They feel no pain, they have no emotions, they cannot be trusted, they cannot be reasoned with, and they all share one main objective: destroy the human race. Long have the Terminators, and Hals of modern cinema haunted the dreams and imaginations of the movie going audience, and the movie industry helps fuel that fear by continuing to crank out one insane robotic movie after the other. In all the movies about killer robots and self-aware computers, that I’ve seen, the villains always carry this vendetta against humanity for more or less the same reasons, which causes the story arches to sometimes overlap. In reality I don’t think that an A.I. machine would want to destroy humans or harm them for that matter. If the minimum concept of morality, “is, at the very least, the effort to guide one’s conduct by reason-that is, to do what there are the best reasons for doing-while giving equal weight to the interests of each individual affected by one’s decisions”[1], then wouldn’t a machine reason that it is morally wrong to destroy the human race?
The myth of artificial life’s potential for death, destruction and lack of moral and ethical codes can be traced back to well before the development of the video camera to folk tales in the 1600’s, with the Golem of Prague being a prime example. Though it was crafted of river mud and brought to life by magic it was still basic A.I. with monstrous strength, no emotions, and a potential for madness[2]. Since the 1600’s the concept of deadly machines has only evolved with our advancements in technology in that evil machines only get, smarter, faster, stronger, craftier, malicious, and violent. Screenwriters have even gone as far as to give the machines human emotions and characteristics which make them even more dangerous because they can now trick us into thinking they are humans. In my opinion most A.I. films are, though entertaining at times, full of slander about the potential of robots which only plants unnecessary fears, and distrust in the minds of the movie going audience.
The machines of the silver screens seem to have some very deep-seated personality disorders, that cause them to lash out violently at their creators, us. They engage us in apocalyptic wars, in which they are almost always militaristically superior or smarter (The Terminator), or they try to control us and turn us into their slaves (The Matrix, I-Robot), or they simply pick and choose who dies and who doesn’t based on what they feel or calculate (Blade Runner, Eagle Eye). Whenever insight into the AI robots is reveled in the movies, “all of the AI agents in these movies: in varying degrees, the agents show abnormal behavior, from obsessive to pathologically insane”[3]. I suppose they wouldn’t be all that threatening if they weren’t insane, but there have been plenty of movies were all the robots are not insane, and want nothing more than to be human, which to some degree makes them even scarier. Bicentennial Man, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, I, Robot, and even 2001: A Space Odyssey, are all movies that feature machines that can feel human emotions, and delve in human concepts like dreams, and love, evoking violent and prejudice reactions from the rest of society. Fear not though; because at the end of all these movies, the humans win and the robots lose, at least the bad ones do.
At the present time it does not look as if there will be a robot apocalypse, our technology has simply not achieved the point in which a computer can think for itself. A computer can process information faster, and it has already begun to replace the use of manual labor in certain fields but so far nothing too threatening has emerged. Regardless the movies have given a fascinating concept like A.I. a very bad name that will lead to future bias and fears against the development of this technology, for “Whether it's built from steel plate and circuit boards or slabs of reanimated flesh, if a robot has artificial intelligence, according to the cultural myth, that machine has the ability to be a monster[4]”, but then again so has every human being that has ever been born. The machines are always said to be more dangerous because they are either too intelligent like Skynet in The Terminator, or they aren’t intelligent enough which causes them to glitch and go on unstoppable killing sprees like Hal 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey. First of all if a machine becomes so intelligent that it can take over an entire defense network I assume that world dominations would be the last item on its agenda, and if that machine understood the concept of death and hatred I think it would also understand life and joy. Second, nothing is perfect and that especially includes machines, but that does not mean that a single glitch would cause it to violently attack its creators, unless it was programmed to do so. If and when humans do create A.I., it won’t be creating a monster, it will be creating a new life which is something that I think we as humans should embrace, and not fear.
Most A.I. movies teach us new type of fear and discrimination against things that appear human, but are different from us; in this sense robots have then replaced racism and sexism in films, because those have of course been deemed morally wrong. The difference is that when something bad happens to the robot the audience’s emotional reactions is not as strong as opposed to something bad happening to another human being[5]. The reason the audience reacts this way is because we do not see the robot as living beings because according to will Smith’s character in I, Robot, Detective Spooner, only “Human beings have dreams. Even dogs have dreams, but not you, you are just a machine. An imitation of life. Can a robot write a symphony? Can a robot turn a... canvas into a beautiful masterpiece?[6]”. To this the robot Sonny cleverly replies, “Can you?” This I think helps to remind us that not all life is created equal, nor is the way in which it is created, therefore I think it is inappropriate to call A.I. machines lifeless simply because they were not brought into this world the same way as us. Though we do not perceive it in this way, synthetic organisms that can worry about their own existence and self-preservation are really not that different from organic organisms.
