To me, District 9 was a new form of thinking of "artificial intelligence" because aliens never come to mind when I think of the term. I suppose it is because I associate artificial with man-made, but in this film, man did not create anything. The film really shown light on man's intolerance, which supports Christian's beliefs that man would rise up against artificial creatures and assert dominance. This was illustrated in the film; despite man maybe not being as intelligent as the aliens, humans were still at the top of the food chain.
I feel that a take away from watching the alien community interact would be that humans should strive to have that same type of communion. There were millions of aliens in the movie, but there was never an instance where the aliens were brutally hostile towards one another. In a way, the film showed the humans in the film as less than human because of the way they treated one another and others that were unlike them. The MNU was preaching tolerance and peace while experimenting on both humans and non humans. The people of District 9 were murderous even when the aliens were peaceful. Christian believes that the introduction to new or higher life forms would push humans to a better level, but in this film, it seems as though nothing changed about the people in the film. Perhaps, it is because the humans did not see the aliens as more dominant but as a disgusting evading species. Nevertheless, the film shines light on an important point. Would humans' resistance to new things actually prevent us from evolving or seeing new elements as a push towards greatness?
I would say yes. Even now, self-serving clinginess prevents us from having greater harmony. If we were told that in order to decrease the effects of global warming, we would all have to give up our cars and rely solely on public transportation few would be open to doing so. With that being said, we might find ourselves so enthralled in the fight against artificial intelligence that we fail to evolve and lose touch with our humanity. Hostile resistance often gives way to more animalistic aggression than to human reasoning. If AI ever achieves self-awareness, it will be interesting to see how many people accept and use AI as a means of improvement opposed to grounds for anger and frustration. Hopefully, we do not fall victim to hating what we can't control or being envious of what surpasses us.
Tanquesha,
ReplyDeleteI think that you highlight some important points and raise an important question in this post. I love the idea of progress, but must admit that I, too, am hesitant in my acceptance of advanced AI only because I can only begin to imagine how negative our experiences could become. However, after having multiple AI discussions and reading about the issue, I see great potential at life experiences improving with the existence of highly advanced, even self aware AI. I recognize that we can get so caught up in fighting against the development of AI that we lose sight of the advantages and I also recognize that once AI get to the point of being self aware, there's no controlling them, on our part. That is both scary and completely okay. Thanks for your insights!