Cyborgs and Post-humanism: Reality vs. Representations in Cinema
There have been a lot of films that portray what the future of humanity will look like. Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence portrays the future of humanity as being depraved, whereas robots are discriminated against, but eventually trump humanity. Garland’s Ex Machina portrays humanity as being foolish and artificial intelligence as being uncompromising and independent of humanity. These science-fiction films are definitely fun to watch, but they are carefully constructed and thoughtfully portray the possibilities of post-humanism.
Before humanity ceases to exist, there will most likely be cyborgs — humans with robotic extensions. Cameron’s The Terminator is an obvious example of a cinematic cyborg. This film explores the dichotomy of a cyborg, comparing the humanity with the robot. Cyborgs are the ultimate unity that we, as humans, strive to have with our technology. We want to remember things better, so we make our phone do it for us. We want to move faster so we built bikes and then cars. However there is a singularity that prevents us from seeing exactly what this future will look like. The Terminator has an interesting take on the idea, but I don’t think it’s that accurate.
One day, there will be a point that homo sapiens will cease to exist — they will evolve. What we don’t know is if they will evolve organically or technologically. Most science-fiction films portray it as being technologically. A.I. Artificial Intelligence — which ends and ends and and and — goes 2000 years into the future when humanity is extinct and robots are all that’s left. The robots are able to touch each other and share thoughts, memories, emotions, etc. They are ultimately the unselfish humans that we organic humans will never be able to become.
Technology will continue to evolve to assist us. I think that A.I. is not far off from what the future of humanity will look like — it’s more accurate than Terminator, which is more of an action thriller than a thoughtful science-fiction film. I look forward to the day that cyborgs become a reality.
