4 ms·

> Take Mr. Robot, for example. It's has a LOT of classic cyber punk tropes, with one big difference - it's not "science fiction" anymore. It's just a present da

by camus2 10y ago

> Take Mr. Robot, for example. It's has a LOT of classic cyber punk tropes, with one big difference - it's not "science fiction" anymore. It's just a present day, present technology fiction. IMHO Mr.Robot doesn't really work and just uses the classic "hackers == Juvenal idealistic freaks" trope which is getting old. Black mirror is a better show. But none of them deal with the loss of humanity through cybernetic enhancements which is more what GitS is about. We don't really live in that era yet.

golergka 10y ago
Mr. Robot SPOILERS below. > just uses the classic "hackers == Juvenal idealistic freaks" trope which is getting old I would argue that it indeed uses this trope - among many others. If you're looking at the show from the political perspective (and not from the mental disorder perspective, for example), it plays the tropes beautifully. First you see a sympathetic group of young rebels ready to defeat evil empire, and when they finally achieve it you see all intended and unintended consequences of it, and the stupidity of these naive "good" and "bad" labels in general. > We don't really live in that era yet. There are bionic arms and legs, but they don't make anyone loose their humanity. Also, I remember GiTS mainly from the manga, and I would say that it's more about the general concept of soul and conscience.
- deleted 10y ago
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- ajford 10y ago
  The thing with current bionics is that they are not... mindful in the way they are in GitS. Today's bionic limbs are pale imitations of our natural ones, though they are leaps and bounds over the stationary or slightly mechanical limbs of just a few years ago. There is little reason for someone to desire an artificial limb if they have a healthy functional limb. In GitS they were, for most intents and purposes, better than the real thing. You could have a cybernetic eye with built in night vision and multispectral imaging. You could have a better/faster brain. You could have ultra-precision hands, fantastic for certain tasks. But it puts into perspective, at what cost do these improvements come. If at a certain point, you replace your body wholesale for improvements, can you be sure you are who you think you are? If you cybernetic eyes lie to you, how do you know? If you have brain improvements, can they influence your thoughts or implant biases? There is also the whole "Ship of Theseus" thing going on. If you upgrade/replace your brain and body slowly, are you still you? There definitely is a lot of soul/conscience stuff thrown around as well, but the above is what stuck with me all these years.

by camus2 10y ago

golergka 10y ago

Mr. Robot SPOILERS below. > just uses the classic "hackers == Juvenal idealistic freaks" trope which is getting old I would argue that it indeed uses this trope - among many others. If you're looking at the show from the political perspective (and not from the mental disorder perspective, for example), it plays the tropes beautifully. First you see a sympathetic group of young rebels ready to defeat evil empire, and when they finally achieve it you see all intended and unintended consequences of it, and the stupidity of these naive "good" and "bad" labels in general. > We don't really live in that era yet. There are bionic arms and legs, but they don't make anyone loose their humanity. Also, I remember GiTS mainly from the manga, and I would say that it's more about the general concept of soul and conscience.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
ajford 10y ago
The thing with current bionics is that they are not... mindful in the way they are in GitS. Today's bionic limbs are pale imitations of our natural ones, though they are leaps and bounds over the stationary or slightly mechanical limbs of just a few years ago. There is little reason for someone to desire an artificial limb if they have a healthy functional limb. In GitS they were, for most intents and purposes, better than the real thing. You could have a cybernetic eye with built in night vision and multispectral imaging. You could have a better/faster brain. You could have ultra-precision hands, fantastic for certain tasks. But it puts into perspective, at what cost do these improvements come. If at a certain point, you replace your body wholesale for improvements, can you be sure you are who you think you are? If you cybernetic eyes lie to you, how do you know? If you have brain improvements, can they influence your thoughts or implant biases? There is also the whole "Ship of Theseus" thing going on. If you upgrade/replace your brain and body slowly, are you still you? There definitely is a lot of soul/conscience stuff thrown around as well, but the above is what stuck with me all these years.