EGL309: Scifi and Cogsci on the Screen

Episodes blog #2

In Altered carbon Out of the past Takeshi Kovacs wakes up resurrected 250 years after he had died.  What it is interesting is the body is referred to as a sleeve. The scene in the beginning where there is a body floating in a dark fluid and then you see the body breathing heavily as he rises to the surface. You see a shadow of a nude body. The woman he is with is seen cleaning and stacking cortical stacks they have collected. A cortical stack is basically people’s minds downloaded into these.  The mind can be put into any “sleeve” or body. Takeshi was sent into the future to solve his own murder.  Showing the mind and his sixth sense is a very powerful thing. To compare this to what we have learned it is like Cartesian Dualism: The mind body split.  It is said that the mind is separated from the elevated above the body.  Plato believed the mind and soul were imprisoned in the body. I think this episode seems to metaphorically stand for the mind is thought as a computer with software and the body is the hardware. The body is the vessel transporting important information from the brain.

In Star Trek Return to Tomorrow The starship meet Sargon who has telepathic powers and tells them to arrive at his planet where he and two others are the last surviving of their kind.  Their minds have been stored in spheres.  In need of human bodies Sargon transfers his mind in Kirk’s body and then kirks mind into this sphere. The bodies again comparing to the first episode are just vessels and the mind is the power.  The transferring into the bodies can be exhausting.   Henoch begins to prepare a serum as kirks body becomes weaker, he requires this serum. This is almost like the brain in the vat thought experiment.  Neuro activation.  Like a mad scientist, our professor users an example as phantom limb, through neuroactivational.  The brain plays an important role in our perception.

“The Day the Earth Stood Stupid.”                                                                                                   
Futurama

Is a play on human and alien life.  This show is a comedy and the part of the episode, Nibbler uses telepathically That he is an ambassador sent to observe humans.   Brains then starts sending beams toward buildings and fry discovers all the citizen of New York have are now “stupid”. A brain spawn was sent to invade earth and wipe it out.  Everyone is powerless against the stupidity of brain spawn.  Since Fry was the only one not stupid, she is the only one who can defeat it.  The part in the scene where they pin the information to her shirt was funny because once she entered back into the earth atmosphere, she would be too stupid and would not remember.

One common theme between all three episodes is the body seems like it is treated as just a vessel.  We can interchange the body, but the mind is what makes us who and what we are. In embodied cognition, this believes are bodies are just as important as our minds. “Cognition is not limited to the brain, rather we think through and with our bodies.” The interpretation in these episodes that the brain is strong and there can be powers beyond with mind control.  The future could be where we can upload our brain into other bodies.  We must take care of our minds and our bodies.  We have to make sure we take care of these vessels for the brain to work as well.

We watched three different shows for class, and they all were different in their display of the mind and consciousness. In the first piece of media, Altered Carbon I recognized many topics we covered in the lecture. In this episode, there is the format of the sci-fi tech used in the show. In the show, they explain to them as, “This is a cortical stack… Inside is the pure human mind, coded and stored as DHF, Digital Human Freight, Your consciousness can be downloaded into any stack, in any sleeve, you can even needle cast to any sleeve in the settled worlds, a sleeve is replaceable…”There is a lot to unpack there, the human mind is simplified into freight, the human brain irrelevant.  Bodies are demeaned to sleeves, mere vessels for the cartridges of memory stored in the body’s neck/spinal area. Multiple times the idea of getting a new body is made to be a joke clearly the body is a joke to them. There is a strong feeling of the cybernetics understanding of the mind as well. With the discs simplified into software and the body remaining hardware, it fits snuggly into this understanding.

This is the technology that contained people’s thoughts:

In Star Trek: The Original Series there are definitely different, unexpected examples of cognition. Immediately the “brain in a vat”, thought experiment comes to mind. The other form of life in the episode have resigned in jars like glowing spheres for a long period of time. The main life form communicates, and can clearly sense his environment. But when inhabiting a human body it is clear that is a very different experience. Namely, the experiences of the senses again, going as far as the feeling of breathing. Saying even, “Lungs filling with air again, to see again. Heart pumping arteries surging with blood again… too feel it all…” This brings to mind embodied cognition, that we think through and with our bodies. That is a core focus in this episode. The way they consider bodies in this universe is a stark contrast to the previous show, here they are revered and coveted,  because there isn’t what appears to be a surplus of alternatives like in Altered Carbon. In both shows, they do not see the bodies themselves as deeply connected to one’s self at all, merely as vessels.

