Alex Perry
11/20/09
English 101 (8am)
Critical Essay
Mankind has always been fascinated with technology, but can it become dangerous?
Americans believe technology is a way to a luxurious life and believe that the more advanced it
is, the better the quality of their lives will be. Nevertheless, many assume that at the rate
technology is advancing, it could bring the end to all of human life. The American media,
especially the movie industry takes advantage of this theory and easily scares audiences into
believing that all technology should be feared. As Astro Teller from the New York Times
quoted, “The popular media portrays artificial intelligence as one of the heights of human
accomplishment, but also as an inevitable catalyst for the downfall of our species. From
Frankenstein through HAL to "The Terminator," our culture enjoys wallowing in the fear of our
creations.” An ever increasing number of films are capitalizing on this fear, frightening
audiences even more. It is a growing concern today with films such as Eagle Eye with a super
computer developing a thought and decides to eliminate the President of the United States of
America and his cabinet members. In The Matrix, mankind is imprisoned in a semi-comatose
state in a virtual world and is used as an energy source. American films portray new concepts or
something in development into a negative light and create fear that greatly impacts the people.
A movie surrounding the issue is Terminator Two Judgment Day directed by James
Cameron. The film starts eleven years after the original Terminator took place. The protagonist,
Sarah Conner, is a patient in a mental hospital and her son, John Conner, is under foster care
while causing mischief. A machine-controlled company named Skynet is losing a war with
humans in the future and sends a terminator known as the T-1000 back in time to kill John
Conner who will become the leader of a rebellion. Legendary Austrian actor Arnold
Schwarzenegger is back and is sent to the past again as a terminator identical to the one that tried
to eliminate Sarah Conner, but his new mission is to protect the son at all cost. After later freeing
Sarah Conner from the hospital, both her and the terminator band together to help protect John
and save the human race. The future is shown in an apocalyptic world with machines killing
mankind. Easily this movie can scare any audience member to the point of fearing technology. A
growing number of films similar to this one have the same premise about how this culture views
technology.
Before the Terminator series there were many of films that had the same conflict with
advanced technology, but only a certain few affected the American psyche. One that was a real
breakthrough in the phenomenon in American cinema was Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space
Odyssey. This was a movie that influenced audiences in planting the seed of fear of advancing
technology. A five-member crew is sent out to Jupiter after discovering a signal had been sent
there from the monolith that gave humankind a start in evolution. The mission is controlled by
the sixth member that is a super computer called the HAL-9000. After knowing the mission
entirely, HAL becomes fearful of being obsolete and decides to eliminate fellow crew members
to halt the mission. In the end, the last crew member Dave manually shuts down the computer
and sets off to finish the journey to see what is receiving the signals. This film was the first to
suggest that artificial intelligence could develop emotions. Another cult favorite is director
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Unlike the conflict being about robots, this was about humans
creating genetically engineered human replicants. Four replicants called the Nexus-6 which had
the advantage of being superior in strength, agility, and intellect hijacked a spaceship and came
back to earth. The group developed human emotions unlike what each were designed to do and
searched for a cure to prolong their four-year lifespan. The main character Rick Dekard, played
by Harrison Ford, is out of retirement to eliminate this threat of replicants. Unlike 2001: A Space
Odyssey, this film depicted a bleak future with the world in industrially compressed scenery that
was more depressing to the audience than hopeful for what might become of the world. These
fear-inducing movies were the first generation of films which still today continue to give rise to
the fear of technology.
Since the release of these films, many others have had the same premise, but expand it
further. One film concerned with machines ruling over humans is The Matrix. The movie
continued to probe what would happen after the machines had overthrown the human race. Each
human is imprisoned in a realistic virtual reality while the machines harvest them for the energy
to continue functioning. A small group of human rebels that had been freed try to reenter into the
virtual world to combat the machines and free the human race from their slavery. Another
modern film that branched from the classic Isaac Asimov novel is I, Robot. The film discussed
about how robots have moral principles. For example, a robot may not injure a human being or
through inaction allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey any orders given to it
by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first principle, and a robot
must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or
second principle (Asimov). One unique robot named Sunny violated the first principle and
through an investigation the protagonist Del Spooner, played by Will Smith, goes deeper into
what turns into the start of the uprising of machines. These modern films branched off from The
Terminator series and others before it. If looking into other cultures such as Japan where
technology is more advanced, the idea of artificial intelligence and self-aware robots is changed
dramatically.
