Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Why Robots are Inherently Depressing with references

Many of these are also true for any non-human sentient beings (aliens, animals, the undead)
1. They can live forever and outlast humanity. (A.I., WALL-E)
2. They can be damaged/disfigured without pain. (A.I., Alien(s))
3. They can become stuck in infinite, meaningless loops. (A.I., WALL-E)
4. They do not know they are robots. (A.I., Blade Runner, Battlestar Galatica)
5. They readily sacrifice themselves to protect humans/act benevolently without reward. (WALL-E, The Iron Giant, Terminator 2,3, Aliens, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Star Trek)
6. They are designed to do one thing. (WALL-E, A.I., Terminator, ... basically all robots)
7. They are created for their utility and are readily disposable. (WALL-E, A.I., ... again, basically all robots)
8. They do not understand the fragility of living beings and harm those they love. (A.I., The Iron Giant)
9. They make us question the uniqueness of human consciousness/emotion. (A.I., Blade Runner)
10. Their love is real but they are not. (A.I., WALL-E)
11. They can be easily reset losing their personality/soul. (WALL-E)
12. Their eyes are glazed over and look dead inside. (A.I., WALL-E)
13. They can lose their free-will. (WALL-E)
14. Sometimes they cause the apocalypse and/or turn against us. (I, Robot, The Matrix, Terminator, WALL-E, Battlestar Galatica, 2001: A Space Odyssey)
15. They die very slowly. (A.I.)

Winner: WALL-E

Thanks for post idea V.

1 comment:

Victoria said...

Glad I could inspire such a good post!