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Marvel’s Vision

Vision is considered a android due to the fact that he known as a synthetic human. Vision is an android and not a robot because he wasn’t constructed with the purpose of looking like a human and not built just for his function. See robots are built just for function as we learned from Baudrillard. So the only reason why vision is considered a android is because of his appearance. 

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The Wanyūdō (Monster)

I did some digging into monsters that people might not know to much which lead me to finding about a being which I know very little bit. The Wanyūdō is what we’ll say in this case is a “monster.” The Wanyūdō comes from Japanese Mythology were it is a well known yokai. What makes the Wanyūdō a monster from our theories that we learned is the fact that it is a combination of things and doesn’t come from just from one thing. The Wanyūdō is described as burning oxcart wheel bearing the tormented face of a man. So he is part human and part oxcart which is a weird combination to think about. It is said that it was a  condemned soul of a tyrannical daimyō who, in life, was known for having his victims drawn on the back of an oxcart who now guards the gates of hell. So the  Wanyūdō is a “monster” because of how it looks and because of what it does. 

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This post is going to focus on one of the most well known cyborgs in film, Robocop. Of course what makes Alex Murphy AKA Robocop a cyborg is the fact that most of his body is made up of cybernetic parts. But you can somewhat describe Robocop as a robot as well because he was made to follow three functions,  serve the public trust; protect the innocent; and uphold the law, which he does without any emotions. To me the cyborg part doesn’t really come in until he starts regaining his memories and becomes more human. 

Robocop has a unique relationship with society. As his more robotic form he is feared by criminals and is good at doing what he was programmed for. But as he regains his memories he seems to become more aware that he doesn’t belong in the society and struggles with who are what he is.

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Since I posted about monsters in the Final Fantasy VII Remake. I’m also going to use this opportunity to talk about the cybernetics, cyborgs, and robots that are in the game.

 The cybernetics and cyborg section is mostly going to focus on the character Barret Wallace. So Barret can be seen as a cyborg since one of his hands is replaced with a gun, which no longer makes him fully human. However, this can make people fear people that don’t know him because it makes him look different and more scary than most people. 

The game consists of multiple different mechanical beings. But they all would be considered robots and not androids due to the fact that they were built for their functions to be used as machines for defeating monsters and enemies.  These include enemies such as the sweeper, cutter, and many others.

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The Monster in the Final Fantasy VII Remake (Spoilers)

I’ve recently finished playing Final Fantasy VII Remake. So after finishing the game I want to discuss who the “monster” in the game is. For those who played the original you would believe it to be the Shinra Electric Power Company. Though they might be somewhat monstrous they are not the monster I am going to talk about. The “monster” that I’m going to talk about is the Whispers.

So the Whispers can be best described as “protectors of fate” and they are there to “ensure that destiny happens in the way that it's meant to” (Red XIII). Really they are there to make sure that the events of Final Fantasy VII play out like they're supposed to.

So with this they stop people from trying to do some things that would change the course of history. This includes our main protagonist Cloud and his friends. An example of the whispers doing this is when Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith are trying to get to the Sector 7 pillar. The whispers stop them to make sure that certain characters die at the time that they are supposed to and do this by stalling them. Another time that the Whispers intervene is when Sephiroth stabs Barret. The whispers keep Barret alive instead of letting him because it wasn’t the time that destiny chose for him to die.

One boundary the Whispers break the boundary between future and past. This is because they make sure that people are always on the preordained destiny the world chose for them. But This means that no one actually has a destiny because they don’t really get to choose what they want to do. Another way the Whispers break this boundary is by losing a battle against Cloud and his friends. Due to the whispers losing the fight destiny ends up changing and no longer stays on the path that was preordained. This kinda results in the whole story of Final Fantasy VII changing from what it was originally.

So the main monsters in Final Fantasy VII Remake are the Whispers due to the fact that they break a significant boundary of future and past.

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With advancements in technology becoming more and more advanced  we are going to end up developing robots that help people in times of needs. The development of this robot which is more advanced version of a regular cleaning robot is great especially in this recent months. This robot is a great  invention that can definitely help people stay healthy in the times that we are living in right now with COVID-19. This robot can help hospitals keep their employees more safe from the virus due to the fact that they can disinfect and clean areas from a distance. So this robot helps keep the essential work force operational by making them have less contact with others for a duty that is super which is cleaning rooms after a patient leaves.

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Gods are monsters

What I want to talk about is how gods from mythology can really be seen as monsters. So most people see gods as just powerful beings that are here to keep things in order. But if you read a lot of the stories about them they can be seen as monstrous. An example of this is the Norse god of thunder Thor. A good amount of the stories show Thor just killing other beings. These mostly include the deaths of the giants or  Jötnar of  Jötunheimr. The gods also like to spend a lot of their time messing with humans instead of just watching them like their suppose to do. So gods  from mythology can really be seen as monstrous.

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After learning about cyborgs and cybernetic systems I looked into more into it and found an interesting video. To me its amazing that we have such advanced technology that we can implant things into people to help the ones that have disabilities. Such as helping color blind people know what colors they are seeing or helping blind people see in general.  But some of these things just seem unneeded such as the implant to help unlock things as well the brain simulators that some gamers use to gain better focus. The technology for the brain simulation should be more used to help people that have ADHD because it will help them focus much better than they usually could. Also as explained in the video people get anxious around some of these technologies which is understandable because they at first they don’t understand what it does.

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Monsters in Persona 5 Royal (Spoilers)

I’ve recently been playing a game called Persona 5 royal which is an updated version of the original Persona 5 with extra content added to it. In the game you play as a high school student that has just got an assault charge added to his record. Throughout the game you come to see a group of people become what we will call “monsters.”

Through the perspective of your character and the group he forms called the phantom thieves, the other members also being high school students. All of these students have been treated unfairly which is why they come together. The “monster” that this group sees are the adults of the world. 

Using Mary Douglas’ theory of dirt helps to explain this. The adults that considered that monsters are ones that have broken the rules of the society and have been getting away with their misdeeds. Some of these misdeeds include phyical and sexual abuse of students, theft, and blackmail. The adults doing these things don’t get away with these misdeeds even though they break the law. Which therefore makes them break the boundary between right and wrong which is definitely the main boundary of the game.

However, from another perspective you can also see the phantom thieves as being monstrous as well. This is because they break the boundary between reality and cognition. To fix these adults the phantom thieves must go into the cognitive world and steal the distorted desires of these adults. Which afterwards makes these adults confess their sins. However, as the phantom thieves become more well known they don’t become seen as monstrous but become seen as heroes of justice that are helping to fix the world which reinforces the boundary between right and wrong. 

So in Persona 5 Royal the main “dirt” in the game according to Mary Douglas’ theory would definitely be the adults because they break the biggest boundary which would be the law.

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heterogeneous robot team

According to Baudrillard these machines being created by Boston Dynamics’ that are discussed in this article would be considered robots. This is because they preform functions that humans would normally do. They preform tasks such as moving objects. These robots are to make the job get done easier and faster. but they do all of this without human intervention, which is believed to just get in the way of the job that the robot has to do. This can be dangerous however, due to the fact that without human intervention they may get out of control and may not be able to get the task that they were assigned done