How WALL·E Remolds Society's Perception on AI
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
- WALL·E is widely accepted as one of PIXAR's best films. Today I get into why I think that is and how it gives people a new perspective on AI.
Music:
Adrift - Hayden Folker
All That Love’s About - Thomas Newman
2815 AD - Thomas Newman
The Axiom Thomas - Newman
Define Dancing - Thomas Newman
Static - Thomas Newman
It Only Takes a Moment -Thomas Newman
Chilling (Outro) - Chinpo - Krátké a kreslené filmy
What I love most about this film is how WALL-E's personality is described in the original trailer. The narrator labels his sentience as a glitch. A bug that goes against his primary programming. An imperfection. It's implied that WALL-E's prolonged activity, spanning seven centuries, has allowed himself to emotionally expand in a way not thought possible.
Compare this to the Short Circuit movies, where the sentient robot, Johnny-5, is given life through a loud and sudden lightning strike, which, incidentally, is commonly associated with the will of God Himself. Compared to Johnny-5, WALL-E's sentience is far more subtle and gradual, in that he became his own person through a long period of experience, not just having life thrust onto him.
And WALL-E turns out to not be the only one with this "imperfect sentience". When EVE arrives on Earth, she almost immediately begins to fly around (once she knows she's not being monitored by her superiors on the rocket), as if she was cooped up and needed an opportunity to "stretch her wings". She even reveals herself to be reactive. She can become frustrated, cold, and even dismissive, but she also reveals herself to be warm, friendly, and open to others. She had already developed certain emotional traits prior to meeting WALL-E, who indirectly taught her other things later on. She was likely active for long enough to grow into her own self as well.
This reveals that all Buy-n-Large machines have the capacity for sentience with enough activity, as the repair ward scene shows other bots that outright malfunction on their primary directives, but are clearly more expressive and less cold in their movements. Their glitches are viewed as something to be corrected in a heavily-monitored and automated place like the Axiom, where the AUTO-pilot system is in charge. And AUTO keeps every bot on a strict routine with no hiccups. On the Axiom, no bot is allowed to become their own person. Just follow orders and do what they're built to do. No chance to truly live, because that allows the opportunity to break, which is deemed unacceptable.
WALL-E was lucky to become sentient on his own because Earth didn't have any active system to suppress his growth. Earth was a blank canvas with no intervention. WALL-E was free to live and grow, not just work and follow his programming. So when he unintentionally frees the other broken bots from the repair ward, he's deemed a hero for it. The bots even aid WALL-E and EVE in their mission to take the plant to the Lido Deck and get the ship back home.
Another clever example is M-O, the cleaning bot. He followed his protocol to a T, and was committed to it, even willing to risk deactivation and go beyond his restricted path in order to get his job done when WALL-E started leaving dirt trails everywhere. He demonstrates the choice to go beyond a strict ruleset to get work done when necessary, and how that's a genuinely healthy thing. Going beyond what's asked of you and exploring the unfamiliar if it means completing your mission.
All these examples bring me back to my point: Labelling personality, sentience, free will, as a glitch. It's an imperfection, but it's not painted in a negative light. Imperfection isn't just a NECESSARY trait. It's a POSITIVE one.
When the movie words sentience as an anomaly, a glitch in programming, it brilliantly conveys that true perfection for mankind would essentially make us lifeless drones. A lack of free will means there's no capacity for organic emotions, behaviors, and reactions. It's far better to be imperfect than to be incapable of thinking or choosing at all. It's better to be able to choose good OR evil, than to have no say in the matter at all, to potentially contribute something of value than provide nothing.
Our history and nature even shows that sometimes, choosing evil is a vessel for good, because it can cause remorse, a desire to repent and return to good nature, because even when we try to suppress it ourselves, part of our humanity still lingers. It's impossible to fully remove that, and we shouldn't try to. We should embrace it.
WALL-E's message is about embracing the true root of humanity: The beautiful imperfection of one's free will. It's about using your ability to choose to better the world around you, and how pursuing and working towards something truly good can positively affect those around you, even when you don't realize it.
That's what makes WALL-E so timeless. It works on SEVERAL levels. It's not just a love story. It's not just a cautionary tale about the dangers of an automated society, or mankind's responsibility to care for their natural home. It's a story that shows the positive consequences of being alive and active.
Imperfection is necessary, even when society might consider it something to be fixed.
People are imperfect because they're allowed to choose. We're supposed to be that way.
Imperfection is life. And life is wonderful.
I am a huge robot fan and this movie helped me develop that love. What I love about this movie compared to other robot movies is that the humans and robots aren't enemies to each other. They even work together to throw the plant to the holo detector at the end. Even if they had different goals (i.e. robots are rushing to repair WALL•E at his home while the humans are trying to make a batter future), they still have a common goal of returning to Earth; they understand and sympathize to each other's problems, and I adore seeing AI and humans become friends instead of enemies.
I think that a big thing about AI is that humans are afraid of the possibility that it can be sentient. We value animals less if they're not capable of very advanced thoughts (I.E, most people would eat a fish but not a monkey) even if not everyone's aware of it. The idea that AI can actually have human (-associated) emotions and aren't just heartless machines threatens some people's ideas of what makes them human and that's a very big thing to tackle. The idea that maybe one day we could be talking to someone, unaware of if they're robot or not, scares people a whole lot, even if AIs are, thus far, only what we intend them to be.
I really enjoy your optimistic take on AI. People are so quick to be afraid of it that they don't dismantle it logically. Will be subscribed.
Yeah holistically AI has a lot of implications and could be a slippery slope. Thank you for the support!
Banger video
i love wall-e so much and found this to be a really compelling video. i never considered the AI aspect of it in this way
I'm glad you liked it!
Really well done video, can’t wait to watch you succeed
Thank you!
Nice
Good vid!
Loki season 2 next
big fan already
keep going man
Thank you!
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Agree, Wall-E is one of Pixars greatest works. All around good video, you'll do great 👍
Hey nice vid