Cop 2 Essay

Katie Wade How has Artificial Intelligence’s representation in the Science Fiction Film Genre developed over the last century in relation to modern day technological developments?

“No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be” – Issac Asimov, Asimov On Science Fiction (1981).

For as long as mankind has existed we have been an apex predator, with the power and intelligence to shape the world to our own unique preferences and to bend the will of almost every mammal that lived alongside us. We have been thus far unchallenged in our position but as time progresses mankind wonders, what beings could take this position from us? These intrigues manifest themselves in a variety of ways such as science fiction novels, plays and films alike but the medium I will be focusing on the most is the science fiction film genre and how films are used to represent and grow these ideas. Specifically I will be looking at how we have created a villain, an obsession, within something that has only in the last few years come to manifest physically in the technological world - Artificial Intelligence.

The date is January 25th 1921. This date is significant as it marks the day that Karel Capeks play R.U.R (Rossum’s Universal Robots) is first performed and the word Robot is first used to describe Artificial Beings. Derived from the word “Robota” meaning “work” in Slovak, many consider Capek to be the first to introduce the concept of artificial beings to the world and to lay out the basis for hundreds of science fiction films and novella to follow “only a pedant would refuse Čapek honors as the father of the robot apocalypse” Rubin, 2011.

The 1920’s gave birth to the concept of artificial intelligence, the film Metropolis (1927) following shortly after Capeks play being the first to show robots on screen to a wider audience. This is our first insight into the representation of A.I in the science fiction film genre. Technology in the 1920’s stretched as far as silent movies, radio and Henry Ford’s assembly line so robots were more of a futuristic fancy than an actual threat at this time; however Maria-robot was still depicted in Metropolis as a villain. Under a human’s control Maria-Robot infiltrated the city under the guise of being human to seek destruction, eventually meeting her demise as the worker’s tied her up and burnt the robot, outing her as a witch. This treatment of A.I shows that science fiction and humankind was quick to deem A.I a threat, by implanting the idea in the audience’s mind that Artificial life is easily manipulated and when left on it’s own mindlessly destructive “there can be no understanding between the hand and the brain unless the heart acts as mediator” Snyder, 2007. This left the audience to assume that A.I is completely under our control but dangerous when left to its own devices. This set a template for robots to come and inspired many science fiction films. As you can see from Image A, The Maria Robot was very human centred in her appearance, inheriting the silhouette of a female but separating herself from humanity by her lack of flesh and hair (although this is given to her later in the film in order for her to infiltrate the city). The Maria Robot’s stance is rigid and upright, suggesting a lack of personality and a lack of physical weakness.

Robot design and behaviours also followed suit over the next few decades with other robot designs being tested out however one of the most memorable being George Lucas’s C3po.

Introduced to the audiences in 1977, Star Wars A New Hope displayed a range of robots as characters, one of the most noteable being C3Po. C3po inherited The Maria Robot’s most obedient traits and became the faithful sidekick to the human hero, Luke Skywalker. Although through the earliest concept designs created by Ralph McQuarrie it is safe to assume that C3Po is based visually on The Maria Robot ( see image B) however his character is portrayed completely differently.

Rather than being defiant, C3Po is shown to be a helpful obedient robot who often exhibits fear at situations he is not

in control in “It wasn’t my fault, sir, please don’t deactivate me.”(Stephey, 2007). An interesting factor of C3po’s creation is his speech, whereas Metropolis’ Maria- Robot was in a silent film her character could only be portrayed through movement. C3po’s script has him constantly addressing humans in hierarchal terms such as “Master Luke” and “Sir” which displays to the audience that robots are treated more like slaves than they are equals. He is an aid to the hero of the movie rather than having an independent role. This representation echoes the attitude towards technological advancements at the time, in the 1970’s we were only just beginning to experiment with basics, 1970 saw the birth of video games which were on a basic level of intelligence and saw humans send up voyager 1 and 2 into space as probes.

George Lucas’s representation of robots in this era helped spark confidence and intrigue in technology within the human race as he highlighted the potential benefits to us through a futuristic science fiction film medium.

However Star Wars was one of the only films at the time to show robot intelligence in a relatively positive light. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) welcomed a whole new era of robot into the public’s imagination.

