Week 3: Robot and Art

 Creativity is fueled by the human mind. Technology was birthed by humans wanting to see more and achieve more. It started with Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein when the title character scientist achieved to recreate human life by animating a corpse in 1818. Jumping in the next century, in 1920, Karel Čapek’s science fiction play R.U.R. was the first to label humanoid machines as “robots.” Thus began the westernized stereotype of artificial life (AI) from the worldwide connection of the internet and film, dominating humans as they gain their consciousness.  

Scene from RUR in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R.

Walter Benjamin critics the mass production of films as losing the “authenticity” of art. No longer are people actively critiquing the piece in front of them, simply using it as a distraction from the reality of the world. I, however, have to disagree with him. Although many of us do turn off our brains, there are still those among us when watching a movie, who look beyond at what’s in front of us and interpret the artist’s purpose. 

British television shows such as Doctor Who and Black Mirror portray fear of AI, while still commentating on the beauty of being human. In Doctor Who, Cybermen are an integration of the human mind and a metal body. As an antagonist on the show, they seek domination and lack all empathy deeming themselves superior with those who are governed by emotions.  Black Mirror’s episode “Be Right Back,” depicts a pregnant women’s struggle with the death of her boyfriend and uses AI and a robot version of him. She has an internal battle with perceiving him as real yet feeling the lack of emotional tether. Both these shows portray the strive of humanity to transfer emotion to metal objects, when in fact it is simply impossible without also attaining the consciousness humans try to avoid.

The autopsy of a Cyberman found in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W8b_66YuRg&ab_channel=DoctorWho

In contrast to those of the west, Japanese culture fully embraces the coexistence of robots and humans. They see the benefits robots could be providing as medical staff and rescuers from disasters. Since the beginning, the Japanese government supported the modernization of the nation and they didn’t try to portray their robots as humans. They see robots for what they are: metal objects and lacking human characteristics such as gender and emotion. A pressing issue still applies, as Maša Jazbec had mentioned, what is it with people and finding comfort with robots.

Robots found in Japan and Europe seen in https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-08-21/will-next-wave-humanoid-robots-make-our-lives-better-or-steal-our-jobs

References

Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Germany, 1936.

“Be Right Back.” Black Mirror Wiki, black-mirror.fandom.com/wiki/Be_Right_Back.

Čapek, Karel, 1890-1938. R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). London

“Cyberman.” Tardis, tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Cyberman.

doctorwho. “Cyberman Autopsy | The Age of Steel | Doctor Who.” YouTube, YouTube, 26 Apr. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W8b_66YuRg&ab_channel=DoctorWho.

“Maša Jazbec - Robotics & Art.” Maša Jazbec - Robotics & Art | UCLA Art | Sci Center + Lab, artsci.ucla.edu/node/1574.

“R.U.R.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Feb. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851. Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus: the 1818 Text.

Uconlineprogram, director. Robotics pt2. YouTube, YouTube, 15 Apr. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAZ8bo9T_Pk&ab_channel=UCOnline.

Uconlineprogram, director. Robotics MachikoKusahara 1. YouTube, YouTube, 14 Apr. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQZ_sy-mdEU&ab_channel=UCOnline. 

“Will the next Wave of Humanoid Robots Make Our Lives Better - or Steal Our Jobs?” The World from PRX, www.pri.org/stories/2019-08-21/will-next-wave-humanoid-robots-make-our-lives-better-or-steal-our-jobs.