Author: toyoung

In Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Measure of a Man”, the Starfleet Enterprise seeks to answer the question of whether or not Data has a soul. If he has a soul, that means he is human. And if it’s proven that he’s human, that allows him the right to resign or refuse being disassembled. Of course, in the end, it was proven that he wasn’t human, but that he possessed human characteristics such as consciousness, self-awareness, and intelligence. In addition, he was regarded as a valuable asset to the team. 

The part that was most interesting to me is when Captain Louvois admitted that she didn’t know if she had a soul. Neither she nor Maddox could explain what made their sentience different from Data’s. Aside from being extremely intelligent and aware of his current situation, Data was capable of loving someone romantically (Tasha) and placing value on friendship (he packed a book that was given to him by Picard). However, he was still considered to be a machine/automaton, or in Maddox’s words “property”. 

And, while it might seem cruel to suggest that, Maddox wasn’t entirely wrong. Data’s name suggests that he is simply a collection of information, hence why Maddox believes that disassembling him won’t affect his core memories, since data (the way it’s viewed in the tech world) can be backed up and restored. It’s not entirely lost except in special circumstances. But, while Maddox views Data’s memories as, well, data, Data views his memories as human memories (he holds a constructivist view of memory). These memories, that, once destroyed, cannot be remade. Even if he were to attempt replicating the situation in which he experienced the memory, as he said, “The substance or the flavor would be lost”. The memories would just become facts, facts that would not have any special meaning to him. His claim reminded me of last week’s movie “Inside Out”, where it was shown that Riley’s memories were influenced by her environment, which is why her emotions thought that sending her back to Minnesota would help her recreate the core memories that she lost.

 

“Marjorie Prime” also focused on memory, but it did so through the portrayal of a lady, Marjorie,  who has Alzheimer’s. Marjorie is able to remember the past through the use of a “Prime”- a projection (I think) of her husband, Walter, who relays the past back to her. I’m not sure if the Prime is really a projection, because he seems to be physically present when ice is thrown at him, and he’s able to hold a conversation with Marjorie’s family and caretaker.

So, I guess he’s a robot? Anyways, the Prime is fed information from Marjorie’s relatives, who themselves seem to have little recollection of the past, considering that Tess was a child and the in-law wasn’t even there to experience it. 

 

A quote from the movie that explains memory best is, “Memory is not like a well that you dip into or a filing cabinet. You don’t remember the memory; you remember the last time you remembered it”. The act of remembering something was compared to making a photocopy of a photocopy. Funny enough, a real life example is provided right after this quote. Tess says that she remembers eating vanilla ice cream the last time Jon told her the quote. Jon says that it was pistachio. Tess calls him insane and says that it’s vanilla ice cream. They are speaking about the same event, yet their memory of what they ate is different. The memory has changed over time that neither one can differentiate between the truth and a false memory. 

 

While Tess and Jon experience a false memory, Marjorie can’t remember at all unless prompted. However, it seems like her brain is able to recall memories that weren’t even given to her. For example, Jon tells Walter Prime not to bring up Damian, but despite that, Marjorie randomly retrieves the memory of their dog, Toni and her son, Damian. This is surprising because, ever since Damian killed himself and Toni, Marjorie never spoke of him again. I think that forcing that memory into her subconscious mind where it could be forgotten was a form of protection. She didn’t have to confront a memory that hurt her-until it came into her consciousness in her old age.

 

In Inside Out, I thought it was interesting that Riley’s brain was depicted as a factory, beginning with popping out core memories of Joy and then expanding the production center to different feelings. Not only that, but, when Riley lost her core memories, the solution was to travel to Minnesota and make new ones. This showed me that though an emotion is something you (and pretty much everyone) can create, how it’s developed is dependent on your environment. She was determined to go back to the source of her happiness: the home where she first experienced joy.

When I re-read the phrase,  “an emotion is something you create”, it sounded weird when I said it out loud because that’s usually a phrase you associate with memories. Memories are created. But all of Riley’s memories are attached to a specific emotion, so are memories just physical representations of our emotions in different settings? Also, something I noticed was, though the emotions seemingly worked together, Riley’s memories had a few set outcomes: a solid yellow (Joy), red (Anger), green(Disgust), or purple color (Fear). Each emotion would take turns as the pilot of the spaceship that was Riley’s mind and saved the memory. 

There were two scenes that stood out to me: the scene where Joy watches a memory of Riley losing a hockey game and the ending, when each emotion contributes to the core memories. After watching the entire memory, Joy realized that Sadness is a necessary emotion because it functions as the precursor to joy. Instead of icing out Sadness, Joy really should’ve been embracing her. Another scene that stood out to me was when Riley’s memories were no longer one solid color. Rather, they were rainbow colored, signifying that her core memories became a mixture of all the emotions, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. 