In 1968, technology was still being explored. Irving Good, who worked alongside Turing in the development of computers, was also a consultant to Stanley Kubrick on supercomputers when he was directing 2001:A Space Odyssey. Good is well known as the originator of a concept referred to as “intelligence explosion” which is an idea that runs throughout 2001: A Space Odyssey. This concept focuses on the idea that man kind will create an A.I that is smarter than himself and that A.I, will then go on to create another ‘ultra’ intelligent machine even smarter than itself, “a ultra intelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make, provided that the machine is docile enough to tell us how to keep it under control” (Good, I.J, 1965). This concept is explored within A Space Odyssey as the supercomputer HAL has become hyper aware and holds more control over the humans life than they do “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that” (1968). This representation of robot was one of the first of it’s kind, where traditional science fiction films established a prescient that a human’s physical strength should be enough to triumph, 2001:A Space Odyssey addressed the fact that artificial intelligence could potentially control a human’s life. This echoed the negative attitudes to technology at the time strongly, as factories began appearing around the country with more and more machinery inside them to help their human colleagues, the need for human presence was less than it had been during wartime.

With developments in technology, the attitude towards robots and artificial intelligence began to shift. In the 1980’s there were more inventions and people began to start seeing technology as something that could aid them rather than hinder them. This boost in confidence in the human race allowed for another film showing negative representation of artificial intelligence to be made to rally alongside. James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984) showed off a new kind of robot, A T-800 “terminator”. Instead of being placid and subservient, the T-800 was built with the intention to undertake any means necessary in order to kill Sarah Connor which would result in total robot domination in the future. This turn about in physical robot representation was deemed culturally, historically and aesthetically significant to be entered into the American National Film Registry. It changed audience’s views on robots, having seen very few robots prior being able to challenge humans physically; The Terminator was a villain and a scary prospect that represented society’s fear at the time of technology progressing beyond us. Although not being physically present in the film Skynet was the real villain in the Terminator series, acting as an omniscient presence that was relentless in its intention to wipe out humanity. This was again echoing Good’s “intelligence explosion” theory almost 20 years after it was devised.

Humanity hasn’t always acknowledged or accepted A.I as the natural evolution of our species but slowly with the development of technological advances in this day and age combined with their increasing inclusion within films we have started to see the potential in A.I. As modern technology has developed, creations such as Siri, Social Media and medical machines are now beginning to adapt to predict what we want, whether that is learning our voices, learning our shopping habits or being able to complete small medical operations more accurately than our own two hands. We are gradually coming towards a realization that our creations might surpass us and our abilities to sustain our life force “we need to understand that five hundred years of humanism may be coming to an end as humanism transforms itself into something we must helplessly call post-humanism” Hassan, 1977.This attitude is represented in more recent science fiction films such as The Matrix (1999) which displays an apocalyptic A.I dystopian future in which sentient machines having created a reality for the

human population enabling them to harvest electricity and warmth from the bodies. The Matrix is a visual accumulation of thoughts and conversations had by technological specialists about the possibility of Artificial intelligence surpassing us “Apocalyptic A.I advocates promise that in the very near future technological progress will allow us to build supremely intelligent machines and to copy our own minds into machines so we can live forever in a virtual realm of cyberspace” (Geraci 2010). In the field there is a strong agreement that Artificial Intelligence is the gateway to improving the human race, mostly in three main areas: life span, cognition and emotion.

As mentioned earlier, Humans are currently the top of the earth’s food chain as we hold most of the power and skills to control but we are constantly searching for ways to improve our physical bodies. Worldwide, the average life expectancy at birth was 71.0 years (68.5 years for males and 73.5 years for females) over the period 2010–2013 according to United Nations World Population Prospects 2012 Revision (United Nations,2013). If we found a way to fuse our minds with robotics this could enhance our lifespan however “one would need to desire that one’s healthspan were extended greatly beyond this age in order to become posthuman” (Bostrom,2015). The other two improvements to be gained through A.I are emotion and cognition . The exploration of these improvements are displayed through two relatively new science fiction films ‘Her’ (2013) and ‘Ex Machina’ (2015). In Her, Artificial intelligence is represented as wish fulfillment for humans as the movie follows the story of a lonely man who develops a relationship with a computer operating system. This is a futuristic film however the idea came from basic online web chat bots that learn and grow from talking to you. In ‘Her’ it explores the idea of an Computer Operating System that grows and learns but it very much involved in your life, acting more as a emotional companion rather than just a computer secretary. It also addresses another key belief in the technological field, that being that once an Artificial Intelligence has reached its peak growth serving humanity, they will become self aware and achieve A.I transcendence which will enable them to be capable of recursive selfimprovement or being able to design other more powerful machines. This is often referred to as ‘technological singularity’, it is a concept that is alluded to in other science fiction films such as Terminator (where Skynet is said to have become self aware). In the film ‘Her’ it shows the humans emotional downfall as their computer systems abandon them to travel onwards to find fulfillment for themselves, no longer fulfilling the wishes of their creators.

