Man vs. machine is a
basic scenario in modern day motion pictures; in the next 2000 years robots
will devour the natural resources on the planet earth. Various movies such as The Matrix and I, Robot have been released with this story line that underlines
the fear and expectations society has for the future of robot technology.
Technology is distinctively created to make lives of human easier in
communication, education, and entertainment. Everyday machines are becoming
more like humans and movies emphasize this process. Will technology on day
advance so far that it becomes smarter than its creator? For years society has
become dependent on technology that through movies it is understood that in
life instead of humans controlling the computers, cell phones and iPods these
“robots” are controlling us.
This idea that countless movies depict usually seem to
draw attention whether the audience agrees with the outrageous synopsis of
technology or not. This maybe because the underlining messages that the plot
demonstrates throughout the movie. In Sherry Turkle’s article “Can You Hear Me
Now?” she states,
“To make more time means
turning off our devices, disengaging from the always on culture. But this is
not a simple proposition, since our devices have become more closely coupled to
our sense of our bodies and increasingly feel like extensions of our minds”
(230).
The author is explaining
that these devices have become so important in our lives that it is nearly
impossible to live without. This attachment toward electronics can begin the
control the way we interact in society.
Technology can also be thought of as more than just a computer but also
something that is living when it is referred to as “dying” or “dead.”
In the short story entitled the Veldt Ray Bradbury describes a futuristic family whose lives depend
on the function of the thirty thousand dollar house. Every need, want, and
entertainment they could imagine is provided in this house from cooking their
meals and rocking them to sleep at night to bathing and dressing their bodies.
Inside the house there is what they call the nursery, which is a machine
powered toy where the children use their thought process to create a life like
world within the room itself. They have created scenes similar to Alice and
wonderland, Aladdin, the rain forest, and many other places. In this short
story the children create Africa; you can feel the hot sun beat on the back of
your neck, watch lions devour a carcass in the in the distance. The smell of
the grass plains and blood roams throughout the room and screams can be heard
if you listen close enough. This nursery room becomes an extension of the
children’s lives and when their parents threaten to turn it off, the children
become angry crying out “please don’t kill the room; you cannot let the room
die” (12). The children had become so attached to the room that it became the
most important aspect of their lives; even more important than their own
parents. At the end of the story it hints to the audience that the lions in the
room eat and kill their parents and because the children saw that simulated for
weeks they were numb to the process. The behavior of the children was not
appropriate and they did not know how to function in normal society; the
function of the room began to control their thought process. This story might
be farfetched but the idea is current because in our cars and cellular devices
we refer to the battery as “dead” when it no longer works. The Veldt only underlines what path we maybe on if this cycle
continues.
This sense of “control” makes machine the dominate
species because everyone feels the need to be plugged in and that is clearly
portrayed in the movie I, Robot. There
is a particular scene where Will Smith is driving his car and in this time
period there are automatic cars that drive themselves if the specific
destination is typed in. The main character Del Spooner (Will Smith) is
considered a techno-phobic so he was equipped to operate his car manually. During this scene there is accident where the
robots attack Del’s car and the only reason he managed to live was because he
drove himself out of the situation. When he attempts to explain the accident to
the police, but they do not believe him because the mess was cleaned of the
rode and he does not have evidence. The most relevant argument that was
proposed was, “what did I tell you about driving yourself?” This question
proposes that Del Spooner and every other human being are too obsolete to
operate a car manually. This thought dehumanizes our race and gives power to
the machines. Everyday our society gives power to machinery and a key example
is spell check. Americans operate through spell check and any person is able to
write novels, poems and autobiographies without knowing how to spell a single
word because spell check has made us obsolete in that field.
Robots in normal life do not have direct control of
society like movies such as the Matrix
but there is an indirect control. In the Matrix
the only way an individual is under control is if they are taped in or feed
into societies “norms”. Across the world people are taped into their cell
phones, Facebook pages and iPods. These “robots” soon enough become life lines,
friends through social networking and etc. Life like characteristics are given
to these devices and everyday machines become more like human. This is due to
the fact there is a social need for people to always have a direct link to
their friends and family. This link draws another link to the machine itself
and it acts as an extension of the person using it.
Robotic movies give a lot of insight to how much
technology has grown and how much it will continue to grow in the future. There
is also insight to what is going on in our present; there is too much power
given to devices that disrupt are life and they become a necessity to function
in mordern society. Technology is also a good thing because we have advanced
far in the last 60 years but it can become overwhelming to "constantly be
tapped into The Martrix".
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