Author Archives: Justin Bernard

Genetic Memories

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The question that comes into place is: How can advance technology help us solve psychological problems we face today and learn from our past ancestors? In this quest, we would look into the concepts of genetic memories. According to Wikipedia, in a psychology term, genetic memory is a memory present at birth that exists in the absence of sensory experience. For example, before a mother has her child and she experiences a traumatic experience in her life, its stored in her child memories. Then, she has a child and maybe sometime in her child’s life, he/she experiences the same traumatic experience but was more resilient and less affected by that experience. Science fiction references like, the Ubisoft video game Assassin’s Creed shows where one can easily tap into their genetic memories and relive the lives of their ancestors through a machine named the Animus. In SYFY show Stargate SG-1, the main antagonist named Goa’uld, is an alien race whereas they possess and transfer their knowledge to their new born Goa’uld so that they would have all the memories and knowledge of their past ancestors.

 In an article, written by Katherine Gillespie and published by VICE, she interviews Dr. Berit Brogaard, a University of Miami philosopher specializing in the areas of cognitive neuroscience and philosophy of mind. She asks if there were more research in this field of study and how could it benefit humans. Brogaard say’s we as scientist need to see if events in our life can impacts our DNA, and if true, we could tap into it and create a more resilient offspring. However, some scientist would think if it is possible to tap into our genetic memories, it could possible lead way for scientist to genetically edit someone’s DNA and changing their personality and characteristics, which is unethical. Just recently, news outlets reported a Chinese scientist gene-editing twin embryos, making them immune to contract HIV. The scientific community was in uproar when they heard this. My point is if we had technology like the Animus or could biologically transfers all our memories to new offspring, we can possess the skills of our ancestors, learn the secrets of our history, and become more resilient toward psychological problems we face today like depression, and anxiety.

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Genetic Memories

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Technology in the New Oxford American Dictionary is ” the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes…”. For thousands of years, dating back to Paleolithic age men used simple technological tools like axes and shovels for their personal needs like hunting, and farming. Since then technology as evolved and served humanity gratefully. Now in the 21th century, we use cars, planes, boats, trains to travel far distances, we use cell phones and computers to be connected virtually and to be omnipresent, and use other advanced technological tools that give us our daily needs like food, water, clothes, electricity, etc. What technology does is it gives us the ultimate convince in our daily lives. As technology advances, areas of entertainment, like video games, incorporate one type genre: science fiction. Science fiction is speculative fiction that deals with imaginative concepts. One of these concepts that is presented in this genre is advance technology.

There is one particular video games series that is my personal favorite, which is Assassin’s Creed. The whole series is about two ancient societies, Assassins and Templars, who fights for freedom, while the other fights for domination. The descendants of the Assassins enter into the animus, a machine that allows them to hear, see, and feel their ancestors through their genetic memories. The descendants go back to past in the purpose of finding pre-human civilization artifacts and using them to gain an advantage to win the war against the Templars. This sound pretty far-fetched but also very fascinating to incorporate science fiction. The animus is basically a time traveling machine. The creators of Assassin Creed, Ubisoft, has an interesting motto: History is our playground. Though players go back in past, they also experience historical events and meet famous people. This is truly advance technology that can easily tap into your ancestor’s memories and relive their lives. However, I want to focus on the part about tapping in our genetic memory, how it can benefit us.

According to Wikipedia, in a psychology term, genetic memory is a memory present at birth that exist in the absence of sensory experience. For example, if before a mother has her child and she experiences and a traumatic experience her life, its stored in her memories. Then, she has her child and maybe sometime in her child’s life, he/she experiences the same traumatic experience but was more resilient and less affected by that experience. The reason why the child was more resilient was because it’s a natural survival instinct that is caused by the heredity of the mother traumatic experience.  In the virtual world, Ubisoft extrapolated the idea of genetic memories, as the animus could instantly send a person to the past to relive their ancestors lives, especially gaining their skills and abilities.

In an article written by Katherine Gillespie and published by VICE, she interviews Dr. Berit Brogaard, a University of Miami philosopher specializing in the areas of cognitive neuroscience and philosophy of mind. She asks if there were more research in this field of study how could it benefit humans. Brogaard say we as scientist need to see if events in our life can impacts our DNA, and if true, we could tap into it and create a more resilient offspring. “What we need to find out is whether something that occurs during your lifetime can impact or imprint the DNA that’s being passed on. There are certainly some changes to the DNA within our lifetimes—we see how the human body changes in different environments. We know which genes are expressed or locked out. We know that we can impact our DNA for sure, and it would be useful to do that to say, make more resilient offspring.” said Brogaard.

