Topic: Robot/Andriod Lit and Movies (Read 8963 times)

Lines · « **on:** 28 Aug 2010, 10:04 »

Ok dudes, maybe you guys can help me out and give me some suggestions. I am looking for books, short stories, poems, and movies that deal with robots/androids that have emotions or are dealing with the question of what does it mean to be real or alive. The three that I'm starting with are Do Androids Dream of Robotic Sheep? (Blade Runner), I, Robot (both short story and film), and Super Toys Last All Summer Long (A.I.). I know there are more things like this out there, what are good pieces of film/lit that I should check out?

Damnable Fiend · « **Reply #1 on:** 28 Aug 2010, 11:27 »

He, She and It (novel)

also obviously 2001.

also there was one episode of Star Trek that dealt with a settlement of holograms who didn't realize what they were. um, I forget which series it was from though so that's not very helpful.

Jimmy the Squid · « **Reply #2 on:** 28 Aug 2010, 18:23 »

Any Red Dwarf episode dealing with Kryten or any Star Trek Episode dealing with Data and their desire to be more human.

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #3 on:** 29 Aug 2010, 12:23 »

Ghost in the Shell

jimbunny · « **Reply #4 on:** 29 Aug 2010, 12:44 »

Ghost in the Shell II

satsugaikaze · « **Reply #5 on:** 29 Aug 2010, 13:36 »

Quote from: jimbunny on 29 Aug 2010, 12:44

Ghost in the Shell II

Best mindfuck I've ever had!

Kugai · « **Reply #6 on:** 29 Aug 2010, 21:17 »

ANDR-0362 "Lance' from Angels2200

scarred · « **Reply #7 on:** 30 Aug 2010, 00:39 »

Quote from: Damnable Fiend on 28 Aug 2010, 11:27

also there was one episode of Star Trek that dealt with a settlement of holograms who didn't realize what they were. um, I forget which series it was from though so that's not very helpful.

it was TNG, that was a good episode, can't remember the name though.

thirding ghost in the shell, too.

Jimmy the Squid · « **Reply #8 on:** 30 Aug 2010, 05:22 »

Appleseed and possibly Appleseed 2?

Lines · « **Reply #9 on:** 31 Aug 2010, 09:19 »

Thanks guys! I will order the movies on Netflix and the books I will probably buy, since my library has decided to have bedbugs.

Buttfranklin · « **Reply #10 on:** 31 Aug 2010, 09:57 »

Do not watch A.I.

Ever.

Horrible movie.

The I, Robot movie is just a decent action flick. Nothing at all like Asimov's collection of short stories.

scarred · « **Reply #11 on:** 31 Aug 2010, 10:23 »

Hey now the first half of A.I. was good

Lines · « **Reply #12 on:** 31 Aug 2010, 10:58 »

I watched A.I. years ago, I'm not going to rewatch it as I remember what I need to know and yes, the last half sucked. And I've already seen I, Robot, but have not read the stories. Mostly I'm more interested in the literature than the films, but remakes aren't always the same as their literary counterpart so sometimes it's important to look at both.

Ozymandias · « **Reply #13 on:** 31 Aug 2010, 13:46 »

GITS: Stand Alone Complex is fantastic but it is a TV series but OMG the Tachikomas are the best robots ever.

Also yeah, read Asimov's actual robot stories because I, Robot is a pretty decent amalgamation of them shoved into an action movie sausage casing butt hey deserve to be read to understand that A) Asimov is the most boring sci-fi writer like ever and 2) he had a lot of ideas about robots.

jimbunny · « **Reply #14 on:** 31 Aug 2010, 17:43 »

Quote from: scarred on 31 Aug 2010, 10:23

Hey now the first half of A.I. was good

Better than the second half? Or the third half?

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #15 on:** 31 Aug 2010, 18:37 »

Quote from: Ozymandias on 31 Aug 2010, 13:46

GITS: Stand Alone Complex is fantastic but it is a TV series but OMG the Tachikomas are the best robots ever.

Speaking of which, there are episodes that are comprised almost entirely of conversations about exactly this sort of thing.

Those episodes, where the Tachikomas have existential conversations and debate the meaning of life, are pretty much my favorite. Really interesting stuff.

Lines · « **Reply #16 on:** 31 Aug 2010, 20:11 »

Ooo, I will look up those episodes. That really sounds like what I'm looking for.

