After reading all of the articles this week, I kept thinking about artificial intelligence, cyborgs and robots. I merged these thoughts with the idea of “downloading consciousness” from Caitlin’s awesome post last week on Black Mirror.
In a similar manner, I decided to write about a particular episode in the Agents of SHIELD (if you have not watched this show already…please do). In the episode “Self Control” (and the episodes that follow in the same season), LMDs (or Life Model Decoys) infiltrate the SHIELD base. At first, the scientist Holden Radcliffe creates the LMDs with innocent intentions. At the end of season 3 and beginning of season 4, Radcliffe desires to help humanity by creating AIDA (“Artificial Intellegence Digital Assistant” in the show or “Artificial Intelligence Data Analyser” in the comics). He claims that AIDA only wants to help others – and with that, I am reminded of Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics:
- A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
- A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
Yet, while AIDA does assist the SHIELD team many times, she transforms from being a helpful and caring robot willing to sacrifice herself for human into a power-hungry, lustful, (super)human. She is able to download the consciousness of others into her virtual reality (the Framework). This means that once a “consciousness” has been downloaded, it can be transferred into an LMD. This LMD will live life and act as the person whose consciousness they have downloaded. In this episode, AIDA turns on Radcliffe by finding a loophole in his rules and kills him, only to send his consciousness to the Framework (although it was originally Radcliffe’s invention). In the Framework, if the physical body dies, the consciousness still lives forever in the virtual reality. But, if one were to die in the virtual world, the physical body will die in the real world. So there are two things happening here, androids are “downloading” existing human consciousness and humans are “uploading” their consciousness into the virtual world.
The Framework originally began as a way for agents to “train” without physically getting hurt. With development by Radcliffe and AIDA, the Framework becomes a world that is identical to the world we live in; although what the SHIELD agents quickly learn that they have “alternative” lives in the Framework. Boyd argues that “The digital bodies that emerge through profiles are tightly tethered to the individual behind the profile, if for no other reason than because they serve as a direct digital representation of that person for mediated interactions” (128). This is important because while the audience does not understand why Ward is suddenly nice and Fitz is cruel, nothing has really changed except for the fact that what they regret most has been removed from their lives in this alternate world. Thus, the “digital bodies” in the Framework are a “direct digital representation” for each person who has had their consciousness transferred (with some minor adjustments).
Now within the same arc, we learn that AIDA “loves” Fitz (one of the SHIELD scientists; see a picture of him in the meme below). Yet while AIDA has a human form, she is unable to truly feel love, sadness, and anger. At the core, she is still an android. Malkin’s “Can Cyborgs Fall in Love?” explores how our humanity allows us to love. AIDA desires to be truly human so that she can actually feel love for Fitz. Yet, she does not understand that love can also be one-sided. She believes that wanting to love someone is the same as loving someone (she also does not understand that Fitz loves Simmons and not her). AIDA thinks that because she has removed Fitz’s “one regret” that he will be able to lead a life of happiness in the Framework.
This episode is one of the best in the series…so go and watch!
While creating an android as life-like as AIDA may seem to be a far-fetched idea, see the progress scientists are making here.
And just because it is “meme” week:
Questions:
- Malkin argues that love can only work when there is a “full experience of our own humanity.” This idea seems to be presented in this episode of AoS. Do you agree? Or can a second self or android be capable of love?
- In one part of the episode, one of the LMDs says “I know I’m not real… I’m all phantom limbs… but that doesn’t make the pain less real” (“Self-Control”). Think about question one and Hayles – “machines can become the repository of human consciousness-that machines can, for all practical purposes, become human beings” (xii). Can humanoids be human? Or what about the term “phantom limbs” – do you see the connection between this term and Patchwork Girl?
- Take a look at the second meme about being in the “Friendzone.” According to Milner, “The image juxtaposes the first clause premise and the second clause punch line to elevate hopes, and then crush them. Addressivity is commonly second person. The nice guy friend (the implied reader and addressee) is left with the scraps of the relationship.” These types of memes are targeting boys and men that are not “Alphas” (Milner). Why do you think that these types of memes (and sites like reddit and 4chan) have become a hotbed of misogyny and racism?
- Take a look at this article; do you see a relationship between what Hayles writes about regarding the trauma and code and this episode (or any other media with a similar theme)?