 

 

 

 

 

I really enjoyed the Star Trek episode “Man of the People”. While I wouldn’t go about it the way the Ambassador did, I would also like to offload my emotions into a receptacle if given the chance. I like the idea of separating emotions from the body to allow one to think straight so as to achieve a higher purpose. This episode seems to go against the Theory of Constructed Emotion since it separates feelings from the body and supports Plato’s idea of rational thinking. For example, emotions act as a force to deteriorate Troi’s body over time.

 

 

 

 

 

Lust and anger caused her to age quicker than usual- not just in her appearance (grey hair and sagging jowls), but also mentally. Her brain entered a state of psychosis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Compare her, who’s been transformed into the stereotype of a hysterical woman, to the calm and composed Alkar whose decisions are unaffected by how he’s feeling at the moment. It plays well into the stereotype that men are better at reasoning than women are since they can disconnect from or reconnect to emotions whenever necessary. Troi even confirmed this at the beginning of the episode when she complained that, “Sometimes my body has a problem conforming to my mind’s conditions”. In other words, her mind tells her how to feel, but the body doesn’t always act accordingly.

Do you constantly have fights with your significant other? Went to Facebook jail or got ratioed on Twitter after saying something that was supposedly well-intentioned? Been accused of misusing a phrase? The reason for this is that most of us fail to recognize that everyone encounters language differently, which is why so many of us fail at communicating effectively.

I’m not the best communicator, but after I watched the 2016 film Arrival and Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “Darmok”, I’d say that ‘I’m on track to becoming one. What they taught me about language ensured that I will never ever have to say, “Maybe it was lost in translation” again.

1. Viewing foreign languages/people as scary impacts communication.                                   The first thing that I noticed is that in Arrival and Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Darmok”, foreign languages were either met with fear or hostility. In Arrival, the military is sent to deal with the issue of a possible invasion. At first, when they couldn’t understand what the heptapods were saying, they went with the worst possible scenario: that the heptapods were there to harm them. But, Dr. Banks breaks the language barrier by putting down her own by removing her hazmat suit and abandoning conceptual metaphors in order to understand how the Heptapods’ brains worked. For example, she started to think of herself moving through time rather than time moving towards her, which allowed her mind to travel to the future and decipher the language.
2.   The Importance of Context

Metaphors gave meaning to the Tamarian Language: In Darmok, the Tamarian captain kept repeating the phrase “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra”. While the phrase held meaning for the Tamarians, it sounded like gibberish to the humans. Even after they cross-referenced Darmok and Tanagra, they still came to the conclusion that the Tamarians wanted to fight because they didn’t have the full narrative. Had they known Tamarian history, they would’ve realized that ‘Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra’ was a request to join forces.

Dual Meanings of ‘Weapon’: 

In Arrival, there is a moment when Dr. Banks translates a logogram and it comes out as “weapon”. Though Dr. Banks tries to defend the heptapods, the military interprets the word as a threat and starts shooting at the heptapod ship. The men in the military are surrounded by guns, explosives, etc., which they use to attack people hence why ‘weapon’ is associated with violence. On the other hand, the heptapods did not associate weapons with war and division as the humans did. Rather, they saw a weapon as a tool of collaboration. Here, we see that a difference in framing brought about two interpretations. This is similar to Captain Picard and the Tamarian’s time in the woods.

 

“A shared danger might bring people together”

Captain assumed that when the Tamarian handed him the dagger, he was challenging him to a fight. However, it’s later revealed that the weapon was not meant for fighting each other; it was meant to help each other. In the words of the Captain, the Tamarian hoped they would meet because the story of Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra showed him thatThe act of throwing the knife now being regarded as positive is an example of frameshifting. With more information, the alien species was no longer seen as harmful.

 

 

What Makes Us Human?

Futurama- The Day the Earth Stood Stoopid

http://https://futurama.fandom.com/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Stupid

In Futurama’s episode ‘ The Day the Earth Stood Stoopid’, the episode employs the use of the image of a brain in a vat (outside the vat, in this case). The battle between the flying brains and the humans is representing the argument of cognition limited to the brain and embodied cognition. Though the brains are seen as intelligent and humans stupid, the brains’ reliance on the brain for thought processes is actually to their detriment. Why? Because they are unable to process emotions properly since they are just a brain and not a mind. This suggests that there is value in human emotions and that the collaboration between our brain and our body is what makes us human. This made me think of how we treat people in a coma. When there is a lack of brain activity, a person is called brain-dead. But, when the human form decides to cease all activity, they are just dead, which highlights the importance of viewing the brain and body as one. Also, I just wanted to highlight Leela’s comment about the brains saying: “Oh my God; they’re like flying televisions!” (because they make people dumb). I thought it was interesting that she thinks of technology as a knowledge-zapper instead of a new medium through which we can gain knowledge compared to reading, writing, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Star Trek: Return to Tomorrow

