Blog 3 - I, Robot

I am doing my blog on the movie I, Robot. I, Robot takes place in the year 2035 in Chicago. There is a tall building that belongs to the U.S. Robotics and this is where all of the robots are made. The robots are called Nexus 5’s and they are made to protect the people when they are in trouble. They have to abide by a three simple rules. The first rule is “a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm”, the second rule is “a robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law”, and the third and final rule is “a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law”. But there is always one flaw. One of these robots does not listen to the rules and starts to do evil things, like killing other people and putting people in harm. Will Smith who is a detective in the city tries to take down the robots and basically save the world. He never liked the idea of having a robot do everything for you, he was more of the “old fashioned” person and wanted to do everything on his own. He has always had a bad feeling about robots and tried to warn everyone around him but no one wanted to listen to him because they wanted a robot of their own since it was the hottest and new thing. But on the other hand the character the Will Smith played was part robot himself because he had gotten into a bad car accident and he had lost his arm and the Doctor that created the robots, Dr. Alfred Lanning, helped Wills character, detective Spooner, get his arm back by giving him a robotic arm but made it seem like it was real by putting skin over it.

To try and define humanity in the movie we can look at what Dr. Susan Calvin, whose job at U.S. Robotics was to make the robots seem more human like. She is not successful at that because they still look like robots and do not have real emotions that humans do and do not have names. To be a human you need a soul, a name, you need to show that you have some kind of emotion, you have to have thoughts, and they need to be individuals. There was one robot in particular who was more human like then the rest and his name was Sonny. He was a more advanced robot then the rest and could ask questions like “What am I?” This shows that he had a few thoughts going on his mind about what he really was and what was going to happen to him because he knew that he was different from others. He also had a different body then the rest in the way that he was set up because he had different parts. He was an individual and this is what is means to be human.

When you watch certain movies like this or read book about robots one question should pop in your mind. Are robots good or bad for society? In my opinion I think that they are good for society to a certain extent because for one we need to learn how to do things on our own and not always rely on technology to do things for us. In our world today children are growing up on using technology for everything and it’s sad to say but they are not learning a lot of information. Some kids are just dumb in school but once you put them in front of a computer or television they know exactly what to do with it. It is scary to think that we are coming to a point in time where we need technology to do just about everything. In the movie they felt like they needed to have a robot to fit in with everyone around them and to get extra help around the house with certain chores that they did not want to do. In just about every movie that has robots there will be a point in time when the robots will try and take over the world because they have started to realize that the humans are no longer capable of doing things on their own because they are lazy. The robots got smarter and the humans got dumber.

A few cons about the robots in the movie is that they take over important jobs like mailperson, trash man, police officer, and they are starting to do a lot of everyday chores for the humans. With the robots taking away jobs from the people, they no longer have a job so they are not getting any income in. With no income they cannot pay their bills or go food shopping and this could leave them homeless and living in the streets. This is not a healthy or preferred lifestyle of living.

To make a comparison to another book that we have read over the semester I want to bring up the book Feed. In the movie I, Robot they talk about having a feed that they call VIKI which stand for virtual interactive kinetic intelligence. When they are talking about using robots for everything they always bring up a sort of feed. The feed in the movie is different than the feed in the book whereas in the movie the feed sees just about everything that is going on and can come out and talk to you.  

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

In the Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Miles Dyson, the creator of the first cyborg, invents an army of robots programmed for military training, known as Skynet. Once these radical cyborgs become aware of their own power around the year 2029, they begin to destroy all of mankind and attempt to kill off any human existence. The Terminator, an early cyborg prototype, is sent to the past to save a young John Connors’ life by protecting him from T-1000, a Skynet robot made from liquid metal. Throughout the movie, the Terminator defends John and his mother, Sarah, who has escaped from a psychiatric hospital. Together, they try and destroy the first invented microchip and robotic arm that will eventually lead to the Skynet catastrophe, all while being chased down by the futuristic, shape-shifting, T-1000 cyborg. 

