From: David Westling (email suppressed)
Date: Thu Jun 10 2004 - 20:15:11 PDT
> Sounds great!
> http://www.scifilm.org/musings2/musing516.html
> THE CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS (1962)
> This is a portrayal of a post-apocalyptic society in which a
> decimated and no-longer-fruitful human population must contend with
> the rise of humanoid robots, derogatorily referred to as "clickers."
>
> This was Andy Warhol's favorite movie, and though I can't pretend to
> know what was going through his mind, I think I see why it might have
> been. There aren't very many familiar names in the credits, but I
> recognize make-up artist Jack Pierce, Don Megowan (who played the Gill
> Man in his last incarnation in THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US) and Dudley
> Manlove, who played Eros in PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. There are a
> wealth of different ways to look at this movie; it is stiff, badly
> shot and acted, almost devoid of action, talky and endless, and many
> people consider it awful. However, the talk is fascinating and is
> cram-packed with ideas, something you're much more likely to find on
> the literary end of science fiction rather than the cinematic end.
This movie is crying out to be remade, and one is committed to the idea
that if it is done by the mainstream industry it would be a real shame.
Of course, it's even more timely now than it was in 1962, and the
prescience of the author of this story is notable. (The movie is based
on a novel by Jack Williamson called _The Humanoids_.) Think of
complex systems already in place like the worldwide telecommunications
network to allow such exchanges as I relate below, found in the film,
to resonate till your head is about to burst: Scene: A 22nd century,
ca. 1962, living room, the home of Esmie, the lead character Cragus'
sister. Among those we find present is Cragus, high ranking member in
the Order of Flesh and Blood, who has come to visit Esmie, having
recently found out that she is "in rapport" (yes, the sexual aspect is
strongly implied) with the robot Pax. Esmie has had part of her own
personality facsimilied into Pax's computational apparatus. Also just
arrived is a friend of Esmie's, Maxine. Cragus: "The robots improve
themselves, we don't know how they do it." The robot Pax engages the
humans in conversation: "Something I've wondered about. Things are
run by the hierarchy of ministries. What is the exact function of
the Ministry of Politics?" Maxine : Why, the coordination of the
other ministries. Then, too, they serve as selector." Pax: "Politics
was once the means of choosing the leaders. Now, the machines do it."
Cragus: "Machines merely analyse the data given to them by us.
They're selected as a result of that analysis." Pax: "Do you know
_how_ the machine analyses the data?" Cragus: "I--well, well-no, not
exactly." "Then how do you know if the father-mother [the master
computer in robotspeak] uses all the data you give it? How do you know
whether or not supplementary data is considered?" Cragus: "We--we
don't." Pax: "Then you might almost say that the _machines_ elect the
leaders. That the ministry of politics is expendable."
Further on, we learn that the robots report perodically to the
father-mother for recharging, and also to receive all knowledge
collected by the father-mother since the last visit. As Cragus
relates this to Maxine, she exclaims: " But doesn't this mean that
within a year, every single robot will be in possession of all the
knowledge in the world?" Cragus: "Exit humanity." Maxine: "But they
can only operate in our benefit. Why that's Rule One in the manual."
Cragus: "Tonight, for the first time in history, a robot killed a man.
Rule One must no longer exist." "Are you always this--gloomy?"
This is admittedly, only one, somewhat dated, scenario. But the basic
principle is infinitely translatable: no matter what form the robot
race takes, no matter what the particulars of their integration into
human society, they will surely "believe" that they know better then we
do about--everything. Ethics, being essentially illusory even on the
human level, will undoubtedly be seen as something wholly expendable by
this new super-race. Is there really any serious doubt about this?
Any attempts we might make to instill ethics will succeed only
temporarily at best. Mohr's law may not reach its critical tipping
point in only 25 years as the futurists believe, and AI has proven to
be a much harder nut to crack than even the mind of Marvin Minsky would
have posited as little as 10 years ago, but what of 50 or a hundred
years? The movie ends with Cragus himself revealed as a robot. The
real Cragus had died months ago, his personality having been drained
off and installed into a robotic facsimilie of his own body. Another
interesting exchange, between Cragus and Dr. Raven, the surgeon who
performed this "thalamic transplant": Cragus: "The transplant _must_
include the soul." Raven: "No, only the memory which includes the
faith that there _is_ a soul." A bit further on, Cragus exclaims:
"And when the entire race is transplanted--death will cease to exist."
The problem, of course is that life, also, will cease to exist. Even
now, our behavioristically inclined scientists seem to believe that if
it looks like life, it _is_ life. "There's danger on the edge of
town..."
David Westling
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.