Bibliography:

Gillespie, Katherine. Can We Access the Memories of Our Ancestors through Our DNA. VICE, 2016, www.vice.com/en_au/article/ypv58j/genetic-memory. Accessed 30 Nov. 2018.

Assassin’s Creed and Genetic Memory: Science Based or Total Fiction. Ancestry.com, 2016, blogs.ancestry.com/cm/assassins-creed-ancestral-memory-science-based-or-total-fiction/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2018.

I used these cites help me to understand the field of genetics and to help understand it form a philosopher and scientist point of view.

Ubisoft. Assassin’s Creed. 2007, www.ubisoft.com/en-us/game/assassins-creed/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2018.

Assassin’s Creed. Wikipedia, 2007, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin%27s_Creed. Accessed 30 Nov. 2018.

I used these two cites to give the backdrop of the story and the technology that’s used.

 Technology. Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology. Accessed 30 Nov. 2018.

I used this cite to give the basic technology that humans use in their daily lives.

 

 

 

 

 

Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.

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Technology in the dictionary sense is ” the application of scientific knowledge for practical purpose…” . For thousands of years , dating back to paleolithic age men used simple technological tools like axes and shovels for their personal needs like hunting, and farming. Since then technology as evolved and served humanity gratefully . Now in the 21th century , we use cars ,planes, boats ,trains to travel far distances , we use cell phones and computers to be connected virtually and to be  omnipresent , and use other advanced technological tools that give us our daily needs like food , water,  clothes , electricity, etc. What technology does is it gives us the ultimate convince in our daily lives.

Additionally , technology has treated more sick people with diseases and help a lot of injured people now then hundreds of years of ago . The invention of the computer and the cell phone has enhanced our connectivity and communications greatly. Companies can make quick money exchanges, purchases and sales in just few seconds . Industrial and agricultural production is much faster , easier and safer. However, there are disadvantages to these advancements . Most technology has reduced humans to being obsolete , as more work is done by machines than humans, thus causing a rise in unemployment in the labor force. In addition, humans have a dependency on technology , like when they use the calculator to solve problems. This goes to shows that humans are not willing use use their mental power to solve calculations on their own. Even when we use social media to connect with one another , we are not willing to see each other in person. As technology advances , we must question our own abilities if  we are worthy enough to sustain our own well being without the assistance of technology.

This semester, I have read numerous science fiction literatures . Each of these literatures have some advance technology that revolves around the story . Then, what comes into question is how and what effects technology itself  or how humans use technology and whats the benefits and consequences . Science fiction  is speculative fiction that deals with imaginative concepts. One of these concepts that is presented in this genre is advance technology. In my opinion, I had felt that this concept was the most popular . 

Short stories like The Machine Stops and The Last Question both heavily rely on advance technology in the story. In The Machine Stops,  humanity has built a Machine that can do almost anything. Humans rely on the machine 24/7 and it’s all they know how to do . They look at the machine like a god , but in the end of the story the machine malfunctions, thus destroying itself . And in the Last Question , humans built a advance machine that evolves as billions of years  passes on . As time passed, humans from different eras would ask the machine to solve the universe energy crisis. In the end ,  after humanity has died out and machine has evolved beyond humanity, the machine creates a new universe solving the energy crisis .  Its technology like this that is so advances that it could be our greatest servants, but also our dangerous masters.

Bibliography:

Ismail, Nick. Modern Technology: Advantages and Disadvantages. Information Age, www.information-age.com/modern-technology-advantages-disadvantages-123465637/. Accessed 28 Nov. 2018.

This cite gives  simple and brief advantages and disadvantages of how technology affects us today.And I had used this cite to write down advantages and disadvantages of technology

Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology. Accessed 28 Nov. 2018.

I had used this cite to give me the broad definition of what technology is and some of its advances.

Asimov, Isaac. The last Question. 1956.

I had used this short stories as one of my examples in my proposals. As it deals with advance technology  and its consequences and benefits .

Forster, E.M. The MAchine Stops. 1909.

I had used this short stories as one of my examples in my proposals. As it deals with advance technology  and its consequences and benefits .