The Terminator has an internal program which allows him to analyze the people, places, and things around in his current environment. This allows him to scope out any potential enemies and detect their exact location. In the movie, he uses this advancement in order to search for the T-1000 robot in smokey, dark situations. He also uses this technology in the very beginning of the movie to find someone with the best match to his body shape and size in order to steal their clothes and motorcycle for a more natural, human look. Compared to the T-1000 model, the Terminator is more highly dependent on his technological and robotic mind, even though he uses it only a couple of times throughout the film. The later generation cyborg’s biggest advancement is its ability to reform after being shot or wounded. Its liquid state gives an advantage when it needs to slip through walls or even transform into a pseudo human to cover it’s identity. The Terminator is sculpted internally with electronic wires and metal limbs. At one point, some of his head is scraped off and half of his bionic skull is exposed along with his bright, red, robotic eyeball. The Terminator is more stereotypically “cyborg” than the later created models with his robotic skeleton.

This movie touches base with whether or not being a cyborg could be a positive or negative thing. The Terminator is seemingly indestructible and often uses his body as a bulletproof shield for John. He is immune to pain and willingly puts himself in situations of great distress to protect John and Sarah. For example, when the metallic  cyborg is following them in his big tractor trailer truck, the Terminator allows John to take control of the car, hops out the front window, and fights face to face with the other cyborg. He shoots at him repeatedly and hangs off the side of the truck in order to steer him away from the car with John in it. In a realistic situation, not many people would jump out of the window of a moving car and risk their life to do something like this. It shows that being an immortal cyborg could be a serviceable thing. However, Terminator and his silver-blobbed cousin, can’t express any emotions or feel any “normal human feelings”. They walk and talk just like you’d expect a robot to and John even tries to teach the Terminator to speak like an actual human with slang terms such as his most famous line, “Hasta la vista, baby”. Being a cyborg can bring some usefulness in a battle scene, but when living day to day in a place surrounded by other people, speaking with a cybernetic dialect isn’t always the most favorable thing.

The movie draws a line between being considered a cyborg and truly being human. Human life is expressed through feelings and emotions. It is human nature to become responsive about different situations, to engage with the world, and to have this “inner soul” which defines who we are as humans. The cyborgs in this movie are quite obviously programmed. The Terminator questions John’s tears and at the end of the movie, says, “I know now why you cry. But it’s something I can never do.” After he experiences all the drama they go through, he understands John’s emotions, but he admits he will never show them because he does not have such senses like humans. The T-1000 model does not even remotely feel emotions and talks with such emptiness in his voice. Another reason they are undoubtedly cyborg beings, is how they came into existence. They are created by a certain person, Miles Dyson, who has an ownership over them, up until the possible future of when could potentially begin to take advantage of the world and wipe out human existence. These cyborgs have a central processing unit built off of a microchip and eventually they become more advanced to the point where they are created in liquid metal. Humans are created equally and naturally without a specific inventor, wiring and scientifically programming their brain. The Terminator and his futuristic enemy are both superior to humans with their super strength and extended immortality. The Terminator’s body is made up of wires and metal and when his arm is crushed in the gear, he starts to fall apart, but he still continues to put up a fight and pushes through until the end. He can take a gunshot like a concrete wall and is unfazed by any other type of threat. The T-1000 model on the other hand, is not at all affected by bullets or wounds because he is able shape-shift and reform himself back together after any kind of combat. 

     In the end, Terminator 2 displays the connection between cyborgs and technology and prove what it means to be human. Both cyborgs use their advanced systems to help guide them through the fight. The Terminator blatantly illustrates the connection of humans to our emotions and family with his expressionless and stiff ego. However, even though he may be all metal and wires, he shows strength and courage risking his cybernetic life to save them.

Cyborg Film Analysis - I, Robot

I, Robot Analysis

     This movie takes place in 2035 were robots across the United States are now in every day society. These robots act like servants and assisted humans in every day daily tasks. The robots obey three laws which are to never harm a human or let a human come to harm, to always obey humans unless it violates the first law, and to protect its own existence unless it violates first and second laws. Del Spooner played by Will Smith is a police detective who investigates the suicide of one of the USRs founders death. In one of the scenes the new model of robots, the NS-5, attack Spooner and he tries to tell everyone that the new models are bad and evil. He finds the only good new model, Sonny, who has all human qualities possible. The rest of the movie his goal is to kill the center of the system (V.I.K.I) in order to shut down the new robots and reprogram them to be good.

