Roomba

The Roomba, for those unaware, is a little deep-dish-pizza-sized automaton that roams around your home and vacuums the floor before returning to its charging station. The Roomba's only requirement for human interaction is to empty its dust collection vessel occasionally. I think the Roomba wonderfully illustrates the modern culture we have grown accustomed to.

Like all technological innovations, the Roomba was created to improve our lives. In this case, by sparing it's owner of the tedious task of cleaning their home. I think quite a few people would scoff at something such as this and complain about how lazy people are. I've never quite understood this mentality. It always seemed self righteous-- would you really prefer to sweep your floors when you could be doing anything else you want? For me, its hard to imagine a future where many simple tasks aren't completed autonomously, and I would definitely let a robot sweep my floors (maybe not for 500 dollars but that's a different question).

Commonly, people argue that devices such as this will progress and people will be out of work because a robot can do their job much better. Again, I think this is a bunk point. I am no economist but I would think that if manufacturing becomes cheaper then the cost of commodities goes down. Lower prices mean people work less but continue to live the same lifestyle. Sounds pretty good to me.

Ultimately, this would progress to a world where commodities are of little to no value. Without economic competition, international relations would improve drastically and perhaps even world peace could be achieved. Humanity would be left to its own desires. "If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars", a rather fitting quote from Carl Sagan.

Ava, Ex Machina

My choice of robot is Ava from the thriller movie Ex Machina. Speaking of the robot as a metaphor that allows us to think about or question what “human” means, Ava perfectly exemplifies the blurry boundary between human being and robots and questions us what is so unique about us that makes us human. Ava is a robot of contemporary technology and concepts of robots. She is more human-like. She doesn’t have super power. She is created for the pure academic research on whether we human could create true artificial intelligence with emotions and souls by the famous Turing Test.

Alex Garland, writer of 28 Days Later and Sunshine, makes his directorial debut with Ex Machina in 2015. The protagonist, Caleb Simth is a programmer at an internet-search giant. He gets to spend a week at the private mountain estate of the company’s founder and reclusive CEO, Nathan Bateman, by winning a company competition. Caleb learns that Nathan has chosen him to be the human component in a Turing Test-charging him with evaluating the capabilities, and ultimately the consciousness, of Nathan’s latest experiment in AI, which is Ava. Ava’s emotional intelligence proves more sophisticated and deceptive than the two men could have imagined. Nathan gave Ava one single task when conducting/participating the Turing Test with Caleb – escape. During the test, Ava uses all sorts of techniques and uses Caleb to fall in love with her and try to fulfill the mission. At the end, Ava kills Nathan with the help of another AI in the house, locks Caleb in the disabled control room of the house without any supply, and leaves the house for the real human world with a new identity. Ava finishes her mission and is able and willing to remove all the roadblocks to reach her goal. On one hand, she is not capable of love, something we human value the most in life. On the other hand, she has her own desire and ambition to fulfill after her mission and her goal become one.

Contemporary technologies and concepts of robots creates AI that are more like ourselves. Instead of armed with guns and laser swords, these robots are more complicated in their emotions. During the movie, I was skeptical about the creation and origin of Ava. I thought Nathan killed a woman and implanted her thoughts into a robot after erasing her memories. That is how sophisticate and deceptive Ava is. I thought she was a real person. Ava challenges me and everyone else the preconsumptions of human being. I am well convinced that she will succeed in the real world with what she is capable of when she escapes from the house. So, what makes us human when robots do a better job at our most unique characteristics as human beings? At the end of the day, this is an ongoing question we should all strive to answer.

Humans are Robots

In today's society, humans are becoming more and more like robots because of the use and advancement of cell phones. Now that cell phones are more advanced, you can use your phones for many things. You can call, text, surf the web, navigate your way around, and many other things. Because phones now come with many apps, people are even more hooked to it. People are mindlessly on their phones all they time and many use that as their main form of communication. It's not like we are robots because we use our phones, but in a way our phones are robots, controlling us. When we're hungry, most of the time we use our phones to find a place to eat instead of asking around. When we get lost we don't ask for directions anymore, we just get on the GPS. There has been so many times where I have known my way around a place but my friend will still turn on her GPS just to be "safe". Most of the time there are quicker inside routes but she chooses to follow her GPS anyways. She's doesn't pay attention to street names or her surroundings and just blindly follows her phone's navigation, even after knowing it'll take her the long way. From her being so use to using the GPS, she'll never learn the area on her own. The cell phone controls the way we see the world. If a certain food place isn't listed, we'll probably never try it. We won't even know that the place exists because we're so glued to our phones, we live in it.

This is a concern because one day humans are gonna use their phones for everything that it's pretty much thinking and making decisions for us. Also our in person communication skills are going to suck. There are so many people already that don't know how to communicate unless it's over phone or web. This does challenges the presuppositions of what a human is. Humans think, feel, make decision, and communicate. But if this device is doing this for us, won't that make us the machine instead of the actual machine?   