 

A Dystopian Tale

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The first episode of Handmaid Tale revolves around dystopia of women that are subjugated to men. Men are to rule over the lives of women and serve them however they are pleased. However, there were some flashbacks in the episode that shows the world before the fruition of the dystopia. In addition , the show reveals that the dystopia uses the bible to justify the reasons for their control.

From my intuition, women are “Handmaids” or female servants  and they are under the totalitarian command of men. So far , the show revealed one of  the commanders in the society named Waterford. Thus , suggesting that there are other male commanders. In addition, there is a hierarchical system in place , that the handmaids are lowest position because they are just mere servants. Then,  their are Marthas, who are supposedly second in command and are more experienced Handmaids. Lastly,  the male commanders  like Waterford  who overlook the handmaids. The main character in the show named Offred , who real name is June, was captured by the dystopian society when she was trying to escape with her husband Luke  and her daughter Hannah. She has been under there rule for months and through the episode we see how she tries to be sane.

Throughout the show,  I see flashbacks of Offered in her earlier days before her capture. I see that she  had a happy life with her family and her friend Moria (16:40 and 23:56) . It seems that she dearly misses her old  life and it shows that society before wasn’t fully controlled by a government but free. There was an scene in the show when Offered and her companion was talking about there escape to Canada but were captured. Also , Offered flashbacks are important because it shows that Offred’s friend Moria was gay. Thus , giving one of the reasons for the fruition of why the dystopia came into control. 

Furthermore, the dystopia seems that they are against Homosexuality , Abortion, and Christianity. In addition, the society  uses the Bible (which has Christian themes ) to justify their actions and rules. In one scene, Offered and her companion passes by three bodies that were hanged against a wall : a priest, a doctor, and a gay man . When Offered was captured , she went into a classroom learning the purpose of the society, that women must be subjugated to men and give birth to their children(17:39). The society uses God as a reason for this type of control over women. In another scene , which was graphic , Offered is raped by Commander Waterford (30:31). It was ceremonial rape to ensure that Offered would give birth to Waterford’s child.  Before Offered ceremony , Waterford recites biblical verses from Genesis  as ceremonial rites. The verses tells of Rachel giving her handmaid to her husband Abraham as a surrogate wife to bare children for her. This was the societies religious motive and justification to allow men to rape woman so that they can bring  there forth children in the world. 

To conclude, it seems so that this society is  religiously motivated to exterminate anyone that is against their views of the power dynamics of men and women. This  show reminds me of the book The Crucible  when the the europeans were escaping persecution because of their Christian faith , but went to the Americas to persecute those that are not of their faith . So, its seems a hypocritical , in addition when the handmaids beat a rapist to death , but it’s permissible when a commander rapes a women . 

 

 

The Originality, The Heavenly Sins, and Possible End of Progression .

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What intrigued me the most about the first episode of WestWorld series is the structure of how the hosts and guest are played out in this western built reality. Throughout the show , we see the Host, known as androids, who interacts with the Guests, known as rich human patrons,  in created scenarios . Also the show,  incorporates the originality of the old western era and briefly talks about the end of progression.

In the show, there is alot originality of the old west. The show is focused on an android named Dolores. She relives her life everyday to only be tweaked by different encounters or interferences. As each time changes , her day would end violently. Her first day was fine as she met Teddy, till one of the guest killed him and then possibly killed and raped her in a barn(14:30). Another day , a gang goes into town starts a killing spree ,which they shot Teddy(50:00). Dolores stays with with Teddy’s dead body till the cooperation  bring her in her in for questioning. Aside from Dolores , there have been other things happen like other guests interacting with the hosts. For example , two Guests went in search of an bounty with couple of Hosts in the mountains (27:00), we see cowboys riding in the desert, people in bars drinking, playing, having sex in the brothels, Hosts  killing others Hosts(9:47 and 50:00) . All of these examples , has a nostalgic feeling that incorporates an original old western era. This would be something that you would see in a Clint Eastwood movie or Back To the Future Part III. 

From my intuition, this the first episode makes me think that the Guest are living out there heavenly sins. Near the end of the episode , Dolores father secretly tells Dolores that ” These violent delights have violent ends (1:03:59)”. Dolores repeats this back repeats  to an official for diagnostics. The Guests are living out there sinful pleasures in western reality with no bounds or consequences. They can kill  and have sex with the Hosts whenever or however they want , or they can have whatever kinds of interactions with the Host. Bernard , whos the head of programing , tells Dolores ” That you and everybody you know were built to gratify the desires  of the people who pay to visit your world (10:47) “. This means that the guest  can pay their way in a permissible world that gratifies there desires. It is like heaven for them , but with a mixture of deadly sins.  