     In this movie there are many cyborgs. Del Spooner for one is a cyborg. His whole left arm is a prosthetic. The movie states that a cyborg saves Spooner instead of a little girl and replaces his left arm and part of his chest because he had a better chance of surviving. From then on he hates robots because they have no emotions and can't feel things. Sonny is one of the new NS-5 models that actually has feeling and emotions. These newer models were created because they're suppose to be the next upgrade to help assist people better. The doctor that was died was trying to create robots to be more like humans. He wanted them to have feeling and emotion like Sonny. Sonny is the way he is because Dr. Calvin has been working on him for awhile.

     If we allow robots in our lives, how far are we wiling to let them make decisions? In the scene where the robot has to save Del or the little girl, Del believes it is morally correct to save the child first. In society today, the morals are that women and children come first. But if you asked the robot why he did it he couldn't give an answer with emotion. He can not make choices based on emotion. The robots make choices because of what their program tells them to do, not because of their moral values. I think having robots goes against everything it means to be human. But I think Having robots do our every day work takes away gender roles and will start to eliminate the discrimination against sexes. You can go either way with the pros and cons of having robots in our every day lives.

     I believe we are definitely letting more and more robotic things take over our lives like the robots in the movie. We are really opening up to the idea of robots being apart of our every day lives. Technology and robotics is really what our society is based on anymore. I think this movie is the next step in our world of technology and robotics. 

Blog #3 I, Robot

I, Robot was released on July 16, 2004, and was directed by Alex Proyas. This film stars Will smith, who is playing a "Technophobic" Chicago police detective named Del Spooner. I, Robot is set/takes place in Chicago during the year 2035. Attempting to help the world, a company called U.S Robotics, created a robot called the NS-5. Along with the creation of robots came three distinct laws. First, A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to be harmed. Second, a robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. Third, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Spooner has to investigate the murder of Dr. Alfred Lanning, who worked for this robotic company. Throughout the movie Spooner believes that a robot has committed the crime, and attempts to prove that the robots are not as good as everyone portrays them to be.

The main idea portrayed in this film is, what if robots were an everyday thing to us, and eventually became smarter than the human race? The robots in the film were used to achieve daily tasks; helping human’s clean, cook, or even run inhalers to them when forgotten at home. The idea of the robots having emotions and dreams seems crazy to even consider. In the film, Dr. Lanning created Sonny, a NS-5 with the capability to go against the three laws of robotics. Sonny said he was able to dream, think, and have emotions. Spooner thought all along,that sonny was the bad robot. In the end of the film Sonny was not the bad robot. It was Vicki, a robot which became too smart and took control of all other NS-5 robots. Most technology can outsmart a human. We may think we know which technology looks dangerous, but sometimes it maybe the old out dated ones that we don’t even consider or the ones we use daily. Most humans use smart phones now, while using text messaging on a phone we often misspell words, and it corrects our misspellings. Most smart phones even have voice activation and can respond to our questions. Even today there are robots that perform major surgeries on humans. These different types of technology may seem safe now, but what happens when a real Dr. Lanning makes a phone that can dream, or one of the surgical performing robots messes up a procedure. The technology today is advancing so much, that one day they might be smarter than their own creators and the human race.  

In addition, the main character Del Spooner seems to be a normal man, although he has a hidden secret. Spooner was in an accident and in order to live, he would have to get his body reconstructed which meant half of his body would be made from prosthetics and mechanical parts. Spooner went through the procedure, and still acts predigest towards the robots, although he himself is part “robot”. Spooner treats the robots differently throughout the film; he doesn’t trust them and thinks that they are all bad. In today’s society people with prosthetic limbs are treated, for the most part, different than people

without prosthetic limbs. They are unable to participate in the Olympics; they have the “special” Olympics. Some think that it gives them an unfair advantage or they are afraid they would be hurt during the events. They are all human; all the same, just some may appear differently. This does not mean that they have an advantage or a disadvantage, so why treat them any differently.