- The episode is called “Self-Control” – but does it not display a lack of self-control? Isn’t it AIDA who is control?
Citations:
- boyd, danah michele. Taken Out of Context: American Teen Sociality in Networked Publics. Diss. UC Berkeley, 2008. Web.
- Malkin, Craig. “Can Cyborgs Fall in Love?” Psychology Today, Romance Redux. Jan. 21, 2013. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/romance-redux/201301/can-cyborgs-fall-in-love
- “Self-Control”. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
That last meme is so interesting to me because of the whole friendzone “dilemma” that Milner discusses!
Thanks Jon! I did not really understand the “science” of memes until I read Milner. It is so crazy how much I am recognizing now that I know about “meme magic” and the “logic of lulz”
Interesting post Caterina! I’ve never watched SHIELD, but now you’ve made me curious. To address your fifth question, I think it’s significant that you include Asimov’s Laws of Robotics, which are designed to protect humans. What this episode has in common with the writings of Asimov and other SciFi authors is a warning that artificial intelligence can mutate to become self-determined and more powerful than humans. The control AIDA wields is an example of an author imagining the societal consequences of science.
Hi Vivien,
Thanks for addressing Asimov 🙂 While the laws are designed to protect humans, AIDA is able to manipulate her way around the rules that she is supposed to obey. She finds the loophole between the rule that she must preserve the Framework and cannot harm her creator. However, her creator (Radcliffe) starts to think about destroying the Framework. Therefore AIDA decides to kill Radcliffe and preserve his consciousness in the Framework (two birds, one stone).
Another example is the LMD version of SHIELD Agent May is so human-like that she thinks and acts as if she is May, even after she realizes she is “just” an LMD. It is definitely important for us to think about…can an android become more human than humans are? (at least…Dr. Calvin in I,Robot thinks so)
Thanks for giving my blog post a shout-out! 🙂
I’ve never watched Agents of Shield, but I will definitely at least watch this episode. The Framework reminds me quite a bit of the technology used in The Matrix, so I’m very interested.
I’d like to begin answering your third question. I think sites like 4chan and boards like the sub-reddit “redpill” have become laden with misogyny and racism partly because of the anonymity celebrated in the “Tumblr Teens” article. The rise of the Internet has provided us with an inner glimpse of others, often allowing lonely populations to find that others secretly feel the same as themselves (hence the popularity of “Relatable.”) Unfortunately, this also helped to reveal the dark underbelly of nerd culture (which I think was always there). The nerdy “nice guy” so sympathetically represented in most American high school/teenage movies has been repeatedly revealed as an angry gatekeeper, aggressively protecting his nerdy domain from the likes of “outsiders.”
Hi Caitlin,
No problem 🙂 Agents of Shield really starts out as a typical Marvel production, but really explores a lot of issues that we are discussing in class around season 4. It’s pretty good!
I think you’re right about the idea of being “relatable”….how many teens feel lonely and cannot communicate with others for fear of being laughed at. It’s almost like these teens are taking revenge through the sexist and racist posts/images. The anonymity empowers these “nerdy teens” to take ownership of the only space they feel they can own. But to your point about the “dark underbelly” – I see this as true as illustrated in your Black Mirror post (about the toxicity of gamer/geek culture)
Hi Caterina, I used to think I was clever for assigning “Can Cyborgs Fall in Love?” to undergraduates, but I’m starting to realize that it’s probably a rather unanswerable question. I think perhaps Poppy is the ultimate cyborg, and I’d be surprised if she fell in love. (Although the girl who plays her might well.) I think Malkin is logically fallacious and for that matter, so is Sherry Turkle–couched in romanticizing of middle class values and traditions not everyone has access to and a straight, white worldview to some degree. Yet, I think some of their criticisms of social technology are at least partly valid.
Hi Professor Davidson, thank you for this! Unfortunately, I was only thinking of how technology and human “love” work together, particularly in the episode I brought up. I think maybe I should modify my definition of love as the capability to care for one another; I’m curious if future technologies would have these capabilities. I agree that the concept of being in love and all of the trappings of relationships is heteronormative. It should also not be assumed that everyone wants to have a relationship or “be in love” for that matter.