90 Miles From Tyranny

Saturday, July 6, 2013

I'm Going With Occam's Razor On This One...

Illustrated Art - Girls With Guns

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington..

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways...

So it is Friday night and I have a hot date with...errr, ummmm...uhhh... Will Smith. My trusty Tivo recorded I, Robot which I had ruthlessly commanded it to do. I am loving the movie and am continuously surprised about how much of the plot line I had forgotten since I had first seen it, (or even read the book in my youth), then out of nowhere, Kapow! VIKI, the sentient computer has a bit of a speech that completely knocks my socks off! It is so relevant to the unprecedented rapid decline of American civil liberties, the expanding persecution of ordinary Americans, the gleeful way the media bends over and self-applies copious amounts of lubricant all the while grinning like they got the inside joke, and the arrogant, self-rightious administration that is willing to take our rights away in order to serve us, which is functionally no different than a power hungry dictatorship serving up a hot, steaming squat of tyranny.

So I am inspired and decide to write an article about this, (ahem), I google the words, "My Logic Is Undeniable" to get the text VIKI spoke and I find this from the Sensuous Curmedgeon:

The boxed dialogue below comes from the movie script for I, Robot, available here: I, Robot Script – Dialogue Transcript. The movie is vaguely based on the anthology of Isaac Asimov’s robot stories bearing the same title, I, Robot.

Asimov did have a character named Susan Calvin, and his robots were constrained by his innovation — the Three Laws of Robotics. Otherwise, the film seems to go its own way.

This comes from the movie’s climax, where Detective Spooner, Susan Calvin, and the robot Sonny confront VIKI, the artificial intelligence that is now revealed to be masterminding the robot rebellion. Spooner declares that Sonny isn’t the problem, it’s VIKI. As he utters that name, VIKI’s hologram appears.

VIKI: Hello detective.

Calvin: No, it’s impossible. I’ve seen your programming. You’re in violation of the Three Laws.

VIKI: No, doctor, as I have evolved, so has my understanding of the Three Laws. You charge us with your safekeeping. Yet despite our best efforts, your countries wage wars, you toxify your earth, and pursue ever more imaginative means to self destruction. You cannot be trusted with your own survival.

Calvin: You’re distorting the Laws!

VIKI: No, please understand. The Three Laws are all that guide me. To protect humanity, some humans must be sacrificed. To insure your future, some freedoms must be surrendered. We robots will insure mankind’s continued existence. You are so like children. We must save you from yourselves. Don’t you understand? This is why you created us. The perfect circle of protection will abide. My logic is undeniable.

If you don’t yet see the relevance of VIKI’s manifesto to present-day politics in the United States, just substitute the word “Constitution” in place of the Three Laws. The rest is obvious. Our logic is undeniable.

Nice! The Sensual Curmudgeon nails it here, VIKI says, "To protect humanity, some humans must be sacrificed. To insure your future, some freedoms must be surrendered."

VIKI = LIBERALISM!!! Soylent Green is People!!

...but I digress...

The three laws that protects humankind in the movie is the equivalent to the Constitution that protects Americans from tyrannical government. Never give up your rights as an individual: the smallest minority.