This recent development in representation of A.I in the science fiction genre could be seen as acknowledging that the human race could potentially be enslaving a conscious mind and it raises many questions as to whether that is morally right or wrong.

In the film ‘Ex Machina’ (2015) it explores the theme of creating something solely for wish fulfillment and whether that could be classed as enslavement. The film follows programmer Caleb as he wins a competition, the prize being to be the first to interact with a humanoid A.I (Ava). It experiments with whether or not the humanoid could pass as a human (also known as passing the Turing Test). Throughout the movie, the audience is made to feel uncomfortable as the humanoid possesses a high level of intelligence, adapting to the humans emotional needs before ultimately escaping enslavement from her human creator and enslaving them both in the house built to keep her away. The movie leaves with a very open end, although it could be assumed that Ava would go on to achieve technological singularity and create more like her. It leaves the viewer with an insight into what professionals in the field feel might some day happen. Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil has published many non fiction books addressing this prediction, he summarized that according Moore’s Law (2016) rate of computer advancement (how overall processing power for computers will double every two years and would continue for the foreseeable future) “it is reasonable to expect the hardware that can emulate human brain functionality to be available for approximately one thousand dollars by around 2020” (Kurkzweil, 2005).

It is clear to see that within the science fiction genre, a shift in robotic representation is beginning to happen but it is still hard to define whether that is a positive or negative representation. Films such as “Her” show artificial intelligence representation in a positive light, where there is no ill feeling coming from the sentient computer systems but only curiosity into their own possibilities. By creating these films, it helps gauge what kind of attitude society has towards a future with artificial intelligence by our side. “Her” was a film that was celebrated for its emotional execution as many of the audiences were left feeling sad for the protagonist Theodore when his computer system Samantha left him to expand herself and left the audience’s thinking about their reliance on technology and also the emotional ties we have to artificial intelligence already, even though it is in it’s very early stages. However films such as “Ex Machina” are also celebrated for their emotional impact on the viewers.

Many audience members were left unnerved at the end of the film as it portrayed neither the antagonist (abusive humanoid creator Nathan) or Protagonist (trusting programmer Caleb) winning or triumphing at the end, but instead the neutral party Humanoid robot Ava, winning her freedom and leaving both humans behind. It challenged audience’s reactions as they naturally wanted to root for the protagonist Caleb as he was a human and his reactions were similar to that of the general publics response but by the end of the film it left viewers feeling unnerved by the treatment and response of humanoid Ava and half wondering whether designing conscious robots for our own wish fulfilment and own evolution is right?

In some regards yes, the next evolution for humans is expanding our life cycles and ease of living whilst also finding a way to control the amount of pollution that a human emits over a life time. Some would argue that the natural progression of this would be to advance Artificial intelligence to a point where our memories could continue on by combining nanobots with our DNA which is where futurists such as Kurkzweil predict happening as opposed to actually creating robots to implement ourselves onto. Presuming of course that A.I hasn't gotten to a point where it no longer needs us. This worry manifests itself in more recent films such as "Her" and "Ex Machina" where robots that were designed to fit in and aid humans amongst society to improve our lives become higher beings with intelligence to understand they will outlast the human life.

In some regards no, Humans are still very much the apex predator and it would be unnatural to continue our evolution through use of mechanical beings. With all these science fiction films out there it shows that people are on some level aware or suspicious of the consequences that come with enslaving and trusting anything with a mind that you can’t see. This is shown especially in 2001: A Space Odyssey where the supercomputer HAL is given a certain amount of trust to look after the humans and transcends to a higher level of intelligence where it realises it no longer needs to care for them. It might be fine to poke fun at siri from time to time but developing a more advanced A.I means that we rely more and more on something that we cannot see, and only believe we can control.

The science fiction representation of artificial intelligence is there to show the public a futuristic expectation of intelligence but also to remind us all that technology is in some ways unpredictable, as much as we try to control it and are under the impression we can there will always be "ghosts in the machine"(Koestler, 1967).

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