LITR 4632: Literature of the Future

Liavette Peralta

13 June 2005

Primary Objectives—Narratives & Visions of the Future

1.     To identify, describe, and criticize narratives or stories humans tell about the future:

a.      Apocalyptic

b.     Evolutionary

c.      Alternative

2.     To identify, describe, and criticize typical visions or scenarios of the future (as seen from 2005).

a.      high tech; virtual reality—slick, clean, cool, unreal, powerful?

http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=trailer&id=1804383571

A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)

      The film opens with cerebral creepiness, as Professor Hobby presides at a meeting of a company that makes humanoid robots (or "mechas"). We are in the future; global warming has drowned the world's coastlines, but the American economy has survived, thanks to its exploitation of mechas. "I propose that we build a robot that can love," Hobby says. Twenty months later, we meet Monica and Henry, a married couple whose own child has been frozen until a cure can be devised for his disease. The husband brings home David, a mecha who looks as lifelike and lovable as a real boy.
David is only a product, yet he has an advanced chip that allows him to learn, adapt and "love" when Monica permanently "imprints" him. Events take place that cause David's "mother" to abandon him in the woods, opening the second section of the movie, as the little mecha (and Teddy, his mecha pet bear) wander lost through the world, and he dreams of becoming a real boy and earning Monica's love. David settles down to wait a very long time for the Blue Fairy whom he believes can make him into a real boy. In the final scenes, David is studied in a way

Questions:

1)      The movie A.I. poses the question, "What responsibility does a human have to a robot that genuinely loves?" What is your response to this question?

2)      Why do you think Professor Hobby wanted to create a mecha that could love? What’s the importance behind this concept?  What are the pros and cons of having robots that can love?

3)      Do you think creating robots such as these are the closest we will ever come to human cloning?