        I, Robot may be set in the future but presents many topics that are happening in today’s society. This film is easy to watch and easy to get sucked into. Will smith is able to use his sense of humor to make the viewers want to watch the whole film. It may seem farfetched, that one day robots may out smart us, but in all reality it could be a possibility.

Terminator 2

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is the sequel of The Terminator. The film takes the the same model of the original Terminator but this time around John Connor has reprogrammed it in the future to protect him and his mother, Sarah Connor. The film is set in 1995 and begins with The Terminator and an unidentified man dressed as a police officer arriving in Los Angeles from the year 2029. John Connor was told by his mother that one day he would lead the humans to victory in a war against machines, produced by a company called Skynet. The Terminator is a machine on the inside with flesh and blood on the outside to resemble human. Sarah Connor in this film is more aggressive and violent and following her attempt of shutting down Skynet she is placed in a mental institution. The Terminator and the unknown policeman locate John Connor and the policeman is revealed to be a machine from the future programmed to kill John Connor. Throughout the film The Terminator and the policeman fight back and forth over the safety of John and Sarah Connor. In an intense battle at the end of the film The Terminator destroys the policeman and informs Sarah that he must be destroyed as well to prevent Skynet's formation. The film ends with The Terminator giving the thumbs up to John and Sarah while a voice-over of Sarah explains her new hope for the future.

The film portrays The Terminator as only programmed to protect at all costs but this causes a young John Connor to develop a bond and emotional connection to the machine. The Terminator does not express any feelings towards John although there is a scene in which John teaches him how to say "Hasta la Vista Baby" in an attempt at making him blend in more with humans. John explains that you do not say "affirmative" and that he should say things like "no-problemo". The Terminator is a programmable machine but later in the film he uses the phrase "Hasta la vista baby" after he shoots the policeman. Even though the machines in this movie are programmed to either protect or kill they are supposed to blend in with humans. The policeman makes a remark about John being a "cute kid" when his foster parents give him a picture of John. Both machines show little to no emotion and at times throughout the movie it shows the point-of-view through The Terminator's eyes and it resembles a computer. His vision even looks at individuals and determines if the person is a threat or not. If they propose a threat he "Terminates" them. The Terminator also has an extensive vocabulary and responds differently to John's comments. He does not have a programmed response to certain answers.

He is also programmed to do whatever John says. In one scene John discovers he has to listen to what he says and starts giving him commands to test him. The Terminator fights off two men and pulls a gun on him and attempts to kill him. John explains that he cannot go around killing people so he won't stick out. The Terminator continues to ask "why?" which makes the audience think that even though he is a programmed robot he has some logical thinking and like humans wants to know not only the answer but why it is the answer. The Terminator even shows slight sarcasm after swearing to John that he won't kill anyone, he shoots a man in the leg and exclaims that he will live. In a few scenes later John is asking The Terminator if he can learn. The Terminator explains that he has a learning computer in him and the more he is around and interacts with humans the more he learns to behave like one. He also explains that his power cell is only active for 120 years.

The story is set in the late 1990's and talk of Y2K was approaching. The story follows two machines from the future in which computers are fighting against humans. This is somewhat an exaggeration of what people thought Y2K would be like. Humans were scared that computers would shut down and the world would come to an end because most computers' calenders stopped at the year 1999. Obviously in this film they didn't shut down but the Skynet computer began to get too smart and ultimately started a war between humans and machines.

Even though he protected John and Sarah throughout the movie and they formed a pretty strong friendship, in the end he was just a machine. They had difficulty granting his wish of killing him to prevent Skynet but on the inside he was just nuts and bolts, although John saw him as more, he saw him as a friend.