Star Trek uses Sargon and Sargon’s planet as a symbol for brain cognition. Sargon says, “I am as dead as my planet”‘. What’s interesting is that Sargon is directing the ship through voice commands alone. It is assumed that Sargon is a person or maybe an alien until it is revealed that they are a brain in a vat (or a brain in an orb, in this case). Essentially, they act like Siri, giving commands and mimicking human-like ways of thinking. However, it’s noted that, though Sargon doesn’t consider himself dead, he doesn’t consider himself alive either. That is until he possesses a crew member’s body and states how wonderful it is, “to be again”. “To be” as in regaining the senses which allowed him to feel a pulse, breathe, and see. I would argue that vision was probably the most important sense that they regained because before they could perceive their surroundings. This circles back to the belief that human cognition is formed by our experiences. 

 

Altered Carbon: Out of the Past

Unlike both Star Trek and Futurama, Altered Carbon doesn’t have images or representations of a brain outside the body. It doesn’t question what it means to be a human. Rather, it questions what makes you, you. The writers focus on the human form, referring to bodies as ‘sleeves’, implying that bodies are vessels for the brain and that it’s solely responsible for our personality. Take the case of Kovacs, for example, he still seems to be himself even though he went from being a slender Asian man to a buff white guy. It’s suggested that the human brain acts like a computer: our thoughts are software that can be downloaded and run by anybody. In other words, the brain can’t exist outside of a body, but it can function outside of our original body.

Futurama- I Second That Emotion

The first media I watched this week was Futurama whose message was straightforward. This episode seems to be arguing that empathy isn’t an inherent trait and that it can be developed in one who does not have it. In the example of Bender who is a robot, he is able to feel empathy through the implantation of an empathy chip by the Professor. The first thing that I noticed is that he felt not only her sadness, but also her happiness and anger, which I thought was odd, but only because empathy is usually associated with kindness. Continuing, this is reminiscent of the topic of mirror neurons because Bender is able to save Leela’s pet since he seemingly feels her pain. But, it also showcases the weakness of the mirror neuron claim because, after the chip is removed, Bender doesn’t feel empathy anymore despite witnessing and displaying Leela’s love for Nibbler. This might be because he didn’t employ emotional empathy. He acted out of selfishness (how he would feel in her place) instead of thinking about how Leela herself felt. This leans more towards supporting embodied theory since he does not need to theorize Leela’s emotions. His body recognizes her body language and responds to it.

Possessor

When I glanced at the cover for Possessor, I thought it would be like a regular horror movie. You know, maybe there’s a villain, a sidekick, and some violence, However, the opening scene was different than what I expected. I don’t like needles or blood on television, so it was a little uncomfortable to watch. Also, it was a little difficult to understand the plot, so I did have to replay some scenes. Something that I focused on was the sex scenes. The act of sex is usually heightened by the feelings each person has for one another. Vos eventually empathizes with the host to where sex feels like more than an act in every relationship except her own. It paints empathy in a negative light, because, in order to empathize with someone, Vos has to lose part of herself in the process. It makes me wonder if empathy is simply understanding how someone feels or trading a portion of your consciousness for theirs. Is our consciousness just a collection of our experiences with others? In addition, the primary use of empathy in the movie is to allow her to kill people, which also isn’t exactly positive.

I also wanted to zone in on her embodied cognition and how difficult it is to separate the actions performed by the host’s body from her own consciousness. Due to the fact that she couldn’t commit suicide, it seems that the host’s body and her mind are now one. Or, if not, there’s a struggle between the mind and body for control. Vos’s experience isn’t too different from what most people experience as she uses grounding techniques such as repeating the phrase, “I’m absolutely starving”. People normally use this when they’ve lost their sense of self.

 

Hi everyone,
My name is Tonicia (pronounced tuh-knee-see-uh), but some people just call me Toni. I’m a rising senior studying English, and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I have 2 pet budgies: Pearlie and Sparky.

I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter series. I’ve watched the movies so many times that I’ve lost count 😂. I own some of the original books with the raised print, and I even own a Harry Potter themed journal. And, yes, I have most definitely visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Personally, if I were to be sorted into a house, it would have to be Gryffindor.

At the moment, my favorite tv shows are: The Good Doctor, A Million Little Things, Modern Family, and Love Victor. Sometimes I like to switch it up and watch crime shows like Criminal Minds, Leverage, or NCIS. Also, I have a couple of hobbies such as reading, writing poetry, and rapping. I like to think of rapping as reciting poetry to a beat, whether it’s said from memory or something I think of on my feet.

I listen to any genre of music, depending on my mood, however my favorites are neo-soul and r&b. My playlist mostly consists of Solange, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, India Arie, Lauryn Hill, Mary J Blige, etc.

This summer, I’m just working and taking summer courses (such as this one) to fulfill my major requirements. Also, I read the course description and thought it’d be interesting, and I get to watch films for homework so that’s a plus.