Westworld is an HBO Series the premier 2016 that surrounds the evolution of human robotics and place in the Wild Wild West story arc environment for entertainment for the wealthy and powerful. In the first episode, I gather that these robot designs have gone through 30 years of evolution that they should be called androids. While watching the first episode, there a few key points that caught my attention which was the first sign of free will and artificial intelligence, the wealthy now has an outlet to deal with their inner demon with no repercussion and man has finally reached a point in their evolution.
During the first ten minutes of the episode, Bernard was interviewing Dolores after one of the story arcs in the park, and the last comment made feel that human servant then robot “Last question, Dolores. What if I told you that you were wrong? That there are no chance encounters? That you and everyone you know were built to gratify the desires of the people who pay to visit your world? Daddy! Daddy! (Sobbing) Daddy! No! Man: The people you call “the newcomers” (10:15, Westworld). Newcomers are individuals who visit the park or to androids, new to the town. Androids are just there to satisfy the newcomers every need which can include sex or killing of the Android. During the
These robots have evolved significantly over the past thirty years that I consider them more like Androids, but they still follow a very sophisticated routine script for the newcomers. But this episode showing signs of their next and possibly final step in their evolution that is being ignored by Bernard and rest of the team as program error. “It’s good news, really. Confirms the problem was part of the update. We can roll them back, clean them up, put them back in service. You think I’m gonna sign off on this fucking homicidal thing going back into service? It’s homicidal by design. Walter kills other hosts all the time. I’ll admit the method here is a little unconventional, but it didn’t hurt a guest. The hosts are supposed to stay within their loops, stick to their scripts with minor improvisations. This isn’t a minor improvisation” (39:50). This scene leads me to believe that this program update started the ball for the androids to have free will, which can result in rebellion in the far future against their maker or even breaking the rule of not hurting the guest.
The last thing that caught my attention was the conversation between Bernard and Dr. Ford about evolution. “Evolution forged the entirety of sentient life on this planet using only one tool The mistake. I flattered myself we were taking a more disciplined approach here. I suppose self-delusion is a gift of natural selection as well. Indeed it is. But, of course, we’ve managed to slip evolution’s leash now, haven’t we? We can cure any disease, keep even the weakest of us alive, and, you know, one fine day perhaps we shall even resurrect the dead. Call forth Lazarus from his cave. Do you know what that means? It means that we’re done. That this is as good as we’re going to get” (41:50). I thought this conversation was fascinating that Dr. Ford believes humans have reached the end of the road of evolution for us as human beings and we have possibly created our replacement. Unfortunately, the way the first episode went I believe that It’s probably true cause Dr. Ford has created artificial intelligence and I think he did on purpose. The question is, did he create our replacements?