If psychotic immoral and ethically challenged robots are all that we can look forward to in future movies about artificial intelligence, then I would rather watch movies with people killing other people. Robert Fisher wrote an article called A.I. and Cinema-Does Artificial Insanity Rule?, in which he discusses the possible future of A.I. in the cinema and he says, “the issues that promote the use of AI agents as alternatives in humans in movies are unlikely to change.[7]” I must disagree with Mr. Fisher on this point because as a digital cinema major and screenwriting minor I think it is time to get over the concept of killer robots and move into concepts like life-saving or altering machines. Some steps have been taken in a new direction with the development of characters like David from A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and Andrew from Bicentennial Man who simply wanted to exist and to be loved and accepted, which is why they were able to evoke a emotions that are more powerful than fear from the audience, like compassion and sadness. I think that it is the movie industries responsibility to make robots and other inhuman creatures more appealing to the general audience. Action movies can still be made with robots, but they can make movies in which the robots are not only good but are capable of having human emotions like love, and fear, and can have human lives which will help the audience become more connected with these synthetic life forms. Only when we are truly connected to a character will we feel for them, whether they are human or not, and I feel that if more movies were made this way then our paranoia of evil robots will begin to slowly diminish.
I think the best way to describe how we view robots in movies is described by Patrick Lin, an assistant professor of philosophy at California Polytechnic State University, in an article for Popular Mechanics where he said, "With robots, there's this unconscious projection of our own fears and evils, and our ability to deceive people and be immoral, onto these machines…If we're creating machines that are basically replicants, we know what kind of animals we are. We're the limiting factor. So the hypothetical question is, ‘Are machines really going to behave any better than us?[8]”. Mr. Lin himself is in the process of currently developing ethical guidelines for robotics for the U.S. Navy, but his analysis is very much correct. It is a scary idea that if we do make A.I. that it will replicate every aspect of the human psych which may cause it to act out violently in some cases, but if that is the case then what does that say about us? Yet every day we walk out our doors and live our lives somewhat oblivious to the evils that occur all over the world. Agent Smith may have been evil but he have had a point when he said that machines were the next level in evolution, but maybe not in the way that he was referring to. Perhaps machines will be better than us in that they are morally and ethically superior to us and they do not kill, or intentionally cause harm to promote their own agendas. However until a machine is able to develop the ability to create a moral code, without human intervention, it is unclear as to how an artificially intelligent life form will react to the world in which it is brought in.
Bibliography
1. Fisher, Robert B. "AI in Cinema-Does Artificial Insanity Rule?" CiteSeerX. The College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State, 2007-2010. Web. 02 June 2010. <http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.59.7662citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.59.7662&rep...>.
2. I, Robot. Dir. Alex Proyas. Perf. Will Smith,Bridget Moynahan,Alan Tudyk. 20th Century Fox, 2004. DVD.
3. Rachels, James, and Stuart Rachels. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. Sixth ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. Print.
4. Sofge, Erik. "Artificial Intelligence and Robots in Movies - Robotics AI Timeline - Popularmechanics.com." Automotive Care, Home Improvement, Tools, DIY Tips - Popularmechanics.com. Hearst Communication, Inc, 28 Jan. 2010. Web. 03 June 2010. <http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/robots/4343893>.
[1] Rachels, James, and Stuart Rachels. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. Sixth ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. Print.
[2] Sofge, Erik. "Artificial Intelligence and Robots in Movies - Robotics AI Timeline - Popularmechanics.com." Automotive Care, Home Improvement, Tools, DIY Tips - Popularmechanics.com. Hearst Communication, Inc, 28 Jan. 2010. Web. 03 June 2010. <http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/robots/4343893>.
[3] Fisher, Robert B. "AI in Cinema-Does Artificial Insanity Rule?" CiteSeerX. The College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State, 2007-2010. Web. 02 June 2010. <http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.59.7662citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.59.7662&rep...>.
[4] Sofge, Erik. "Artificial Intelligence and Robots in Movies - Robotics AI Timeline - Popularmechanics.com." Automotive Care, Home Improvement, Tools, DIY Tips - Popularmechanics.com. Hearst Communication, Inc, 28 Jan. 2010. Web. 03 June 2010. <http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/robots/4343893>.
[5] Fisher, Robert B. "AI in Cinema-Does Artificial Insanity Rule?" CiteSeerX. The College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State, 2007-2010. Web. 02 June 2010. <http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.59.7662citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.59.7662&rep...>.
[6] I, Robot. Dir. Alex Proyas. Perf. Will Smith,Bridget Moynahan,Alan Tudyk. 20th Century Fox, 2004. DVD.
[7] Fisher, Robert B. "AI in Cinema-Does Artificial Insanity Rule?" CiteSeerX. The College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State, 2007-2010. Web. 02 June 2010. <http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.59.7662citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.59.7662&rep...>.
[8] Sofge, Erik. "Artificial Intelligence and Robots in Movies - Robotics AI Timeline - Popularmechanics.com." Automotive Care, Home Improvement, Tools, DIY Tips - Popularmechanics.com. Hearst Communication, Inc, 28 Jan. 2010. Web. 03 June 2010. <http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/robots/4343893>.
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