Cyborg Film Blog: I, Robot

     Have you ever questioned your reason of existence, or purpose of life? It’s normally for any human being to. Living without a purpose or even hope seems to lead people down the wrong path. Another question commonly asked by human beings is, who is are creator? This question is explored through religion and scientific studies. No idea is known to be the one hundred percent truth, but humans insist on putting their faith in either of the two. If humans were ever successful in creating life with a conscious, would this new species have these same questions? A lot of novels and films explore this conversation with different circumstances. One film I thought displayed this conversation the best was I, Robot. The connection and the relationship of the robots with the humans seems realistic. Then also the challenges and obstacles are plausible. I, Robot, hit theaters 2004 directed by Alex Proyas. The film was inspired and based off the novel I, Robot written by Isaac Asimov. These medias explore the idea of an advanced technological world, displaying the different possibilities of its pros and cons.

     In film, I, Robot, Will Smith is the main character named Del Spooner. The setting takes place during the year 2035 in Chicago. Everyone seems to rely on a huge system of robots, which are programmed to specifically aid humans with everyday task. Will Smith’s character, Del Spooner, however doesn't think robots are so innocent and helpful. He is a homicide detective, and does his job with an arrogant attitude. Spooner’s given a case to solve the mystery of the robot creator’s death, Dr. Alfred J. Laning. He immediately blames the robots without any justifiable proof or reason. All the robots remote exactly the same expect for one, Sonny. Sonny’s programming allows him to act more humanlike. For instance he can dream, and question his reason of existence. Robots have three laws to follow in regard to their interaction with humans. Sonny is forced to break these laws commanded by his creator. Sonny tries to keep the incident a secret, until Spooner discovers what happened. 

     I noticed this film portrays a lot of moral and ethical flaws of human beings. Humans have a tendency to feel the need of being in control or superior. The robots of the film are created to assist humans with living, more or less like a slave. Even though the robots may not be treated badly, they are still given the work that is either strenuous or tedious. The robot system is computerized, which means they don't have a conscious or feelings. Of course they can not witness this relationship of ownership, however the humans can. With this prediction of advancement in technology, the film comments on the dormancy of human activity. Technology allows human to be hand and stress free. With the creation of robots there’s no need to be self sufficient or independent. Our society now is already laxed with our age of technology, now imagine humans as a society with everything at our disposal. Humans interestingly enough, do not necessarily need a species to be human in order to sympathize with it. This dynamic plays out with Sonny and one of the technicians. Even though she knows Sonny is different, which poses a threat to mankind, she goes against her orders to deactivate him. There’s a scene in the film were as soon as she goes to follow through with orders, Sonny asks her if what’s about to happen to him be compared to death. In this moment the technicians sympathizes with Sonny, realizing his conscious and importance of life. 

     Films and novels with these ideas of the future connects with our society today because it is based off of our relationship with technology and machines. Previous generations had more physical labor and thinking than we do today. By comparing aging generations, you can see the difference in their response to completing certain task. Washing clothes, for example, used to be a long difficult job because a wash board and bucket of water was required. To get the clothes clean you had to scrub the dirty clothes against the board with soap. Once the clothes were cleaned, they were hung up on a line for hours until dried. Today, with the aid of technology, there are washer machines and dryers. Washing clothes as become one of the simplest chores. With this pattern of cause and effect, cause being the advancement of technology and effect being the decrease in human activity, you can what the future generations would be like. They would have many new found resources in store, however they wouldn’t be active on the world. I think technology is great and helpful, but my only fear is that it will eventually go overboard. The creation of robot slaves are unnecessary to me. With the America’s history of slavery, I don’t think it would be wise to revert back to it’s old ways.