PHIL 3310. Exploring the philosophical, ethical, spiritual, existential, social, and personal implications of a godless universe, and supporting their study at Middle Tennessee State University & beyond.
Last year two pieces of media dealt with androids with feelings. One, Blade Runner 2049, was... less than good, but it had one half of a thoughtful movie exploring an android protagonist that was not supposed to have feelings, a 'companion' artificial intelligence that very clearly did (or at least was programmed to seem to). The second I'm thinking of is a video game, NieR: Automata, which starts with this opening monologue from one of the main characters, "Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped in a never-ending spiral of life and death. Is this a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the god that blessed us with this cryptic puzzle... and wonder if we'll ever have the chance to kill him." Where the new Blade Runner dealt with an android character trying to find an all too human way in a human world that he was not designed to experience, NieR's theme seems to be the inevitability of intelligent beings being human-like, even robotic beings not designed to as they struggle with the emergence of feelings and emotions while struggling to find a sense of purpose. They both seem to want to say that part of sentience is feeling, that reason will inevitably be partnered with emotion. That, as Blade Runner 2049 puts it, "Dying for the right cause. It's the most human thing we can do." Maybe the search for purpose brings emotion? Or the other way around, maybe. I don't know, so have a pretty song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egn_VNVKzI4
James, Thank you for sharing that link. I really enjoyed listening to that. And while she may be "only one girl," girls grow up to become courageous women and their words are meaningful as we have seen by them standing up to Dr. Nassar, the former gymnastics team doctor at Michigan State University and now the complicit administration.
Agreed. Though with the existential themes of the game, with every character very much struggling to dig meaning and identity out of or beyond the role they've been cast (literally designed and built for), I think the lyric is intended to be universal. But yes, I think the theme of a woman bravely standing up for herself is dang timely.
Would we want to? Are emotions what lead us to our greater virtues, or our greater sins?
ReplyDeleteLast year two pieces of media dealt with androids with feelings. One, Blade Runner 2049, was... less than good, but it had one half of a thoughtful movie exploring an android protagonist that was not supposed to have feelings, a 'companion' artificial intelligence that very clearly did (or at least was programmed to seem to). The second I'm thinking of is a video game, NieR: Automata, which starts with this opening monologue from one of the main characters,
Delete"Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped in a never-ending spiral of life and death. Is this a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the god that blessed us with this cryptic puzzle... and wonder if we'll ever have the chance to kill him."
Where the new Blade Runner dealt with an android character trying to find an all too human way in a human world that he was not designed to experience, NieR's theme seems to be the inevitability of intelligent beings being human-like, even robotic beings not designed to as they struggle with the emergence of feelings and emotions while struggling to find a sense of purpose.
They both seem to want to say that part of sentience is feeling, that reason will inevitably be partnered with emotion. That, as Blade Runner 2049 puts it, "Dying for the right cause. It's the most human thing we can do." Maybe the search for purpose brings emotion? Or the other way around, maybe.
I don't know, so have a pretty song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egn_VNVKzI4
James, Thank you for sharing that link. I really enjoyed listening to that. And while she may be "only one girl," girls grow up to become courageous women and their words are meaningful as we have seen by them standing up to Dr. Nassar, the former gymnastics team doctor at Michigan State University and now the complicit administration.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Though with the existential themes of the game, with every character very much struggling to dig meaning and identity out of or beyond the role they've been cast (literally designed and built for), I think the lyric is intended to be universal. But yes, I think the theme of a woman bravely standing up for herself is dang timely.
Delete