The Danger of AI to the Human Race in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Categories: Dystopia

Essay, Pages 8 (1926 words)

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Artificial Intelligence is an advanced area of computer science that encourages the creation of intelligent machines that react and work as humans. The overall goal of artificial intelligence is to recreate technology to allow machines and computers to function and act as humans. Generally artificial intelligence is used to help humans everyday lives more efficient convenient. Some examples of convenient artificial intelligence is Siri, Alexa, and google assistant. More advanced artificial intelligence such as actual humans robots are still in the works.

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Through Philip K. Dicks Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the theme of mind control is present with the TV comedy show and radio show host Buster Friendly and through the concept of Mercerism.

Buster friendly is the host of his own TV show and radio show that airs brand new episodes 46 hours a day combined. Although this seems impossible for a human, Buster Friendly is actually an android. Mercerism is the dominant religion that brings the community together. Mercerism is run by a human/machine by the name of Mercer who broadcasts videos delivering sermons to bring humans together. Mercer uses a technology type box called “the empathy box” to allow the followers of Mercerism to climb a hill together while rocks are being thrown at you in the same perspective as Mercer himself.

Buster Friendly and Mercerism are both forms of mind control on humans. Mercerism seeks to fuse and bring people together through a sense of empathy. You can see this when Isidore says, “Wilbur Mercer had reoccurred. As it did for everyone who at this moment clutched the handles, either here on Earth or on one of the colony planets. He experienced them, the others, incorporated the babble of their thoughts, heard in his own brain the noise of their many individual existences. They - and he - cared about one thing; this fusion of their mentalities oriented their attention on the hill, the climb, the need to ascend” (Dick 10). This proves that the empathy box is bringing humans together. On the other hand, Buster Friendly's show to seeks to damage the structure and beliefs of Mercerism that keeps humans together. He does this by revealing on his TV and radio show that the Mercer hill climb situation is fake and that Mercer is not suffering at all. This is proven in the novel when it says, “ ‘The 'moon' is painted; in the enlargements, one of which you see now on your screen, brushstrokes show. And there is even some evidence that the scraggly weeds and dismal, sterile soil - perhaps even the stones hurled at Mercer by unseen alleged parties - are equally faked. It is quite possible in fact that the 'stones' are made of soft plastic, causing no authentic wounds.’ ‘In other words,’ Buster Friendly broke in, ‘Wilbur Mercer is not suffering at all’ ” (Dick 93). Overall, the text above proves that Buster Friendly, an android, is trying to break apart humans so that the androids can take over their society. This proves the fact that artificial intelligence is dangerous to the human race.

Through Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski film The Matrix, the theme of mind control is present through the Matrix. The Matrix is a computer program simulation identical to earth in the year 1997. The human race is hooked up through wires to the computer program unknowingly and live in the simulation everyday. You are able to escape with simulation through taking a red pill that is given by morpheus. It is unknown how this pill is made or where it comes from. The Matrix simulation itself is a form of mind control. The robots hooked up the human race to the Matrix to blind them from the actual world while in the actual world, Artificial intelligence robots are using humans thermal energy to power themselves so that they don't die. You can see this when Morpheus says, “The human body generates more bioelectricity than a 120-volt battery and over 25,000 B.T.U.'s of body heat”, “There are fields, endless fields where human beings are no longer born; we are grown”, “The Matrix is a computer-generated dreamworld built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this” (The Matrix 41-42). Overall these quotes above prove that the human race is being controlled by artificial intelligence in The Matrix. Philip K. Dicks, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski film, The Matrix prove the fact that artificial intelligence is dangerous to the human race through the theme of mind control.

Through Philip K. Dicks Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the theme of man vs machine is present with Rick Dekard and the Nexus-6 Androids. Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter with the San Francisco police department as well as the novels protagonist. Nexus-6 androids are robots built in with artificial intelligence. These androids are almost identical to humans with the only difference of not being able to emphasize. At the beginning of the novel, Rick is seen as a selfish cop who is full of himself and has no problem “retiring” androids, retiring androids mean to kill them. In the book, Nexus-6 androids have escaped Mars and have migrated to earth. Then Polokov, a Nexus-6 Android shoots a bounty hunter that is a friend of ricks who goes by the name of Dave Holden. This is shown when it says, “As he entered his own office Rick heard the voice of his secretary, Ann Marsten, behind him. ‘Mr. Deckard, you know what happened to Mr. Holden? He got shot’ ” (Dick 13). This proves that the Nexus-6 androids are a danger to society. Later on in the novel, Rick fears that the nexus-6 androids are dangerous. Evidence of this is shown when it says, “Maybe I'm worried, Rick Deckard conjectured, that what happened to Dave will happen to me. An andy smart enough to laser him could probably take me, too” (Dick 17). This again shows the Nexus-6 androids are dangerous and the theme of man vs machine. Overall this proves the fact that artificial intelligence is dangerous to the human race.