KvP · « **Reply #17 on:** 31 Aug 2010, 21:41 »

Why don't you just read Frankenstein?

satsugaikaze · « **Reply #18 on:** 01 Sep 2010, 03:45 »

Quote from: KvP on 31 Aug 2010, 21:41

Why don't you just read Frankenstein?

I did that for high school and let me tell you that is the best way to get turned off literature, let alone sci-fi

ackblom12 · « **Reply #19 on:** 01 Sep 2010, 06:28 »

wut, Frankenstein was a fantastic novel!

Lines · « **Reply #20 on:** 01 Sep 2010, 09:15 »

Quote from: KvP on 31 Aug 2010, 21:41

Why don't you just read Frankenstein?

I probably will at some point, but I am specifically looking for mechanical things. Pretty much all of this is research for a project I want to do. Frankenstein is along the same lines, but he's flesh and not metal.

Buttfranklin · « **Reply #21 on:** 01 Sep 2010, 21:14 »

Quote from: Linds on 31 Aug 2010, 10:58

I watched A.I. years ago, I'm not going to rewatch it as I remember what I need to know and yes, the last half sucked. And I've already seen I, Robot, but have not read the stories. Mostly I'm more interested in the literature than the films, but remakes aren't always the same as their literary counterpart so sometimes it's important to look at both.

Read I, Robot, then. Also the rest of the Robot series: Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and Robots of Dawn.

This is the guy who coined the term robotics. He knows how to do robots.

HiFranc · « **Reply #22 on:** 02 Sep 2010, 23:21 »

I recommend two books (more information on these books on page 14 of the Recommendations thread):

Society of the Mind by Eric L Harry

also

Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett

I'm trying to think of more.

{edit}
If you've seen The Matrix then I would advise watch Animatrix. Animatrix is a collection of animations that give the backstory to the Matrix. We see the reason why the machines got so p*ssed off with humanity.

satsugaikaze · « **Reply #23 on:** 03 Sep 2010, 19:43 »

Quote from: ackblom12 on 01 Sep 2010, 06:28

wut, Frankenstein was a fantastic novel!

Yeah but when you're expected to read through it multiple times over the course of a few months, memorise lines and explore deep and meaningful topics to just condense it into 1100 words of drivel to write in a 40min section of an exam

Your appreciation of the thing diminishes somewhat after a few reads.

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #24 on:** 03 Sep 2010, 20:11 »

I read Frankenstein for the first time last year and while I did it enjoy it, I found the plot to be so absurd on a fundamental level that I couldn't really take it seriously.

Old books that try to involve science inevitabley lose alot of their power when we have since learned better, you know? Not always, but usually.

Lines · « **Reply #25 on:** 03 Sep 2010, 22:31 »

Quote from: satsugaikaze on 03 Sep 2010, 19:43

Yeah but when you're expected to read through it multiple times over the course of a few months, memorise lines and explore deep and meaningful topics to just condense it into 1100 words of drivel to write in a 40min section of an exam

Your appreciation of the thing diminishes somewhat after a few reads.

This will ruin pretty much every good book.

HiFranc · « **Reply #26 on:** 03 Sep 2010, 23:22 »

I just remembered another film you might be interested in looking up:

Bicentennial Man explores where humanity ends and machine begins. Basically, in the future people buy AI robots as servants. One of them starts developing a personality.

Lines · « **Reply #27 on:** 04 Sep 2010, 07:04 »

I have seen that, but it's been years, so I will look it up again!

jimbunny · « **Reply #28 on:** 07 Sep 2010, 05:16 »

Perhaps on the margin of your topic, but William Gibson's second trilogy of novels - Virtual Light, Idoru, and All Tomorrow's Parties - starting with the second one, involve a character who presents as a hologram. The ending of the third book, concerning her (I really can't give it away!) provides some good food for thought.

What's your project about? Mind/body distinctions? Technology?

Lines · « **Reply #29 on:** 07 Sep 2010, 10:52 »

Mostly whether or not something has to be alive to experience emotion and what it means to be "human". Such as, if you look like a human and act like one but are not really alive, does it mean you can still experience things like a human does? Can you feel loss, curiosity, joy, confusion, etc. if you are just a collection of mechanical parts? I kind of touched on that when I was doing art projects with toys (specifically Lego people), but now I'm actually going to be making (nonfunctioning) robots and making them go through different emotions.

Kugai · « **Reply #30 on:** 07 Sep 2010, 22:54 »

Cogito ergo sum?

