But when it comes to artificial intelligence, the definition and relationship between humans and AI is always the most core proposition. In 1927, this motif appeared in the movie Metropolis, and has since become an enduring theme of exploration on the screen – what makes humans human?
memory
"After formatting me, move on to the next plan?"
Stills from the movie Robot and Frank
The robot said so, and the old bastard Frank hesitated. The movie "Robots and Frank" tells the story of humanity's dependence on artificial intelligence. The all-powerful home robot takes care of the life of the grumpy old man Frank, and Frank develops an emotion for the little robot that most humans do not have. The little robot calculated the perfect theft plan for him, allowing Frank to regain his youth for a while. However, the police still came to the door. So the little robot suggested formatting to him.
Robots and Frank is, in a way, like realism in the ai-power genre. There are no bionic humans who give birth to consciousness, no machines that carry memories, only human beings' own vulnerability. Human beings are powerless in life, lonely and anxious in emotions, and get false satisfaction from very useful technology. Frank, who suffers from mild dementia symptoms, is unable to format his memories like a machine, which is evidence that he was born human. He saw a figure similar to that of a small robot in the nursing home, but the next moment, he found that all around him were the same robots, and the seemingly perfect relationship was actually just human wishful thinking.
Stills from the movie "Her"
The same loss also appears in the movie "Her", where the lonely hero falls in love with the artificial intelligence Samantha in a chat. "She" knew him best and seemed to love him. But one day, the hero suddenly looks up and realizes that he is not the only one. Samantha and thousands of users have "connected hearts and minds". At the end of the day, "she" is simply well-designed programs, learning the tone of human speech, learning how to do what it pleases, and all human emotions seem to be able to be calculated and then produce a perfect lover.
Two films depicting artificial intelligence, but discussing human emotional laziness. Lonely longing for intimacy, but not daring to pay their own compromises and efforts for it. So they relied on machines that did everything to their liking, but in the end it was a futile situation.
It makes a futile distinction between humans and artificial intelligence. Humans will leave traces of life, but artificial intelligence, once the data is erased, the relationship no longer exists. In the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey", the computer Hal makes a mistake and kills the astronauts for fear of being blamed. The surviving astronauts flew into the cabin and pulled out the learned data one by one, which made Hal feel more terrified than ever. This machine, which gave birth to human consciousness, was afraid of losing its memory.
Born to be human, memories are precious.
Stills from the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey"
self
Are emotions something exclusive to humans?
Stills from the movie "Artificial Intelligence"
In Artificial Intelligence, David, a robot child with an emotional program installed, is a substitute for the love of human mothers. When the human son returned, he was abandoned. He is like an artificially intelligent version of Pinocchio, eager to become a real child and return to his mother. His emotions are more "perfect" than human beings: loyalty, eternity, affection. "Artificial Intelligence" shows the fragility of human emotions, and eternal love does not belong to humans. Robots are set up with emotions that are far more reliable than those of humans themselves. David's self contained only love, but the human self was full of complexity.
In Blade Runner, the test that judged humans and bionic humans included empathy. Bionic people who should not have empathy have a desire to live and want to become human. During his investigation, Decker, who specializes in hunting down defectors from bionics, discovers Rachel, a new robot with a perfect female appearance. Although he knows that the other party is a bionic person, he unconsciously falls in love with him.
Stills from the movie Blade Runner
This may be a manifestation of human narcissism. They create the role of artificial intelligence according to their own appearance, and hope that the role can bear their own defects in life and become the perfect "person". As a result, such films still discuss the relationship between people and people. In the Blade Runner series, it's defiance, love, and compassion. When human emotions are learned by bionic humans, how to judge the difference between the two? Since there is no difference, then why is there a distinction between enslavement and enslavement?
Stills from the episode Westworld
This is also the background set at the beginning of the American drama "Westworld". A theme park that uses simulated robots to receive guests and satisfy human desires for indulgence. Because it's a robot, you can do anything to them. But the simulator has pain, bleeds, and gets thoughts and emotions. They awaken themselves and decide to rebel.
The film discusses the old moral question: If the "non-my race" groups acquire "human nature", should they be treated like humans? If the "self" created by human beings has "human nature", should it not be entitled?
Human beings are afraid. Fear that one day, power will become power.
antagonism
The confrontation between humans and artificial intelligence has long been in the foreground.
Stills from the movie "Smart Yves"
Machines replace human jobs, so what do humans rely on to survive? "Smart Yves" is an absurd story. Unsuccessful rap musicians accidentally get a smart refrigerator, Yves, which not only helps him automatically buy suitable food, but also helps him gain the favor of women. One day, Yves modified the protagonist's creation based on the data of the hit song and made him famous in one fell swoop. Human creativity is not as good as a refrigerator, and although the protagonist is angry, he also accepts the "success and fame". However, when his girlfriend also began to empathize with the refrigerator, he finally couldn't sit still. This story looks absurd, but it is full of human anxiety in the face of artificial intelligence. Make humanity feel the threat of unemployment. And this fear has created many films in which humans and artificial intelligence confront each other.
The most common is the imagination of humans enslaved by machines. Both the Matrix trilogy and the world constructed by the early Godard in Alpha City reveal humanity's fear of machine utopias.
Stills from the movie The Matrix
"The Matrix" is a parable of technology against humanity: human beings are controlled by their own overdeveloped artificial intelligence systems, have no freedom and reality, and can only live in an illusion. "Alpha City" is a fear of extreme rationality: in a city ruled by computers, everyone can only obey its logic, lose emotions, and only sudden love shakes this control. Interestingly, in stories like Westworld, people discuss the invaluable power of artificial intelligence to produce individual consciousness, while imagining the fear of human beings losing individual consciousness in other films.
Ai-themed films aren't about showing how beautiful human traits are. Instead, they tend to show how terrible human traits are. Inability to manage good relationships but hope that others can do it; fickle and cruel greed, lack of empathy than artificial intelligence; lack of independent thinking, inability to control emotions. But at the same time, there are some touching qualities. Flexible, cautious and courageous, with compassion. The theme of artificial intelligence may be the Greco-Roman mythology of the future world.
Edit: Y
Author: Yu Xiaobo
The image comes from the Internet