Andrew as a robot is a housekeeper in Martin family. Martin family doubted that Andrew is not simply a robot, because Andrew can express his feelings and think about things by himself. The longer Andrew stay with the family, the more Andrew behave and think like a human, but he is still a robot. After a while Andrew said goodbye to Martin family to find freedom. Andrew likes "little Miss" Amanda a lot. They keep in touch with each other as Amanda grows up, marries, divorce and dies. Andrew eventually fall in love with the granddaughter of Amanda, whose name is Portia. And Portia fall in love with Andrew, who can make her laugh.
Until he met a mechanical expert, the expert change Andrew gradually, Andrew starts having skin, inside of the body, nerve. And became a human. He petitions the world Congress to recognize him a human, and then they can get married. but denied because there is no long living human. Until Andrew and Portia are old and almost die. Andrew introduce blood to his body. The world congress recognise him as a human. In the end Andrew died, and Portia die hand in hand with Andrew.
I think the contemporary technologies can not be as advanced as in the movie yet, for example the skin, nerve and blood of Andrew, which make him a human. And I believe sometime in the future, we can have this kind of robot, which is a human. This is product of our time, which is the imagination of the robot in the future, the imagination is the robot is a human. It shows fears in the movie, the robot can have endless time existing in the earth. What if the robot can have endless time existing on the earth, also robot can have feelings and body like human. what will human do ? It do raise the questions about time means to a human. For Andrew, he lives about 200 hundred years, he won't die if he did not choose to introduce blood to his body and decide to die. But human can only live about 100 years. Living time for a human is the question we need to think about. And also Andrew make a lot of effort to be a human, and get the rights and property as a human can have. We should cherish what we already have now as a human.
Until he met a mechanical expert, the expert change Andrew gradually, Andrew starts having skin, inside of the body, nerve. And became a human. He petitions the world Congress to recognize him a human, and then they can get married. but denied because there is no long living human. Until Andrew and Portia are old and almost die. Andrew introduce blood to his body. The world congress recognise him as a human. In the end Andrew died, and Portia die hand in hand with Andrew.
I think the contemporary technologies can not be as advanced as in the movie yet, for example the skin, nerve and blood of Andrew, which make him a human. And I believe sometime in the future, we can have this kind of robot, which is a human. This is product of our time, which is the imagination of the robot in the future, the imagination is the robot is a human. It shows fears in the movie, the robot can have endless time existing in the earth. What if the robot can have endless time existing on the earth, also robot can have feelings and body like human. what will human do ? It do raise the questions about time means to a human. For Andrew, he lives about 200 hundred years, he won't die if he did not choose to introduce blood to his body and decide to die. But human can only live about 100 years. Living time for a human is the question we need to think about. And also Andrew make a lot of effort to be a human, and get the rights and property as a human can have. We should cherish what we already have now as a human.
This is an excellent novella by Asimov (and major motion picture as you mentioned). I think one poignant struggle Andrew grapples with is how difficult it is for him to assimilate into society and receive acceptance. This is a reality in many marginalized groups throughout history and in the present day. Whether it be gender, sexuality, race, religious sects, or anyone deemed "other" than the majority. One paradox in the narrative is Andrew propensity to display more humanistic features than actual human beings effectively blurring the boundary between humanoid and android. You mentioned this and I think you hit the nail on the head.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting note: Asimov embedded an ethical code into the robots of his Foundation Universe known as the Three Laws of Robotics.
They are as follows:
1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2) A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
There is also a zeroth law: A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
These laws where modified over time, but basically adhered to the wording above. A plethora of information can be gleaned from this school of robotic ethics, but I mention this namely due to the guardian/shepherd role the robot takes among humanity. Instilling the robots with this directive can be seen as a projection of human fear that traces it's lineage to the atrocities carried out by human beings. Human beings are bound to err and this could be seen as a safeguard mechanism. Anyway, I could go on and on about the Foundation Universe, but Andrew is an great example of what it means to be human and the struggles and suffering that can coincide within that condition.
Great thoughts! And thanks, James, for bringing up the Laws of Robotics; the idea of these laws as a projection of human fears of themselves is a fantastic read.
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