This week content and topics are very appealing to me. Talking about Trans-humanism is something that is almost opposite to my vision and mission of life. Trans-humanism refers to the movement that is in favour of the development of new technologies to enhance human life. In my opinion, to enhance/ improve by means that are not natural , is something that I find, to say the least, questionable.
The idea of overcome human limitations such as lifespan, body functionality, cognitive capacity, etc. acting like a sort of "God" over human nature, can have several implications, and instead of altering and going beyond evolution as it is known, seems a very selfish act to be performed by humans. As seen in True Skin.
Likewise Trans-humanism, I believe that human beings are " work in progress", but that progress must be done not in the physical or material sense, but in the inner-self. I find it arguable to talk about "redefining the human", when humans have not still define themselves. Have you ever wondered, who you really are ? Why are you here ? What are you called to be ? . This is not a religious post, those are really the questions that I have been trying to answer over the years. The real enhancement is what I called " transcendent ", when you transcend as a human being, you do it from the inside out, knowing the role you are playing in this planet and living in harmony with it.
Have you ever read John Livingston Seagull ? I have, and that book made me realised I wasn't that crazy at all, I just was not part of the flock, the people that lives just to eat and work, I wanted to make a difference, just like Jonathan, flying higher and reaching my full potential . I don't need technology to do that for me, I just need to have the passion , which is what makes you do things, and be free.
Maybe that was the reason why I was not impressed by Robbie and you may hate me for that . Most of the edcmooc classmates were very moved by the story of this robot, they found it so human like , but I didn't .Robbie had no memories, they were generated and they seem to be a mirage. The essence of human relationship is something that I was debating in the Forums as well, the robot refers to its colleagues as friends, for me that's work, Robbie had a job, but not a real personal life, or what I consider to be one. In this point, after reading some comments , I saw how cultural differences determine the way you see life, and its components. In my country, most people works to live, but they do not live to work, therefore we don't give it the same importance. I can spend 12 hours at work, and sometimes I do, share with my co-workers all day, but still they are only acquaintances. My friends on the other side are few, but the connection is much stronger, they are the ones that wait for me when I come home, to hang out over the weekend,etc... the ones who care " if I go to space and never come back " . This film reminded me a lot to Bicentennial Man, and don't get me started with the Oedipus complex we have discussed in the Forums, and platforms with some of the participants.
Gumdrop on the other hand, was my favorite movie this week. This is a very Utopian vision of a very integrated robot into society. She was cheerful, the inflections of the voice ( something very important for me as a teacher trainee ) showed real emotions and feelings, there was also a lot of body language. The fact that the robot was a "she" , seems to have caused some debate, robots are supposed to be neutral in gender. In my opinion gender is part of our identity, and if the creators wanted it to look more human, by giving the robot a gender, you give it part of the identity. We all have roles to play and those roles defines us, therefore for me gender is important.
To sum up, this week films and contents have been very interesting and controversial to me. I agree to the use of technologies to some extent, but I do not validate the abuse of it, especially when it threatens humanity as we know it. I still have faith in humankind.
Some food for the thought ...
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