The episode of Futurama “The Day the Earth Stood Stupid” I found by far the most challenging to digest. Though arguably the most simplified in concept, I found it all the more difficult to pinpoint the key arguments. The show plays far less with discussions of self and leans much more into simply the human brain. saying, “The thoughts of others screach at them like the forced laughs of a billion art house movie patrons…” while the end of the punchline is irrelevant, the beginning does explain the motivation of our brain-bodied villains. Their interaction with the world is wholly dependent and affected by the people around them. This reminded me of enacted cognition or the socially extended mind, the villain in a literal sense is affected by other people’s thoughts. In the conclusion of the episode, we see that it literally harms them when people think close to them.

Hello everybody!

My name is Madeline, but you can call me Maddy. I use she/her pronouns and am an English major with a Creative Writing minor at Stony Brook University. I’m going into my senior year, which feels so unreal! I took off a year during COVID, so it felt like I’d never reach graduation, but now it’s just around the corner!

I’m very excited for this upcoming year. I play drums in the marching band here at Stony Brook, which is definitely my favorite non-school activity I do. This year I’ve been chosen for drum captain – a position I’ve wanted since I first started marching – and I couldn’t be more excited! If you go to any football games, keep an eye out for me – I’ll be the blonde girl yelling directions at the drumline. I’ll also be living in a house with other people in band, which is going to be TONS of fun!

Besides drumline, I love to read and write. I enjoy mostly fantasy and sci-fi. I’ve had writers block recently, so I’ve been rereading the Percy Jackson series – my go-to – to get me passionate again.

Of course I have to brag about my pet doves. Their names are Mordecai (the one farthest away in the photo) and Rigby (the one closest to the camera), and they’re my best friends. They like to sleep, eat peas and edamame beans, and look out the window. They also make a laughing noise which cracks me up daily (look up “ringneck dove, burt” on YouTube if you want a sample, that video is amazing). Here’s a cute candid picture of them with my boyfriend Riley.

I’m taking this class for a credit, but the topic of this class caused me to take this instead of a different one. I love sci-fi and the topic of cognition in relation to sci-fi sounds super interesting.

I’m excited to start learning with you guys!

Hi everyone!

My name is Alessa, and my pronouns are she/her. I’m a Psychology major with a minor in English, and I’m also a Senior graduating (finally!) this summer. My plans after graduating are to land a job in research (preferably in the Psychology field) in the city, and be able to use my English minor as a way to further enjoy reading and writing.

I decided to take this class because after taking multiple English courses where films and documentaries have been part of the syllabus, I became interested in how and what I can learn through films. I’ve never been a fan of sci-fi, but hopefully this class changes that! My favorite film so far this year has been “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” I related so much to the overall message of the film, and I recommend it to everyone. 

I enjoy reading, which has been a hobby of mine since I was young, mostly classics like Pride and Prejudice, Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, The Great Gatsby and so on. As I’ve grown up, I’ve also outgrown certain genres and developed an interest in others. After taking a class where environment and culture were studied, I developed an interest in environmental literature/novels due to what’s happening with climate change. Also, while my first language is Spanish, I don’t read books in Spanish, but I’m slowly trying to change that. I recently bought a poetry book by Pablo Neruda, so we’ll see how it goes! 

Please enjoy this picture of Luca, my puppy. He’s one, but he’ll always be a puppy, and he’s the best. He loves to chase squirrels, is tired of eating kibble, and has too much energy for his dog mom to handle.

My name is Nicole, I go by she/her pronouns. I recently returned to school after about 10 years. I have an 8 year old son and now that he is older and in school, I have come back to pursue a degree in English Education.  A lot of my summer will be working and trying to entertain my son – but I also have a family vacation planned to go visit family in Florida and a short cruise from Florida to the Caribbean, which we are both excited for.

Most of my week revolves around sports, I run soccer and kickball leagues for LI-Kick, which is LI’s largest adult social sports league – so I spend most of my time on a field. I’ve played soccer my whole life and have been running/playing kickball the last 8 years.

Kickball has turned out to be way more competitive than it was when I was a kid, and a major part of my life the past few years. I even went to nationals (surprisingly this exists) in Las Vegas last year for kickball – which is a statement, I never thought I’d say. 

