. So…
What is more terrifying than an alien invasion that enslaves all of mankind? How about two?
And while we are at it, the first group is actually alien robots! Or are they some sort of Pokeball meets miniature Gundham? They even added some sonic weapons to keep things hopping.
But Colony gave us yet another twist, the Algorithm. Yes, multiple city rendering alien invaders, armed with drones, and sonic weapons was not enough. Colony gave us Wayne Brady… I mean Everett Kynes… I mean the Algorithm.
Colony has an interesting way of emphasizing the atrocities humans are willing to commit upon themselves. We are still learning what Kynes and his Algorythm are up to but we know two things. His Algorythm was the “key” to the alien occupation and, like so much data science and artificial intelligence, it has already been proven flawed…
Concentrating on the first part, Colony has now delivered us artificial intelligence at endless levels. We pre-programmed “walkers”, sensor-covered drones, a big-data, facial-recognizing Algorithm, and sentient alien robots. It is a veritable smorgasbord of AI potential. But then there is Alan…
In the very episode that introduced the Algorithm, we are also told that Alan Snyder has completely defied it. It should be no surprise. Alan has proven to be incredibly human.
We will have to wait and see where Colony takes this story line. I suspect it will be riveting. I hope it will continue to explore the intricate and chaotic world’s of human behavioral science and artificial intelligence. These are two disciplines in the data science & analytics field that seem to run at odds with each other. What better way to explore it than through the analogy of alien invasion?
At Corsair’s Publishing, we appreciate the creativity. We are also excited by the fact that the Algorithm has, at least initially, taken the form of an assessment. We are big fans of both. So, thanks for reading! And stay tuned to the Colony story line — it is excellent.