The country has been the leading nation in the technology field. Many great advances
came from Japan such as videogame consoles, fuel efficient vehicles, and robots. In comparison
to this western culture, the people do not fear self-aware robots but rather embrace the thought of
it. Mainly in animation, many shows developed the use of self-aware robots and artificial
intelligence as being beneficial to humans. The beginning was the popular television show that
later turned into a film in America called Astroboy. A robot is built by the world’s best scientist
to be a likeness to his son. The robot named Astro is then used to fight crime and injustice. It
expresses with the message about robots being good or evil depending on whom or what made
them and their idea of wanting to change the world. Many other television shows and movies
took that message and it is currently being used today. Another Japanese animation that
continues with that idea was the show Android Kikaider. The plot for that show is a robot
designed by a scientist that was originally constructed for a terrorist organization, but this model
was installed with a circuitry that made it more human, deciding between good or bad decisions.
Throughout the episodes, the robot known as Kikaider is trying to protect people while still
trying to live as a regular. The show had Kikaider as a fighting robot that battles the evil
organization that he was originally designed for and destroys the evil robots controlled by the
group. Through these and other examples of television shows and films, the typical japanese
believes that how the robot acts is determined by how the person who created the being will act.
If the creator is good or evil, then the robot would do the same. If comparing to other nations that
have prosperous technological advances, western culture, especially America, tend to be highly
afraid of artificial intelligence and robotic creations.
It could be from the lack of understanding of the issue and not knowing about the future
that gives Americans the fear of highly intelligent robotic creations. This culture fears
destruction and robots taking control over mankind is example of it. The established phobia with
self-aware robots and artificial intelligence might be caused from the unknown. Throughout
history mankind has feared something such as diseases, certain types of people, ideals, and now
advanced technology. “It is natural for survival to cause fear and paranoia. It is our nature to
fear the unknown and to fear the usurper. If it is false to call this natural, it is at least historically
valid. In our modern times we fear ourselves less and less as our own technology becomes our
fear” (Jerrod 2). If there is no control over how artificial intelligence is created, then it could
possibly end up the way films predict it. Scientists from America and parts of Europe came
together and discussed this growing issue. It is believed if putting more time into making
regulations just like the ethical and clinical trials for new drugs before released to the public
should be the same for machines (Arlidge 1). Many of these fears are caused from skepticisms
and approximations and not from true and decisive facts.
The media have consistently used fear as a device to influence mankind’s frame of mind.
That same topic is then used in American cinema as a way of a cultural fear. After watching
these films one can develop apprehension over the avowing power of technology and artificial
intelligence becoming developing widely enough to lead to our destruction. The Terminator
series is a fine example of machines overthrowing their creators. Although the thought of
artificial intelligence becoming better and making self-aware robots might in actuality be
beneficial, many films have depicted it otherwise.
There is no reason why self-aware robots will develop to be evil and hate
humanity. There is a good chance that the robots may decide to help humans.
Along with becoming self-aware, they may also become sympathetic to us.
Robots do not feel tired and can easily be repaired if necessary. There is nothing
to fear. We should be proud of our achievements in robotics and artificial
intelligence. (Awesom-o 1)
If correct then both humans and machines are capable of making the world better. The future of
artificial intelligence and robotic creations is far from perfect and only time will tell whether it
will become an apocalyptic world like in The Terminator series, or more toward Japan’s vision
of utopia. This future is constructed by today’s scientists and programmers that have the power
of easily shaping what the world will become.
Works Cited
Arlidge, John. "Scientists Fear a Revolt by Killer Robots." Time Online. Time Newspapers,
2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2009. <http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/
article6736130.ece>.
Asimov, Isaac. I, Robot . Alex Proyas. Davis Entertainment Company, 2004. Film.
Awesom-o. Weblog post. Our fear of robots . N.p., 16 Aug. 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2009. <http://
smart-machines.blogspot.com/2009/08/our-fear-of-robots.html>.
Cameron, James, dir. Terminator Two Judgment Day. TriStar Pictures, 1991. Film.
Clarke, Arthur. 2001: A Space Odyssey . Stanley Kubrick. Warner Brothers, 1968. Film.
Fry, Carrol. "From Technology to Transcendence: Humanity's Evolutionary Journey in 2001: A
Space Odyssey." Fall 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Nov. 2009.<http://
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Ishinomori, Shotaro. Android Kikaider. Yasutada Nagano. 1972. Film.
Jerrod. Weblog post. Why Do We Fear Artificial Intelligence? Factoidz: bite-sized knowledge,
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intelligence/>.
Scott, Ridley, dir. Bladerunner. Ladd Company , 1982. Film.
Teller, Astro. "Smart Machines, and Why We Fear Them." New York Times on the Web. Astro
Teller, 26
Tezuka, Osamu, dir. Astro boy. Mushi Production, 1963. Film.
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2009. <http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~astro/nytimes.html>.
Wachowski, Andy, dir. The Matrix. Warner Brothers, 1999. Film.