A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

Prompt 12

I think Cronenberg using the idea of violence and pleasure as the means of infection is an interesting method. In today’s (or 1984) society, violent crimes are often associated with sexual acts. Often times someone is sexually abused AND physically abused, which is kind of played on, not to that extreme, but by Max and Niki’s sex scene. He is physically hurting her while they are having sex. And sex is also alluded to later on in the movie through heavy breathing from the cassette tape, then Max kills Convex. Cronenberg was pointing out how violence and sexual promiscuity in today’s society is infectious. According to The Disaster Center, US crime rates have been on a steady rise since the 1960’s. Both sexual crime and a variety of violent crimes have nearly quadrupled since 1960, as if an infectious disease. As society technologically advances and grows, society subsequently becomes more violent.
I think that the issue of violence doesn’t necessarily complicate the argument, but rather focuses it or goes hand in hand with it. Technologies affect on the body produces violence. There’s a fine line between how far is too far for that relationship, because it will ultimately create chaos.

In Artificial Intelligence we see the same argument of what truly makes you human, as we saw with AIs in Neuromancer. In Artificial Intelligence we are presented with the idea of this little boy, David, having all the physical attributes of a human and the ability to love like a human, but not physically being human. He has the longing to be loved in return and to become human so that this can happen. In Neuromancer we see this same situation occur with the two AIs Wintermute and Neuromancer, Wintermute has knowledge and memory, but lacks his own identity and personality. On the other hand Neuromancer has the personality and the capability to appear in a body that Wintermute longs for. But we learn that having one of the characteristics without the other, doesn’t make you human.
Another possible argument about the body in relation to technology presented in AI could be the idea of freedom. David is built as an android child and given to a family to test their creation with real humans. David, although he has the ability to love, is restricted by his lack of understanding. He is an AI, but doesn’t understand that he is. In the end of the movie David searches for the Blue Fairy that he remembered from Pinocchio so he can be made into a real boy. He ends up getting stuck in a car and repeating his wish of being made into a real boy. The city freezes over and 2,000 years later David and Teddy are found and David walks up to the frozen fairy, touches it, and it shatters. This illustrates the idea that David is restricted by his inability to understand that he is not real. No matter how many times that he heard it, he didn’t have the ability to comprehend. David had a lack of freedom because he was restricted by technology.

Prompt 10

I think that drugs/addiction is an interesting theme that is prevalent in Neuromancer. Throughout the book we see this common theme of drug use among all the characters, as well as various other addictions. Case is obviously an avid user of drugs, constantly trying to escape from his body and the real world. But when he is not using drugs, we also see that he is addicted to cyber space, which allows him the same out of body experience. By the end of the novel, we see how both of these addictions have taken a physical toll on his body. These addictions also affect his relationship with those around him, primarily molly, also an addict of many sorts. In the novel we find Molly to be addicted to several things including drugs, cyber space and body modifications. All of these things alter her body both mentally and physically. We see how Molly is especially affected by drug use through Case’s eyes when he explains he "watched her personality fragment, calving like an iceberg, splinters drifting away, and finally he'd seen the raw need, the hungry armature of addiction," (Gibson 8). Case and Molly are constantly seeing the world through a skewed perspective. It’s as if their society is so technologically advanced that normal unaltered living is no longer entertaining for them, so they are constantly stimulating their body and minds with external things, leading to addiction. This problem is also observed with Molly’s body modifications, her natural body is no longer good enough when body modifications can “upgrade” her. She constantly modifies her body as an addiction because one is never enough, which was also something we saw prevalent with tattoos and piercings in our last unit.

Prompt 9

I think the most interesting body would be Armitage and whether or not he can be considered a body, if that’s just what it is, a body. We’ve briefed on what makes a human, whether it’s a body with no knowledge/desires/feeling or having those three things and not a physical body. Armitage seems to have the first, a physical body but that’s all he has. It’s machine like, there are no thoughts or feelings behind that body. Throughout this semester we’ve discussed the definition of body and compared and contrast bodies that are physically different. These bodies that we’ve looked at have physically different appearances because of their belief system, whatever it may be. Whether they desired to get a modification to follow a trend, be different, or abstain from them all together. But in Neuromancer we see the idea of having a body without that belief system, so does that still qualify as a body??
I would say that the relationship of body and technology isn’t necessarily a good one. Yes it allows for bodies to do something they’ve never been able to do before and by modified in ways never imaginable, but that’s when the already skewed line of what is considered “normal” because virtually invisible. It becomes kind of chaotic as we see in the book, people being in more than one body and place at a time. Technology does liberate the body, allowing this “out of body” experience to escape from the worries of the real world. But doing this through technology isn’t any different from how people do it today with drugs, alcohol or any other addictive substance. I feel that whether technology or another substance, they are all basically doing the same thing of having an out of mind/out of body experience.

Prompt 7

When looking at any form of body modification there will always be a group of people who view it as normal, while others see it as something radical. In class we have been looking at modifications that, to society ‘the norm’, seem radical. But when the roles are reversed, this so called ‘radical’ crowd of modifiers is the norm, and those who partake in modification such as being young, thin and fit are those being radical. As we saw in the first unit, it’s all a matter of perspective.
In today’s society people will take extreme measures to obtain these characteristics of a normative body. Over the past decade we have seen a boom in the cosmetic industry. Everything from plastic surgery, cosmetics and beauty shows on television such as The Swan etc… We see girls as young as 10 years old worrying about their weight and struggling with eating disorders and self esteem issues. Teenagers and adults will spend hours upon hours at the gym trying to maintain a fit figure.
All of these acts that people partake in to fit the normative body standard could seem just as radical to those who cover themselves in tattoos and piercings. Just as we have trouble understanding why someone would want to abuse their bodies in this way, they may be asking society the same exact question. Why do people go through all of this? What is it for? But because popular culture has made young, thin, and fit the standard for today’s society, this is what the normal community strives for.

Prompt 6

For me formal writing has always been two words that I’ve dreaded hearing. The idea of a 5 page paper where I’m racking my brain for 2 more pages of information has never been my idea of the ideal assignment. Over my college career, my experiences with formal writing have helped me construct a definition for what I find it to be. To me I find college writing to have a thesis statement followed by multiple paragraphs consisting of transition and topic sentences, a quote of some sort and information to back it up. These papers are to be concise and clear, while still being elaborate. You are expected to support your thesis throughout your paper and not stray from making that point.

Other acts of inscriptions that all bodies take part in are things such as hairstyles. The way we keep our hair, from cleanliness to style, can make a statement about our body. Those who have dirty and un-brushed hair may be seen as not conforming to the standards of society. The norm is to have clean, well kept and brushed hair. Other things that could fall into this category are plucking the eyebrows and of course shaving the legs or face for men.

I believe that there are certain limits to authorship of the body. As much freedom as we do have as individuals (and especially as citizens of the United States), there are always limits. There are both physical limits and in some ways social limits to authorship. The physical limits, as pointed out in Pitts book, are that at some point modifying the body will be limited by physical harm to the body. And in a social context, when authorship reaches a certain point, society and government will stop a person from acting any further by classifying it as self mutilation or classifying the person as mentally ill.