And near the end of the episode, we see the boss and Bernard making small talk. As they talk in front of the creation of an android,  the boss says to Bernard ” But, of course, we’ve managed to slip evolutions leash now, have we? We can cure any disease, keep even the weakest of us alive, and you know, one fine day , perhaps we shall  resurrect the dead. Call forth Lazarus from his cave. Do you know what that means? That means that we’re done.This is as good as we’re going to get.(42:30)” In my opinion to this quote , the show is set in the far future where people have already solved most of the common issues like disease and war . They must have solved these issues with the advancement of technology. These people live in an age of progression as technology gets better , so does their lives as well. However, when the boss says “That means that we’re done.This is as good as we’re going to get “, this means that humanity will cease sometime in the future , having to wipe out all problems from the face of the earth , especially suggesting to have the power of immortality . It also says that humanity does not need to  progress in technology because its not essential no more.

To conclude , Westworld is a nostalgic sinful world , which couldn’t get any better for the patrons that gratify their souls to just feel content and sane enough. Its like what Bruce Nolan (with Clint Eastwood impression )  said to himself in Bruce Almighty ” Be careful for what you wish for punk” , hoping for what the Guests  has wished for in their western world , doesn’t give birth to the rise of the androids making them more self aware and wanting to take over the human race. 

 

 

Days of Futures Past : The Sequel

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Once again my class was given the opportunity to go into the archive  on Thursday October 18th, 2018. I had felt like I was going back in time once again to relive my first experience. Here is my reflection of my second visit.

What I first did was touch and pull out random books  from the shelves. As I said before in my previous blog, the books were thin and hard to take out because there was some much books on one shelf, especially that we had to be careful of taking them out because some of them were so old.  I was trying to find an intriguing book to read or skim through . As I was looking at the shelves , I see series of books, a few encyclopedias of science fiction , pulp  magazines, few classic comics.I was surprised that the there were fantasy novels  mixed with science fiction. On of the novels I picked up and saw was the Lord of the Rings  written by J.R.R Tolkien, which is a fantasy novel. I was so excited because I never read the books , but I watched the all there  movies. and they were awesome . The book itself was the trilogy ( The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return Of The King ). However, the preface says that the book shouldn’t be mistaken for a trilogy , while it is in fact six books . I had held on to that book and still look around for any more interesting novels . As I kept pulling books out , I was curious about all these authors because I wanted to know where they get their ideas from, who inspired them , and how long did it take to write their novel or novels . Some books I looked through were just articles and reviews of other science fiction books and magazines. I think my greatest fasnation was the that some book or plups where in plastic covering. I wanted to pull on out , but I was prohibited to because it was a rare edition , supposedly its the last of its kind .  Going back to the fantasy genre , I wondered why was the fansty  intertwined with science fiction. What commonality or relationships did both genre shared. di one influence the other or where they a competing genre . As I said before , these authors was thinking way beyond their time,  giving birth to the possibility of  “what if this happened ” and could have educated the reader in the science atmosphere as well. 

Furthermore, I had a lot of curiosity. For one instance,  I had asked to myself  why was it essential to preserve all these books? what the purpose? If its for research , then what are they researching for? Especially that the anonymous donor gave all these books to my university. I had taken the Lord Of The Rings trilogy out of the library and started to read it. I was only able to read the genesis of the hobbits and the adjacent kingdoms that had affected their tribe . After that the class left the archive . 

On the whole, the experience primarily gave us more time to look through the archive and see which book was the most intriguing. However, I still have questions like is this every single science fiction book in the archive? And can any of the city tech students take one out and read for there time being.  

 

The Ironic Doom

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    August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950)  is written by Ray Bradbury. This  short story is about a computer-automated house that routinely does daily tasks for for family. However, there is no family occupying the house or  responses towards these daily routines . So in the end of the story the house accidentally sets itself on fire , being almost destroyed. However, there is an ironic doom that at the end of the story.

In the beginning of the story , I read that  house so intuitive or so ready and prepared, to do these tasks for this family. However,  we learn that the family died by incineration shown by there silhouette’s on the side of the wall on there house. In addition, the family most likely died by a nuclear  bomb when the author gave an indication that the city , miles away, had radioactive glow at night.  After this,  the whole house does it’s daily rituals at a timely matter throughout the whole day  , till the house accidentally sets ablaze . The irony to this that the house is so well equipped to serve their masters or “gods” Bradbury once said, that it wasn’t prepared to save itself  from the fire, thus to its ultimate doom.