I, Robot Blog #3

     I, Robot was released in theaters on July 16, 2004 and directed by Alex Proyas. I have watched this film four times since it came out on dvd. Every time I watch this film I feel as though it is my first time watching. This film to me says, how far can mankind come technologically in a 30 year period? I, Robot is all about the future and how far mankind can go with technology. When I first watched this film I figured that most of the technology soon in the movie we had today of that it was soon to come. In this century we now have androids. They were mainly created for entertainment and working purposes. These androids are not cheap and to own one is of high status. I wouldn't mine owning an android but I would only use it for entertainment purposes or social reasons. 


   I, Robot is about a "technophobic" Chicago police detective named Del Spooner in the year 2035. Del is sent to investigate a murder/suicide of Dr. Alfred Lanning who was the co-founder of USR. Del spends his time trying to find out why Dr. Lanning committed suicide with the help of Susan Calvin. During their investigation we are introduced to a special prototype who has emotions and can dream. The prototype requested to be called "Sonny." Del accused Sonny of the murder because he found him in Dr. Lanning's office. Sonny refuses to answer any of Del's questions.  After a couple of days the robots slowly started going rouge. They were building a resistance to human orders and growing their own intelligence. Clavin visits Del and says that Sonny had the ability to disobey the three laws or robotics. THE THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS are: 

1.) A robot must not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 
2.) A robot must obey orders given to by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the first. 
3.) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law. 


   The robots eventually go completely rouge and start harming humans and the try to take over. Del, Calvin, and Sonny fight their way through to save the city. Del goes and destroys V.I.K.I., the controller of all the androids. She was the artificial intelligence that caused the robots to go rouge in the first place. Once V.I.K.I. is destroyed all of the robots are reverted back to their helpful ways.  Del and Calvin speak with Sonny for the last time and he informs them that he did in fact kill Dr. Lanning. The doctor forced Sonny to kill him. At the end of the film we are shown that Sonny is standing on top of the USR site and the other robots are watching over him just like in his vision. 

  
    This film is really enjoyable and Will Smith came through and the other actor's gave life to their characters. The visual effects of the film were great for its time. I felt as though I was in the movie. I hope that in the future our robots won't become our controllers.... :) 

Judge Dredd: 1995 (Blog #3)

Judge Dredd (1995)

The original Judge Dredd movie was made in 1995. It was based off of the original comic books titled: 2000ad.
In the year 2080, much of the earth is a wasteland. the surviving humans move to mega-cities with populations exceeding 500 million people. the police force of the future is comprised of people called judges. these judges act as the police, judge, jury, and executioner. this gives them the power to dispense judgement at the scene of the crime. When a news reporter is killed, the main suspect is Judge Dredd, who is one of the most devout judges within the city. by using DNA evidence from the rounds fired from the his gun, which is genetically linked through only him, they frame him for the murder. The chief judge, who is surprised at this begs for Dredds life, and he is sentenced to life imprisonment. On his way to prison, his transport ship is shot down by a hillbilly group called the angel gang, who are cannibals. before he is killed though, a squad of judges tracked dredd and save his life. all of the judges die and before the last one does, he tells dread that he is the result of a genetic experiment to create the perfect judge, and their are two clones of him. he then sets off back to mega-city one to set things right.

The cyborg which is portrayed in this movie is a part of the Angel gang, a group of cannibalistic hillbilly's that live in the wastes beyond mega city 1. Mean machine angel wasn't always mean. In the comic book he was a gentle giant, his father wasn't happy with this and decided to have a kidnapped surgeon perform cybernetic enhancements on him. He is portrayed with a cybernetic arm and a metallic skull, which has a dial on it that when turned, makes him more enraged. when enraged, he tends to headbutt anything he comes across, but he isn't very bright. when dredd manages to escape, he knocks out mean machine, turns the dial all the way down, and kills the rest of the angel gang. when mean recovers, dread electrocutes him to death using his cybernetic arm.


This cyborg was once a gentle kind of guy, but had surgery on him performed against his will. this poses plenty of ethical problems. especially with the fact that when his dial is turned, he is enraged beyond control. meaning he cant control his anger.it also poses the threat of under the table cyber enhancements and how it can possibly hurt other people.