The Differences Between Man and Machine Based on American Films and Television Series

蔡斯芊

【Abstract】This essay is divided into five parts. The analysis is based on two films and one TV series. They are Bicentennial Man, I, Robot and West World.

【Key words】machine; human; humanity; emotions; films

Chapter One

1.1 The Most Shallowest Difference Between Man and Machine

The first difference between man and machine is their appearance. In Bicentennial Man, Andrew Martins first appearance is a steel shaped man like machine without flesh and blood. In contrast to these two robots, robots in West World look exactly like human being. In order to be more like human and let people from the real world enjoy their stay at west world, they have artificial veins which are injected with blood. It seems like in appearance there arent any differences between human and machine in the West World. Actually, there is difference, unlike the first kind which is nothing similar to human beings. The second kind of appearance difference is that those robots look too perfect to be true. Because human have all kinds of flaws, maybe ones nose flattened and on their cheekbones there are freckles.

1.2 In Nature

In Bicentennial Man, when Andrew Martin is doing the housework, he finds a spider in the dust. He didnt kill it immediately like normal man would do. Instead he frees the spider into nature. The first instinct of human when seeing such an insects would be to catch it and then destroy it. In contrast to man, Andrew Martin doesnt consider the spider as a harmful thing or an annoying insects, he considers it as a precious living thing. In nature, Andrew Martin is not evil, he wouldnt kill a living thing for his own pleasure. Unlike man, the first thing man would do is to kill the spider in order to feel a certain kind of pleasure and accomplishment. Man takes a malevolent pleasure in that motivation(Perrett 305).

1.3 Creativity

We both know man is able to create art and all kinds of stuff including machine. Whether machine can create art remains unknown. In Bicentennial Man, Andrew Martin carved a pony for little Miss using wood, but I dont think Andrew has creativity. He simply uses data in his head and put the idea into practice. It is imitation instead of creation. Machine cant create something that he hasnt known or seen before.

1.4 Comprehension Ability

In Bicentennial Man, Andrew Martin saw Richard Martin and his wife playing chess. He could quickly figure out how to win the game by calculating in his head, which human beings couldnt at such a short time. However, machines comprehension ability towards emotional things is totally different. The day before little Miss getting married, he couldnt understand what little Miss really wants to say. If any normal man had been put under the same situation, he would have known what little Miss was trying to say. Machine may have better comprehensive skills than human have in rational thinking.

1.5 Emotion

In Bicentennial Man, Andrew Martin becomes more and more like a man. The main reason why we consider him more and more like a man is because he started to have emotions. He gets jealous when the woman she loves might marry another guy. He feels sad and depressed when Richard Martin and Little Miss pass away.

In conclusion, I think some robots have emotions, but machines emotions are not sophisticated as mans emotions. Also, I think some robots didnt have emotions at all.

Chapter Two Conclusion

In conclusion, there are many differences between man and machine. The most superficial difference is their appearance. Machine may look absolutely nothing like a human being or too perfect to look like a human being. In nature, human are evil and do things for their own pleasure while machine is kind and mercy in some respects. Man is able to create arts and other kinds of things including machine. Machine doesnt have creativity to form or design a new thing that hasnt appeared in the history before. Machine is good at imitation not creation. Machine is better in logical thinking while man tends to bring sensibility into the process. Machine may have emotions, but those emotions wont be sophisticated as mans emotions and it never will.

References：

[1]Perrett,Roy.“Evil and Human Nature”.Oxford University Press,The Monist,Vol.85,No.2,Evil(April 2002),pp.304-319.