I am taking this class because it fulfilled the requirements, I need to graduate. When I originally signed up for the course- I didn’t know what the course entailed, however now that I’ve read through the syllabus the course strikes me as a really interesting course. I love a good story and sci-fi and genuinely like the content and am looking forward to some really interesting posts/discussions within the class.

Hey everyone ! My name’s Ariana, but you can just call me Ari ! I go by he/she/they pronouns; any are fine. I’m an english major and also a senior with only one semester left. It’s been a wild ride ! A lot of people ask me what I plan to do with my major and assume I’m planning to teach, but I actually really want to work in the video game industry ! I love video games as a storytelling medium and aspire to tell my own stories through games someday. In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying sharing my favorite games on stream as my streaming persona, Sunnie. Some of my favorite games are OneShot, Hello Charlotte, and Omori. 

I’ve been spending a lot of time indulging in my many hobbies this summer. After a long hiatus, I finally returned to the anime convention scene with a new cosplay and performance. I’ve also been playing several tabletop games (I just finished our Sunday session an hour before writing this and OOF was it rough) and catching up on a few games I’ve been meaning to play and replay. If you couldn’t tell, I really like to draw and I’ve recently joined an annual art gifting competition called Art Fight. All the while working full time in the cheese department at Whole Foods. Needless to say I’ve been keeping quite busy this summer !

This class is a requirement for me, but I’m so happy about the theme that I’d probably have taken it even if I didn’t have to. I always appreciate it when alternative mediums are considered in literary discussions and I fully intend to drag my passion for games into this class. I hope you’re ready for it !

Hello!

My name is Alesha Gutierrez (she/her) some people like to call me Lesha or Lesh whichever way doesn’t really matter to me. I’m a Psychology major at Stony Brook and I do commute so I always look forward to the summer because NO TRAFFIC!!!

My actual summer plans are…. very uninteresting. I really am just going to school, working, and working out. Oh and of course sleeping, if I. am not at work or working out almost 99.9% of the time I will be fast asleep. I work an overnight job as an operations manager so I am quite literally always tired.

Although no matter how tired I am, I always find time to read. But you see I’m not like a traditional story reader, what I really like to read is poetry. In particular, I love reading love poems (cheesy, right?). But I also love reading works written by Latinos. I’m very proud to be a Latina however there are so many external and internal issues that come with being a Latina and authors like Gloria Anzaldua highlight these issues. Right now though I’m reading Homebody by Rupi Kaur and I love it.

Besides reading, I guess the most interesting thing thats happen to me this summer is getting my first tattoo. The worst part of it…. was sitting for a dreadful 9 hours but I love my tattoo so much and I would most certainly do it again.

I love movies and love reading so I guess from this course I would like to get a better understanding of how a film is able to resonate with us emotionally. I look forward to this course and getting to know everyone!

Hi everyone. My name is Anthony Aromolo, and my pronouns are he/him. My interests and hobbies include soccer and coaching soccer. At this time, I am coaching soccer at various youth levels, so many of my plans for the summer include working at various soccer camps. Some of the camps that I work are residential camps, so we get to spend the entire week at a given location/campus. Although I am an English major, I am working towards building a career in coaching and hoping to one day coach at the collegiate level!

This is a picture of me coaching at The Stony Brook School.

In addition, I am very eager to travel. I would love to visit Europe, especially Spain and Italy, relatively soon. I’d love to visit Spain to experience their culture and visit their soccer stadiums. A majority of my family is from Italy, so I’m very interested to see and experience where they are from.

This is one of the many stadiums I would love to visit in Spain. It is called Estadio Benito Villamarín, and it is home to Real Betis located in Seville, Spain.

One of the reasons why I decided to take this class is because I think the topic is very interesting. I also need to take it in order to graduate. I hope to gain more insight on different films and series and keep an open mind in terms of how my peers analyze things as well. I am looking forward to learning from the various ideas and insights of my fellow classmates.

I wish everyone the best of luck and a wonderful summer!

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.

Hello Everyone! My name is Brianna Diaz, and my pronouns are she/her. I feel my hobbies are very basic but I enjoy swimming, writing, reading and going to clubs with my friends. I am actually in Dominican Republic right now at a resort with my friends so this is one part of my summer plans. I am also going to Miami at the end of July and Colorado to visit my best friend. I chose this class because as much as I love having English as my major, most English classes in my opinion are a bit boring or just the same concept. It gets a bit tiring, so when I read about this class when applying for summer courses, it seemed out of the ordinary and it caught my eye.