As I also mentioned in the previous paragraph, Bradbury said the family was like “gods’ to the  house. We all know that humans create machines, so that it can better the lives of humans and make life much easier. In addition , Bradbury said  that the house continues with the “ritual of religion … senselessly, uselessly.”  The house even responded to  the outside  natural world with minor security precautions  like birds , “lonely foxes” , ” whining cats” , and a dog . The dog entered the house and it’s the only time the house granted permission for the dog to enter  suggesting it’s the family’s pet. The poor dog was frail, suggesting it was dying of starvation  , thus leading to its death. The irony of this  part of the story is the house is so ready to serve there masters  with anything , but has failed to save the dog from its inevitable doom , as it’s the only living thing in the house and probably the closest thing the family. Thus, the dog could have much been consider as equal as its human masters and been saved if it was feed.

On the whole , some time in the story  the house randomly plays a poem aloud for  Mrs.McClellan, who presumably is the wife of the unnamed husband  and mother of her two unnamed  children. The poem describes how nature itself is unaffected by the human extinction and that no one knows how it happen. This poem is in comparison with the house itself. The house is greatly unaffected by the outside world and doesn’t know what happened . So its only duty , which it is automatically meant to do, is to perform the daily tasks for the family ceaselessly, unless if the family was alive they could have shut the house down itself. And  because the house was unaffected by the outside world and as the house being a machine itself , was so intuitive to serve and do its daily task , it eventually lead it self to its own doom, which is quite ironic that it couldn’t save itself.

 

Back to Days of Futures Past

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    On Thursday October 4th, 2018, I was given opportunity  to look inside of City Tech Science Fiction Collection. I was intrigued when Professor Belli told the class that an anonymous donor donated 600 linear feet of science fiction books and magazines. I was surprised that all the books were able to fit in the tiny room, especially that there are old items and documents that in the archive room. When I first went in the archive room , which is located  on the fifth floor of the library, it was like going back in time as I step through the door which I thought as portal . In the back of the library is where all the science fiction collection is held . Issues that dated back from 1950 , all the way up  to 2010. When the tour of the science fiction archive came to the end , I had a reflection on what I saw.

     What I was first fascinated by was  the thickennes and the age of the books. The books were thin and hard to take out because there was some much books on one shelf, especially that we had to be careful of taking them out because some of them were so old.  The collection takes up about a  third of the library’s archive in the back. As I was looking at the shelves , I felt like was walking amongst  different eras of times when these books were published. In addition,  when picking a book to skim through I would imagine what the book will be about like whens the title reads for example  ” Zorg and Space-Man”.  Also, there would be some amazing artwork on the front cover that would show some sort of  utopia-technologically advanced cities or ships in outer space with the beautiful cosmos in the background. Some books I looked through were just articles and reviews of other science fiction books and magazine. Some books looked plain , thin, and banal, while some looked was interesting. Some books were so old that they were fragile and we weren’t even able to touch it .  There are so many books and magazines in the archive , that it surprised me that the authors had so many ideas to write their fictional stories , especially that they lived in a primitive time when technology wasn’t advanced . These authors was thinking way beyond their time,  giving birth to the possibility of  “what if this happened”. In addition, the books were so thin that the authors crammed interesting  stories in these small books, which these books became widely popular literature. 

Furthermore, there was a magazine that I was flipping through that caught eye, which is called “Amazing Stories — Vol. 66, No.4 “. I had looked up the publishing date , which was August 1991. The first thing that caught my eye was the art cover on the front which shows two technologically advanced cities in outer space , with planets ,supposedly, floating between them. In addition, it shows the dark and colorful colors of the cosmos in the background. When I had flipped through the pages , there were short science fiction stories ( which looked really long) , and there were some commentaries of science fiction stories as well. In addition , they had a few artworks in the book . What really was interesting that it took six authors to  write  this magazine. And there names are Michael Sawnwick, Robert Sliverberg, Tim Sullivan, Geroge Zebrowski, R. Garcia Y Robertson , and Rob Chilson. This magazine was also in pristine condition , yet it is 27 years old, like no one never touched it.

