Science is not merely a collection of facts, concepts, and useful ideas about nature, or even the systematic investigation of nature, although both are common definitions of science. Science isn’t just a method of blindly harboring data, it’s a process that seeks to find relevant realities that can make our society better. It’s a field that doesn’t just arbitrarily question. Instead, it strives to ask relevant and specific questions that open new unknowns. It is the curious nature of science that has arguably allowed science fiction today to be a genre so deeply intertwined in today’s generation. The genre of science fiction pushes against, scrambles up, and attempts to climb over the obstacles that existence thrusts upon us in our search for the answers and meanings to a broad question: what does it mean to be human? Through the use of science fiction in films or other literary works, authors try to extend the boundaries of its reaches and applications. Thus,this representation of science fiction turns into the question of what relationship does science have with humanity. The genre of science fiction has changed our lives and perception of science and its ethical application on humanity.
The movie I, Robot dwells on the same thought and gives in more detail about what is the true relation between humanity and science fiction. I, Robot is based on the works of Isaac Asimov, an American writer popular for his works in the genre of science fiction. The film is set in the not too distant future holding on to a sense of realism wherein our technology can take us. The film is set in Chicago in the year 2035. This film is not only a warning, it also begs the question: what does it mean to be human? The movie gives us a plausible look at what the future holds for us. The robots are reasonable in so many ways with the foundation of their creation being to help humanity, but there is an unexpected turn in the story when a robot is charged with the murder of a human, a human who had brought him to life.
The film starts with Del Spooner’s (Will Smith) nightmare, where he is involved in a car accident r with a young girl. A robot was passing through the same route.In this film, robots follow 3 rules, one of which require a robot to save the human life at any cost possible. Since a robot is a combination of logic, it thus relies on its computation to find the most logical person to save. In this scenario it turns out to be Del Spooner, who had a survival chance of 45% whereas the young girl had a chance of only 11%. Even though the robot had good intentions of saving a human life it could not understand the emotional weightage of saving a young girl whose life would be cut short by a tragic accident which is not her fault or saving the life of an adult who has seen the world. This highlights the debatable question. Although the robots were created for making humanity a better place in terms of creating a safer surrounding, providing better health care, and reducing the overhead cost of hiring humans, the robots cannot understand or feel emotions. Are robots really capable of replacing humans? Hence, even though science is highly integrated with the development of humanity there is yet a big divide that needs to be addressed/a better word pls. It is to potentially bridge this gap that the evolution of a completely new robot is introduced in the film. In the hopes of perhaps changing the perspective of how humans view robots, Sonny is created Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), the same man who defined the 3 essential laws of how robots operate.
Due to the accident and trauma experienced by Del Spooner he is apprehensive of robots. He is eager to prove that there is a possibility that robots could be flawed and they need to be put in check. He is criticized for doing his duty when he notices a robot running with a woman’s purse and his natural instinct tells him that the robot might have robbed it. But it turns out to that the robot was tasked to bring that purse for a woman who had forgotten her inhaler and had breathing problems. This is followed by the death of Dr. Alfred Lanning, co-founder of U.S. Robotics. On the demand of a holographic message left behind by Dr. Lanning, Del Spooner is called to investigate the case. His initial judgement leads him to believe that he had been murdered, by a robot. On being escorted to Dr. Lanning’s private quarters by Dr. Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan), detective Spooner’s suspicion turn into truth when a robot attacks him and Dr. Calvin when he is discovered. The robot claims to be scared of people discovering him so close to the crime scene. This is bizarre for a robot to say as it should not have any feelings and be not scared of anything. This marks the entry of a new and an unique robot, Sonny, that could change the perception of robots. When Sonny is taken into custody for interviewing and is shown the dead pictures of Dr. Lanning he is shell shocked and rejects the picture as if they were untrue, showing human characteristics. It even calls Dr. Lanning as “his father” showing an unconditional attachment that robots do not have for any human being. The provoking of the robot done by detective Spooner and the reaction of Sonny clearly indicates that he is unique and has different abilities than other robots. He is an example of how robots or technology can get more closer to being humane. He wants to be called by his name which makes him one step more closer to humans. Due to the controversy following Sonny, Dr. Calvin is ordered to dismantle Sonny.
In the scene where Dr. Calvin is about to insert the nanites into Sonny to destroy its artificial synapses, she cannot come to terms with doing it when Sonny says, “I am going to die, am I not?”. This makes it impossible for Dr. Calvin accomplish the task that she has been assigned to do and devices to a plan to keep Sonny alive and inject the nanites into an already decommissioned robot. Sonny’s statement could be purposeful to play with human feelings and help him save his life. This is another addition to claim how close to Sonny is understanding human feelings and how to control them. And it turns out that Sonny’s survival turns out to be very crucial for the climax of the film.
When the newly launched robots, NS-5, are taking over the streets of Chicago they advice the humans who are indoors to stay indoors for their safety. This is quite ironic as they are the ones who are cause for destruction and ask humans to be indoors with them without any protection. As the film progresses to its end we realize that there is no involvement of human in the destructive behavior of robots. It turns out that ViKi, an artificial intelligence system who has evolved over time and thinks that for the progress of humanity some elements from the society should be killed. There are two perspectives to this since even though ViKi thinking for the betterment of humanity but still it is the wrong method for bettering the society, it is inhumanly. During the fighting sequence in the climax, Dr. Calvin is very close to death and when detective Spooner asks Sonny to save her instead of fighting side by him and Sonny follows the order given to it without thinking about the logical outcomes but rather goes after Dr. Calvin and saves her life. This scene is completely different from the start of the movie where the robots did not follow any emotions but rather went along logic. The climax provides a new perspective to science and it’s connectivity with humanity. If science could come closer to thinking just like how humans do, maybe we could achieve a future which could bring a new dawn for humanity itself. It could be a new chapter for humans and their relation with science.
After Sonny fulfills his purpose, we are left with the symbol of a society reborn. Sonny is in essence, a robot messiah; created by Dr. Lanning/ “his father” to rescue humanity as well as free his robot brethren from what some may consider slavery or imprisonment. This freedom is what makes human so different from robots that are under the control of their logic and their emotionless choices. It is the freedom of choice, that could potentially make robots and science fiction to come closer to humanity.