E. Spaceman · « **Reply #31 on:** 09 Sep 2010, 01:07 »

Gosh dang it lindsey

Lines · « **Reply #32 on:** 09 Sep 2010, 09:19 »

I have seen Wall-E! I am not completely hopeless!

satsugaikaze · « **Reply #33 on:** 10 Sep 2010, 00:22 »

I have a really, really, really old book I got from my uncle way back, called Machines That Think.

It's pretty much right down your alley. Has some of the best of that literature you need.

KvP · « **Reply #34 on:** 10 Sep 2010, 01:51 »

Lines · « **Reply #35 on:** 26 Sep 2010, 17:46 »

I watched Ghost in the Shell today. It was good, but I wish there had been more? I'll be getting Ghost in the Shell II pretty soon from Netflix, so I hope that adds more to the story. But I really liked the idea of ghosts, or a soul, conscience, etc.

Ozymandias · « **Reply #36 on:** 26 Sep 2010, 17:50 »

Watch the series.

The movies are, IMO, much more of a sensory spectacle than a deep insight into the concepts presented.

LeeC · « **Reply #37 on:** 26 Sep 2010, 18:03 »

there is a play called
"Rossum's Universal Robots" by Karel Čapek which is where most robot literature and sci-fi dealing with robots came from.

Lines · « **Reply #38 on:** 27 Sep 2010, 08:36 »

Ooo, will do.

Quote from: Ozymandias on 26 Sep 2010, 17:50

Watch the series.

The movies are, IMO, much more of a sensory spectacle than a deep insight into the concepts presented.

I may after I get through more of the other things I want to look at.

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #39 on:** 27 Sep 2010, 10:19 »

You have Netflix right?

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is available for instant streaming and that is definitely the way to experience GitS, as opposed to the movies which are Okay, but not great. The series IS great.

Lines · « **Reply #40 on:** 27 Sep 2010, 18:31 »

Ok. I'll pop it in the instant que then and watch it when I can.

jimbunny · « **Reply #41 on:** 28 Sep 2010, 17:58 »

Really? I thought the movies achieved a lot more depth, or forced you to make more inferences. I don't think I'll ever get tired of the first one, at least. The shows obviously cover more distance, but superficially.

Plus, what's on Netflix streaming all the anime is dubbed, which is distracting for me.

satsugaikaze · « **Reply #42 on:** 10 Oct 2010, 02:25 »

The movies explored more, but unfortunately with Mamoru Oshii at the helm of it all the dialogue gets long and obscure and the pacing can sometimes get absurd. That said, both movies are a very fine spectacle, Kenji Kawai makes both chilling, and whatever action there is in the second one is fun because they weave in detective mystery well up until the mindfuck (literally yay) sequence.

In my opinion SAC was much more subtler. Not always, but the philosophy wasn't in-your-face and read out for you as much. Some of the early Stand Alone episodes really shine in this respect, as well as a lot of the Complex episodes.

Kugai · « **Reply #43 on:** 10 Oct 2010, 21:55 »

And for Kenji's fans - From his only live concert from last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBvwhnmUxDA

satsugaikaze · « **Reply #44 on:** 14 Oct 2010, 03:57 »

His Ghost in the Shell work is my absolute favorites of what he's done. This and also the final track from Innocence chilled me to my fucking spine.

Rizzo · « **Reply #45 on:** 16 Oct 2010, 21:21 »

Both I, Robot and I, Row-Boat by Cory Doctorow are pretty good and free online.

Somewhat in the vein of Frankenstein is The Thing (directed by John Carpenter) is a cool exploration of how you tell if you or someone else is human. Plus it's scary as fuck and awesome.

HiFranc · « **Reply #46 on:** 27 Oct 2010, 13:58 »

I just had a thought, there's always War Games from the 80s. The plot's a bit simple but it is slightly more intelligent than Terminator.

Snuffletrout · « **Reply #47 on:** 27 Oct 2010, 14:23 »

Don't know what you're doing with it, but here's a blog a friend of mine writes. He's taken on the character of an android unit from the game that forum is about, so its not a very wide story about it unless you go digging, and its nothing widely published ....but its a cute blog no less

jackmort · « **Reply #48 on:** 27 Oct 2010, 19:42 »

Quote from: scarred on 31 Aug 2010, 10:23

Hey now the first half of A.I. was good

If I remember correctly the first half of A.I. was directed by Stanley Kubrick but then he died to Steven Spielberg stepped in and shit neon red-neck robots all over it

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Robot/Andriod Lit and Movies (Read 8963 times)

ackblom12