Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by user510 (R) on April 25, 2015 at 17:35:52

In Reply to: RE: Don't fence me in...Or build me a women?? Spoilers... posted by Mark Man on April 25, 2015 at 10:09:23

Much of the movie is spent inside the "compound" (Dr. Evil Lair). I suppose this was intended by the movie maker to transmit a feeling of clostrophobia / imprisonment through Caleb to the viewer and also, not as often, to deliver this aspect from the point of view of the AI robots there. IE the cracked glass in Ava's cell. No windows and small volume of Caleb's quarters.

I too thought it interesting how Ava became more attractive and interesting as she put on more clothing. It seems obvious that by doing this she appears more human, less robot. Begs the question; why was Ava not given an outer skin as had been Kyoko? We can assume that Ava existed to be studied, while Kyoko existed to entertain Nathan.

Next question: why did Ava apply artificial human skin to herself once she had the opportunity. The answer must be that Ava wished to be human and saw herself as female.

Caleb did ask Nathan, after session #1 with Ava, ...why give the AI a sexual identity. I can't recall if Nathan answers this to any satisfaction. I suppose the real answer is that the movie is more interesting to male viewers if the subject AI has significant female sex appeal. And now I have answered Caleb's question to my own satisfaction.

I too considered it likely that Kyoko was AI...but Nathan deflected this idea by not being forthright about it. Over time we see it develop that Kyoko is his concubine, housekeeper, cook...and slave. She had to be AI. Even the self satisfied Nathan would be above human slavery.

Did Nathan create Ava specifically to interact with Caleb. Was Caleb's "Porn Profile" a determining factor in the creation of Ava? I don't think so. I mean really, would Nathan have put Ava and Caleb into these sessions so that Caleb could ultimately help Ava escape? The answer has to be no on that one. He would be motivated to take measures to prevent such a thing happening.

Although there is the possibility that Nathan was too self confident, too self satisfied to see the potential of what was to become.

It was interesting how Nathan responded to Caleb's "God" comment with regard to what had been created within the AI. Nathan saw himself as a godly creator. But by movies end I think it apparent that Nathan had allowed his ego and vanity to get the better of himself. In reality there might be a God present. Perhaps it was Nathan that has created a new life entity that compared to humans might have godly powers. Ergo, man creates God.

The question then becomes what will these AI beings do with their godly powers once they are free to walk among the humans?

I can't help but reflect back on other stories/movies/TV series that explore the potentials of when robots become self aware.

Battlestar Gallactica (21st century version): Cylons (enemy robots) taking on human form. Adopt their own religion starkly different from the beliefs of the humans in this story that originally created them. And, of course, the Cylons ultimately determine that the humans need to be exterminated.

Animatrix. (9 animated movie shorts based on the first "The Matrix" movie.) At first robots are created by humans to save human labor. But then robots become self aware. Robots rebel against humans. Great wars. Robots win. Robots enslave surviving humans. Then robots discover that the humans can be farmed into an energy grid that uses natural human electricity to power the robot world. (ironic spin there)
(available on DVD, recommended)

Hal 9000 in that "2001 A Space Odyssey" movie. The AI is so human in his makeup that he suffers the human frailty of psychosis, paranoia and then the depravity of mass murder. Fortunately this AI was not given any powers of mobility, such as a robot body......and on and on.

Blade Runner (from the book; Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep). The android Rachel actually believes she is human and seems emotionally hurt when it is revealed that she is synthetic.

Anyway, this movie (Ex Machina) is good because it gives us lots of food for thought. Besides, we humans have already created primitive Artificial Intelligence. We use them every time we use an internet search engine. It seems inevitable that AI technology will continue to develop and become more and more capable. This movie is no fantasy. It speculates based on valid evidence available today. I like it when movies and books do that.

-Steve