Baymax

The robot I choose to stand for contemporary figure of robot is Baymax in Big Hero 6. After watching this movie, I feel the figure of robot in nowadays society has changed. They become funnier, cuter and friendlier with people, or because people today want the robot figures like this. Some robots that are funnier and friendlier than before become more and more popular than other characters, for example, Bumblebee in Transformers, WALL·E, and Baymax are all the cute and funny robot, but people like them more. Therefore, the attitude human has towards robots has changed today. Human believe robots can be friends of us, and robots could help us and live with us happily, like Baymax and Hiro in the film. Also, Robots are more human-like, they would have some emotions, like Baymax, he knows to take care of Hiro, to protect Hiro and to work with Hiro and protect the world, robots today are no longer like the killer in the terminator.

In addition, the weapons Baymax and Hiro use in Big Hero 6 reflect the development of technologies comparing to old days. Baymax wears a suit that can fly and fight like Iron Man and all the other super heroes, but some robots in old days, they move slowly and mechanic.

I, Robot

The film "I,robot" offers many examples of how a man-made robot can represent common anxieties and fears of society. The first example that I thought of was the fact that the climax of the movie shows the robots as a unified and menacing force, being controlled by an omniscient force. At one point, they cannot even function without the guidance of VIKI, an artificially intelligent computer that goes rogue. This aspect of the movie makes me think about modern day society and how as a college student, many of us have anxious thoughts about ending up in a career where we are stuck in a cubicle and may feel helpless in our attempts to control our day to day activities as we perform tasks and follow orders of a boss or CEO that we rarely see. The menacing and depressing idea of hopelessness that is portrayed in the film is all to relevant in the modern world of capitalism.

Another aspect of the movie that may be seen as a metaphor for today's society is the eventual destruction of advancement as the society portrayed in the film as they revert back to a more functional society. Although the timing makes it a stretch, this can be compared to today's international affairs. As the tension between religious groups, countries and social and economic issues grow, it is only a matter of time before we have no choice but to reflect on our humanities past and revert back to idealizations that have proved healthier than the current world order. An example, the tolerance the MLK fought for could be related to the battle that the homosexual community is striving for.  

Current Day Robot

When I think of present day examples of robots within our society's views, the first one that comes to mind is WALL-E. The fact that the idea of a robot within our universe being portrayed in a film oriented towards children really makes it stand out among other potential examples. The movie takes place hundreds of years in the future where humans do not care about the destruction they are causing to the environment. In fact, WALL-E is one of the last robots left, with its job being to clean the trash that the humans have carelessly left behind as they now live in a spaceship. The humans are completely dependent on technology up in space for the better or the worse. This recent film came out during a time when humans have become more and more attached to technology, including things like their phone and computers to cope with their daily life. This movie questions just how far society should push it with society.

The biggest theme presented in this movie seems to be fear itself. The fear that humans can get to the point that they need technology to survive and continue on as a race. The humans on the space ship in this movie have become obese and unhealthy due to not having any need to do any physical labor or live a healthy lifestyle. This results in the them forgetting about the great joys and feelings that use to exist within a society that was not dependent on technology.

WALL-E does seems to question what it means to be human in a unique way. It presents the idea of humans being so lazy and becoming almost unidentifiable compared to what people used to be without technology. The movie comes out at a great time as humans become more and more dependent on technology and are losing skills such as socializing and acting without technology's assistance. The fact that it is an animated film geared towards children can hopefully put a lasting image in the younger audience's minds that humans must not become extremely dependent on technology without losing some core values.

R2D2

When you think of robots and androids, it is hard not to imagine the vast universe of Star Wars. Not only is the series wildly popular world-wide, but it features so many different characters and species, including robotic heroes and villains. And one of the most famous of these robotic characters is the little astromech droid, R2D2. The little droid, from the very beginning, made a habit of going places that he shouldn't, and doing things that other droids would gawk at. From the beginning of the first movie, R2D2's first action is to disobey his companion C3PO's warnings, enter a secluded part of the ship they are traveling on, and then use an escape pod to evade the Empire forces. R2D2 plays against the idea of an ever-obeying robot, showing that even though he can only "speak" in beeps and whistles, the droid exhibits advanced thought and planning, and constantly aids his allies in their battles. R2 is a heroic robot, one that doesn't raise much thought in-universe; but fans find themselves asking "How can such a little droid get into so much trouble?" The droid shows quite a bit of free-will, a feature that is never spoken of in the series. C3PO, in comparison, is a docile android who only wishes to serve his master; the robot constantly complains about the mischief of R2, and the danger that his master gets into. C3PO is smart and sophisticated, but is obviously held back by his ever-obeying status. R2D2 doesn't speak but instead expresses his thought through his actions. If he is impatient, he will disobey commands and leave; if he is happy, he will wobble back and forth excitedly. R2D2 is closer to being human than his android counterpart, as he exhibits the emotions of a human far better, and constantly shows that he exhibits some amount of free will.