On the whole, if I had the time to read any read any book or magazine from that archive it would take me back in the past to the time it was published , but would send me to a future of possibilities that could have involved advanced technology, aliens, cybernetic organism, or something that is just out of this world. 

 

Science Fiction Class Notes 10/4/18

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Vocabulary

Archive- Its a old or recent record, document or set of books that is stored in a storage space. The Archives are used for scholars to do research.

Anthology-  A collection of books of selected literary pieces or passages or works of art and music.

Monograph- The written account of a single thing.

Nebula Awards: The best Science Fiction Award in the U.S. , started 1966.

We watched the Science Fiction Collection video that is in the link in the schedule.

Archives:

Not all documents are archived because some documents are important while some aren’t. The important documents are used to go back on and to do research.

Homework:

  • Write a Reflection Blog on the science fiction collection . Finish/Complete the pair work reflection sheet.
  • For number 5 on the pair work reflection sheet  , write down and tell the class the history of the magazine or book you looked at. Write down the author and publishing date.
  • Do a five minute informal presentation on what your learned about your book or magazine. 
  • All of this is due next week Tuesday on 10/9/18

Partners:

Phoenixx, Chris: “IF” series

Tyler, Mohammed: Fantasy and Science Fiction

Stanley, Sajab: Analogs

Karen, Sheng, Justin, Pedro, Chris,  ? : Amazing Stories

Utopia=Dystopia And The Biblical References in Metropolis

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Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang in 1927 is about  a futuristic dystopia following Freder, wealthy son of City Master, and Maria , a saintly figure to the workers , overcome and try to bring together workers below and the businesses magnets above.

In the beginning of the movie we see the workers with there heads down walking briskly to work as they change shifts. Further on,we see that there is a underground city.The next scene (06:55) it tells that the workers underground city as there complex known as ” The Sons of Club” on the surface of the earth. Sons of Clubs has stadiums, theaters, and libraries for the elite class, basically there own utopia . We first see Freder, the protagonist and son of the City Master Joh Federson, track racing in a massive field. These are just one of the things the elite class can do in the Sons Of Clubs. In the next scene, we are shown a Pleasure Garden or Eternal Garden,  that Freder has for himself (07:55). This Garden was made for simple pleasure and you can see that Freder is playing and entertained by the beautiful women . Further on, Freder  goes to the underground city  and see all the hard workers trying to keep the machine alive . Afterwards,  some machines explodes  and some workers perish in the explosion. Freder goes and reports to his father of the explosion, but in between his travels from underground city to the tower  , where is father resides , we see the vast city that is full of skyscrapers, flying planes, cars driving on tall roads, and let’s not forget that in the middle of this city is the Tower of Babel , the tallest and biggest skyscraper (18:06-19:13). We must  understand that the elite class does not have to pay for there utopia, it is the workers below them that work tirelessly till death to keep the machines running forever , so that the city above can sustain. This rich Utopian world equalizes a permanent dystopia for the working class below , who can’t improve there lifestyle, which eventually causes them to rebel to the surface and destroy the machines.

Throughout the movie , there were a couple of biblical references in movie. The first reference that I spotted was Freder hallucinating  that the machine was Molch as the workers were being fed into it. This metaphor means that the workers are working tirelessly to death  till the machine explodes and some perish. And we can see that they are being carried away by other workers and replace them in there spot. Molch is the biblical Canaanite god that was worshiped a sacrificial deity . In biblical times , Canaanites would throw there babies into the Molch , the bronze statue that lit ablaze , for sacrifice. The second reference we see was when Freder was in the Cathedral and he sees the statues of the seven deadly sins : Lust ,Gluttony, Pride, Envy ,Wrath, Sloth, Greed  (01:08:51). I believe this reference is to the whole city because people commit these sins so much that they are blinded by what goes below the city, which led to the consequences of the workers to rebel to the surface and destroy the machine’s. The last reference I saw was they portray Maria a sinner and saint. Though she is a saint to the workers giving them hope that a mediator would bring the upper and lower classes together, she has doppelganger in a form of a robot that was created by Rotwang, inventor and antagonist . The fake maria is portrayed as the Whore of Babylon( 01:07:28) , which is a reference in the book of Revelation in the bible. Surprisingly, the fake Maria brings leads the rebellion to the surface and destroys the machine, which in comparison to the book of revelations that talk about the apocalypse.

To conclude , I believe the whole point of the movie is to uproot the division , sin and indignation  in a futuristic dystopia , which have religious and philosophical themes.