Through Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski film The Matrix, the theme of man vs machine is present through Morpheus’ crew and the Matrix itself. Morpheus crew consists of 8 people; Morpheus, Neo, Trinity, Cypher, Mouse, Dozer, Tank and Apoc. Morpheus is the leader of the crew who helps people to escape the Matrix, Neo is hacker who Morpheus pulls out from the Matrix since morpheus believes he is the one, meaning the one who will save the human race. Trinity is a also a hacker who Morpheus pulls out from the Matrix since he believed she was the one at first, but she isn't. Cypher at first is good but then helps the agents find where morpheus is. The others characters are alongside morpheus through the movie, usually helping him. Throughout The Matrix, Morpheus and his crew are seen coming up against the agents. The agents were programed into the simulation by the robots to kill people who attempted to escape the Matrix. You can see Neo being killed by the agents when agent smith says, “check him”, and agent brown replies, “He’s gone” (The Matrix 121). This proves that machines are dangerous and the theme of man vs machine. Overall this proves the fact that artificial intelligence is dangerous to the human race.

Through Philip K. Dicks Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the theme of real vs unreal is seen through humans and the Nexus-6 androids. In the novel, humans and androids are almost identical and impossible to point out. The only thing androids cannot do that humans can empathize, other than that the Nexus-6 brain are closely human. They are able to comprehend and process information the same way as humans, if not faster and more efficiently. This is proven in the novel when it says, “The Nexus-6 brain unit they're using now is capable of selecting within a field of two trillion constituents, or ten million separate neural pathways” (Dick 13). Most of the Nexus-6 androids don't even realize that they were manufactured as androids. This is seen with Rachel Rosen when Rick Dekard is administering a Voigt-Kampff test on her, which is a test to test the empathy of an individual. You can see this when rick says, “He put his pencil down, shut off the beam of light, removed the adhesive patch from her check. ‘You're an android,’ he said. ‘That's the conclusion of the testing,’ he informed her” (Dick 24). Since Nexus-6 androids dont even know they are androids, they retaliate and fight back thinking that they are human. This is shown in the novel when it says, “Mr. Deckard, you know what happened to Mr. Holden? He got shot” (Dick 13), and then Bryant later on says, “Dave used the Voigt-Kampff Altered Scale in testing out the individuals he suspected” (Dick 17). This proves that the Nexus-6 androids can be dangerous. Overall this proves the fact that artificial intelligence is dangerous to the human race.

Through Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski film The Matrix, the theme of real vs unreal is present with the actual reality outside the matrix and the matrix itself. Outside the matrix, it is believed to be the year 2197. The real world has become destroyed and is dark because of a world war that occurs between humans and artificial intelligence. All the buildings are collapsed. The only thing left outside the matrix is the destroyed cities, a dessert like biome that spans across the earth, and robots. The Itself is a computer program simulation identical to earth in the year 1997. The human race is hooked up through wires to the computer program unknowingly and live in the simulation everyday. The human race is being used outside the matrix as “human batteries”. Then while Neo and Morpheus are speaking in a computer simulation Neo asks, “This -- This isn't real?” and Morpheuis replies, “What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you feel, taste, smell, or see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain”, he then picks up a remote control and clicks on the television. On the television, we see images of the Twentieth Century city where Neo lived, Morpheus then says, “This is the world you know. The world as it was at the end of the Twentieth Century. It exists now only as part of a neural interactive simulation that we call the Matrix” (The Matrix 39). This proves that the world that the human race is experiencing isn't real. This also goes on to prove if artificial intelligence evolves, we could end up like the human race in The Matrix.

In Philip K. Dicks, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski film The Matrix, artificial intelligence is present and is dangerous to the human race. This is present through the theme of mind control, through the theme man vs machine, and through the theme of real vs unreal. All of these topics relate to the evolution of artificial intelligence and prove that artificial intelligence can become a major threat to the human race. Artificial intelligence is evolving everyday and who knows where the evolutions could take mankind.