Robocop
When considering the merger of man and machine within my project Robocop comes to mind not only was it one of the first times we seen a cyborg as the main character of a Hollywood block buster, but it discusses the ethics of becoming a cyborg and builds a narrative around how a future medical practice would operate.
Robocop is set in a future utopia where society has collapsed in order to prevent crime mega-corporation Omni Consumer Products creates a cyborg to prevent crime.
They turn Alex Murphy a former cop who is heavily injured after being shot and tortured by a gang of criminals into a cyborg they replace almost all of his body parts with cybernetics apart from is brain.
After becoming a cyborg Robocop’s mission is to serve and protect
Murphy’s brain is still intact this begs the question what happens if we go too far if we become to change the body to the point we are more machine than human ?
Is it ethical to make man a machine if they still feel, if they still have human emotion.
Below is a scene from the 1987 movie where Alex Murphy starts to remember being shot and killed this makes him start to feel emotions like vengeance and pain things that Robots should not be able to comprehend.
I think that their is a lot of realism within this scene when considering future cybernetics, it shows that if we replaced everything but the brain we would begin to question weaver we are robot or human and this would create many issues mentally, we would question morality and our own existence which would cause problems for future society.
I have considered replacing the brain within my project but Robocop has made me consider a few things.
If I were to replace the brain would it be safe to keep the memories of the former human being or would this cause a similar effect to that of the Robocop movie ?
Today we are already creating robots that can feel, this could also prove dangerous because if robots in the future start to disagree with their human counterparts robot vs human may become a reality.
Is it ethical to remove all emotion to a human being , even if they have been killed and resurrected do we have the right ?
Robocop, MGM (1987).
The next scene which is situated below shows Alex Murphy questioning his own existence.
He is being asked a series of questions the dialog is as follows ?
- Are you Alex Murphy? + No.
- Are you human? + No.
- You are simply a machine. + I am... a machine.
- Nothing more. + Nothing more.
When asked are you Human Alex answers no, I am a Robot nothing more Although his facial expression indicates he (Robocop) can still feel emotion, he still resmbles a high percentage of his former self, more than the scientists who want to control him would like.
Again questioning the morality of such a project is it right to take away a persons ability to think independent thoughts to reprogram them to become machine ?
Robocop, MGM (1987).
Robocop, MGM (2014).
The final video is from the latest Robocop movie and delves a little deeper into the ethics of human becoming a robot.
I know its real I can feel all of this Alex states and then goes on to say what have you done to me before running away.
He still feels by definition he is more human than robot yet his body has been modified to the point where it is only 10 percent human.
What I like most about Robocop in relation to my project is the narrative that they have created and which is very realistic it has gave me an idea of how the medical industry and society might operate within the future.
When analysing the medical practise that Robocop has created I found that although it is very industrial / technological it has a clean white undertone, with the white lab coats and pure white lab setting which resembles much of the medical industry today.
The pure white aesthetic I was discussing is best seen in the photo below :
I am also using the white medical theme within my project because when I think of the future I think of a very clean sleek medical industry which combines new technologies and offers a hygienic environment.
The colour white is very calming, when asking the future society to join these technological advancements and alter their body which can seem a scary thing with the way cyborgs have been discussed in pop culture, the colour white will help to set consumers at rest.
If you had a medical practise that was black in colour this would have very different and dark connotations.
When Robocop was released in 1987 it was seen as SCI - FI however many elements of the film seem like realistic depictions of the future because we are already seeing technological advancements in medicine that have made cybernetics possible everything from printing skin to artificial limbs which in 1987 might have been thought of as fiction.
Many others have also questioned the realism within Robocop some stating that this may be closer to reality than fiction as I suggested earlier, below is an article which discusses all of the elements of Robocop in detail to show how Robocop is slowly becoming a reality.
Additional Resources I have looked at :
The first Article by Gizmodo below talks about a Robot cop that is already in development :
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/10/a-real-life-robocop-is-in-development/
Article 2 :
https://www.wired.com/2014/02/robocop-science/
The article above Wired suggests that “we are 100 years away from a real Robocop.”
The wired Article breaks down all of the technologies that Robocop uses to discuss how feasible making a Robocop would be in the 21st century everything from prosthetics controlled by the brain to battery life.
After looking at Robocop I have gained an insight of how a narrative can be created when discussing the future of medical science whilst also getting an in-depth look at the moral issues when creating a cyborg both things that will help to shape my project going forward.