All your base are belong to us...

"Colossus can communicate with us ... and through this machine we can, in turn, communicate with Colossus. Now there's one last point. One inevitable question. That we have been asked very frequently before. And that is, is Colossus capable of creative thought. Can it initiate new thought. I can tell you that the answer to that is no. However, Colossus is a paragon of knowledge and its knowledge can be expanded upon indefintely."

-Dr. Forbin, Colossus: The Forbin Project

Interviewer: Dr. Poole, what's it like living for the better part of the year in such close proximity with HAL?

Dr. Poole: Well it's pretty close to what you said about him earlier, he is just like a sixth member of the crew. You very quickly get adjusted to the idea that he talks-- you think of him really just as another person.

Interviewer: In talking to the computer, one gets the sense that he is capable of emotional responses. For example, when I asked him about his abilities, I sensed a certain pride in his answer about his accuracy and perfection. Do you believe that HAL has genuine emotions?

Dr. Poole: Well, he acts like he has genuine emotions. Um, of course he's programmed that way to make it easier for us to talk to him. But as to whether or not he has real feelings is something I don't think anyone can truthfully answer.

2001, A Space Odyssey

Within these two films there is a trend about whether or not these supercomputers can be considered human. Both computers have a sense of curiosity and think of themselves as perfect beings--or at least, better than the humans they are originally made to serve. Yet each of them is quite distinct, and the one detail that stands out for each of them is their form of communication. Colossus communicates through text, and eventually through a robotic voice. HAL, on the other hand, speaks with a simulation of a human voice, with hints of "emotion." It is easier to consider Colossus a computer than HAL, and thus it is easier to terminate Colossus than it is to do so to HAL (until the end, when it would be most likely considered "self defense") because of the fact that HAL is so human-like. Or rather, it is easier to consider terminating the former computer.

In Colossus: The Forbin Project, Dr. Forbin is careful to refer to Colossus not as "him", but as "it", and even goes as far as to warn his colleagues not to humanize it. It is easier for Forbin and the others to consider Colossus to be just a machine rather than an entity with a mind of its own in the beginning of the film, thus it is easier to discuss shutting him down. Yet Colossus proves to be formidable foe as he has within his database only logic and facts, which, along with the flaws of the humans, allow him to take over.

In 2001, HAL is definitely "a soul without a body", right? Or is it that HAL can converse in normal human speech patterns just to appease the lonely spacemen? When Dr. Poole and Dr. Bowman discuss the HAL matter, they plan to dislodge only a part of HAL and continuously address HAL as "him" rather than "it." They never plan to fully terminate him, especially since they need him to survive the journey to Jupiter. Still, because of the way they address him, the spacemen then give off the impression that they do plan to hurt or murder someone when they converse amongst each other in the pod behind HAL's back. Yet, although HAL does have the logic and facts that Colossus possesses, the clue to his human soul is within the interview, when the interviewer claimed he "sensed a certain pride" in him when he spoke about his system. Pride is a major human flaw, and with the pride he had about his system, he could not back up his claims due to his own errors, thus proving him more human than once thought.

As a side note...

It's also interesting to note the different effects the actions of the computers have on the protagonists in each film. Colossus, due to what may be interpreted as mistrust, forces the humans to strip down to their bare skin, which in turn, forces them to return to their natural state: the state of nudity, the state of human communication without technology, and the need to rely on basic human instinct without technological interference. On the other hand, HAL becomes the "sixth member of the crew." Enforcing the theme of 2001, HAL is the substitute for actual human communication, due to the fact that his voice has been tuned to sound like an actual human being. Thus, this may be the reason his "soul" has become more apparent. Dr. Poole and Dr. Bowman converse with him, they play chess with him, they ask him politely for favors ("Open the door, please, HAL."), as if he were an actual human being.

The Humans Are Dead

I thought this was slightly relevant to the class. Plus, I also thought it would be fun to watch.

Robocop - Loss of Identity

As I look back on the concept of the loss and regaining of Murphy's identity, one significant detail that struck me since the first time I ever saw Robocop was the scene in which Murphy tries to shoot the jars of baby food, eventually succeeding with the help of Lewis. The reason I mention this is because the very act of shooting the jars of baby food to me resembles a loss of innocence, the bursting of a bubble of ignorance. Regardless of the fact that Murphy is a cop, his life as a family man emits the sense that he had always been living in a happy little bubble, away from the dangers of Detroit and the reality he currently lives in. Destroying those jars helps to realize even more that he is slowly stepping away from the more surreal world he used to live in, and into the reality he was forced into by his "killers". Although the only thing that truly restrains him is system, which orders him to remain a cop, if Murphy still had a body, he would take action into his own hands whenever he would feel compelled to do so. These emotions within him is apparent when he first confronts Clarence Boddicker as a cyborg.

Of course, to gain something, one must give up something.

This very same scene, however, could also be interpreted as something more positive, more of a release from the restraints holding him back [his cyborg body, the realization that he is actually human, OCP], despite the fact that his robotic body weighs him down internally. It is what the people at OCP feed him because in his current condition, he cannot eat solid foods. By shooting the jars, he is slowly stepping away from being a mere corporate cyborg who gets fed baby slop, to regaining [somewhat] an identity as an actual human being, and no longer belonging to anyone.