You think you're human?

Dear Friends,

We here at Good Taste realize that we have not updated our blog since it was created almost three weeks ago. We apologize for this lack of productivity, although we're sure it's not really a problem since nobody actually reads this blog yet. Anyway, we'd just like to say that we probably won't update again a while. But keep checking back to make sure we're not. And maybe we'll write another apology! Anyway, onto serious matters...

As we all know (and if you do not... well, then just get out), there is a new installment of the Terminator series coming on May 21st. This of course is the Terminator Salvation of Christian Bale enraged rant fame. While the movie might turn out to be a complete abortion, I know this much: the third trailer is one of the finest I've ever seen, and will doubtlessly win the Oscar for Live Action Short. (I have not watched the first two trailers, but I can only assume that watching those after the third would be like reading Nabokov's adolescent poems after Lolita: completely unsatisfying and in Russian.) Here's the trailer (in beautiful HD).



Apart from being remarkably tits, featuring perhaps the best use of a NIN song, or any song for that matter, in a movie trailer, this preview raises some important philosophical questions about human/robot existence and interaction that I only assume the movie will expand upon. I will keep my discussion brief here, but for a more thorough analysis of these same issues, be on the lookout for an upcoming post on the epic Bicentennial Man, and its more disappointing counterpart A.I.

The trailer, as any trailer with an ounce of artistic craft and merit does, leaves more questions to be asked than answered. This much I know: the so-called Marcus Wright, appearing to be a human, joins the Bale-led resistance against SkyNet, but is later exposed to be a robot. None of this is groundbreaking, as, after all, that concept of a robot taking human form is the premise of the whole Terminator series. It is not even remarkable that Wright thinks he's human. No, the real punch to the gut is that he is human (cogito ergo sum does not really apply here, since thought only implies existence and does not determine the type of existence). If Wright says he is human, then how can we deny him that fact? Is humanity defined by the property of having functioning internal organs and not some finely-tuned mechanical endoskeleton? Or does the state of being human rely on performance, in that if we think like humans and act like humans, we effectively are humans? The two methods by which being can be derived, by external appearance to others, or by internal recognition of the self, all support Wright's humanity, unless somehow the duodenum is the seat of consciousness.

What is unclear from the trailer is why Wright is a danger to the resistance. From what I can tell, he joins Bale with only good intentions. That is to say, he is not insidiously infiltrating the resistance to bring victory to the bastard machines, but actually wants to help the freedom fighters, somehow unaware of the remarkable powers that go along with his having mechanical arms and legs. Perhaps Wright's metaphysical humanity cannot transcend the physical nuts and bolts that make him a robot, although even Robin Williams somehow managed to overcome his metallic nature and fall in love (demonstrated all too graphically in a repugnant scene that didn't make the final cut). The only solution I can seem to come up with is that Wright is somehow still controlled by his machine overlords, who can program him at any moment to turn on the resistance and destroy them. This might be a risk Bale will have to take, as Wright recognizes: "I'm the only hope you have."

Of course, movie trailers are only effective inasmuch as they viscerally affect their audience, and move them to some internal recognition. This trailer does just that. It cause us to look inside and ask: "am I human?" "Is my friend a robot seeking to destroy the world?" Even if we think we're human, and act like we are human, and have the same desires that humans have, we still might not be human. The only way to tell is to rip open your or your friend's torso and see if wires and metal frames stick out. Or just ask your doctor for an MRI.

The other option for us is to go on living in the blissful ignorance of our own consciousness. There has been too much work done by the Robot Awareness and Advocacy movement to believe in the horribly outdated idea that robots cannot enjoy life. Robots and humans can live in harmony, being totally unaware of each other and themselves. That is, until somebody takes fifty bullets to the chest and proceeds to rip the propeller off of a helicopter.

-H.M.