In this essay I am going to discuss about the topic:
“Science fiction often plays off the real against the artificial, either in the form of humans versus non-human (androids, cyborgs, synthetics), or the world versus the non-world (cyberspace, inner-space, intentional space)”.
I have chosen the films “The Matrix” and “Bicentennial Man”
An explosion in information access and exchange is fueling the Information Superhighway that was created as a result of the computer revolution. If technology has truly become a god, then cyberspace is definitely its bible. Its scope is endless; its breadth enormous. Although the foundation of cyberspace, the computer, definitely serves to dehumanize culture, the Information Superhighway itself does not. If anything, cyberspace is re-humanizing the computer revolution. The World Wide Web, through pictures and graphics, has added personality and more personal contact to a technology that for years was ‘just the facts.’ Although the statement might be made that this is a pseudo-rehumanization that masks true human characteristics with digital ones, this is at least a step in the right direction. Something that removes the human qualities or attributes from culture can be said to dehumanize it.
This technology destroys our view of truth and meaning. The basic presupposition of the Information Superhighway is that it contains information on any subject and can answer any question. It causes people to search places other than God for direction, truth, and meaning. Involvement with the technology serves to replace our involvement with reality. There is a tendency for people to start thinking of themselves and others in terms of their online personalities. Many people develop a whole other life on-line and some even end up being unable to separate their on-line identity from their real one. Recent movies such as The Matrix and Bicentennial Man serve to further blur this already fuzzy line.
Bicentennial Man, directed by Chris Columbus (US, 1999), is based on a story Isaac Asimov wrote in 1975 and like many of his stories, it deals with the enigma of a machine with the intelligence of a man, but without the rights or the feelings. As we might expect the film presents Asimov's concept of the intelligent robot, a concept that, like Asimov himself, pre-dates the modern world of personal computers, video games, the Internet, 'e...
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...housand years ago.
If the portrayal of intelligent machines in films teaches us anything, it is that it is fortunate that such machines do not yet exist. It is fortunate that is, for the machines, because all the evidence would indicate that we are not yet ready to treat them as fellow persons. Fortunate too for us perhaps, because when they became smart enough to mount a successful rebellion they might make us pay for their oppression (Mitchell 2003).
Reference:
1. Edwards, D A, ‘The Matrix’, The Matrix: An Ideological Analysis, viewed 5 June 2005, http://fiffdimension.tripod.com/matrix.htm1. 2. Menor F 2000, The Matrix(1999), viewed 7 June 2005, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/ 3. Mitchell, D 2003, What s it like to be a Robot?, viewed 7 June 2005, http://www.zenonic.demon.co.uk/zenorobot.htm 4. Setzer V W 2002, AI - Artificial Intelligence or Automated Imbecility, viewed 7 June 2005, http://www.transintelligence.org/articles/Artificial%20Intelligence.htm 5. The Matrix 1999, motion picture, Prod. Joel Silver. Dir. The Wachowski Brothers. Perf. Laurence Fishburne, and Keanu Reeves
6. www.duke.edu/~djs12/Lit%20Theory/ Lit%20Theory%20-%20The%20Matrix.doc
Andy Clark strongly argues for the theory that computers have the potential for being intelligent beings in his work “Mindware: Meat Machines.” The support Clark uses to defend his claims states the similar comparison of humans and machines using an array of symbols to perform functions. The main argument of his work can be interpreted as follows:
Warrick, Patricia S. "Science Fiction Images of Computers and Robots." The Cybernetic Imagination. N.p.: The MIT, 1980. 53-79. Rpt. in Contemporary Lieterary Criticism. Ed. Jean C. Stine. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale, 1983. 53-56. Print.
Bernardin, Marc. "The Matrix" 1999. <http://www.ew.com/ew/review/video/0,1683,846,matrix.html> (14 Apr. 2000) [address has moved to: <http://www.ew.com/ew/article/review/video/0,6115,270871~2|7696||0~,00.html> link updated by Dr P. 30 Oct 2002]
Fate and freewill remain two ongoing themes in this movie having major significance throughout. The Matrix directed by the Wachowski brother’s developed in 1999, became world famous due to its unique structure and unusual visual effects known as ‘bullet time’ as well as the ‘green tinge’.
One of the hottest topics that modern science has been focusing on for a long time is the field of artificial intelligence, the study of intelligence in machines or, according to Minsky, “the science of making machines do things that would require intelligence if done by men”.(qtd in Copeland 1). Artificial Intelligence has a lot of applications and is used in many areas. “We often don’t notice it but AI is all around us. It is present in computer games, in the cruise control in our cars and the servers that route our email.” (BBC 1). Different goals have been set for the science of Artificial Intelligence, but according to Whitby the most mentioned idea about the goal of AI is provided by the Turing Test. This test is also called the imitation game, since it is basically a game in which a computer imitates a conversating human. In an analysis of the Turing Test I will focus on its features, its historical background and the evaluation of its validity and importance.
2. Asimov, Isaac, and Karen A. Frankel. ROBOTS: Machines in Man's Image. New York: Harmony Books, 1985. p 2.
Asimov’s robots can be described as clumsy, hard-working, cost-efficient, soulless, strong, fast, obedient, human-made, a cleaner better breed, more human than man.
Bilton, Nick. “Artificial Intelligence as a Threat.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 5 Nov. 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2014l.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was a literary piece that touched on many different issues, not only in her time, but also today. The creation of life in Frankenstein was Shelley’s symbolic warning to the new industrialized era. “It also [can] be seen to be warning about the dangers of uncontrolled application of technology and its use without proper morality” (Brachneos). The warning in Frankenstein applies today more than ever because of the creation of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and computers that “think for themselves” The two are connected in a sense. Some would argue that Victor, the character that created the monster wanting to play od, is like the programmers of AI computers today.
First off let’s get something straight. When I refer to computers in this essay I am not referring only to the microprocessor sitting on your desk but to microprocessors that control robots of various structure.
The Matrix is a film, while classified as sci-fi, mirrors the growing influence and mistrust of technology today. At the time of the film’s release, an audience may have
Crevier, D. (1999). AI: The tumultuous history of the search for Artificial Intelligence. Basic Books: New York.
Bar-Cohen, Y. (2009). The coming robot revolution expectations and fears about emerging intelligent, humanlike machines. Springer.
Artificial Intelligence “is the ability of a human-made machine to emulate or simulate human methods for the deductive and inductive acquisition and application of knowledge and reason” (Bock, 182). The early years of artificial intelligence were seen through robots as they exemplified the advances and potential, while today AI has been integrated society through technology. The beginning of the thought of artificial intelligence happened concurrently with the rise of computers and the dotcom boom. For many, the utilization of computers in the world was the most advanced role they could ever see machines taking. However, life has drastically changed from the 1950s. This essay will explore the history of artificial intelligence, discuss the