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Mistress-D — Pulling the Plug:Robot Suicide
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Published: 2008-05-29 05:02:21 +0000 UTC; Views: 10286; Favourites: 286; Downloads: 412
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I'm not really sure how to express my thoughts on this drawing. It was a very muddled idea I got after watching the movie "Ghost in the Shell: Innocence." I think it was one of the Major's lines that got me, something along the lines of "If the dolls could speak, they might have been screaming 'I didn't want to be human.'"We keep making machines more and more human, obsessed with recreating ourselves. Whether this is good or bad remains to be seen. But all of this raises whole oceans of questions. If a machine looks human and acts human, should it be given the same rights as a human? Should it be treated like a human? What about what the machine wants? Can that even be considered? Are machines capable of their own desires?
Anyway, I could ramble on for a while about this subject. Robots have always fascinated me, to the point where I've almost considered totally abandoning my chosen career and going into robo-ethics.
This guy, or a variation of him, has also appeared in another robot suicide piece of mine. It was a watercolor/acrylic painting that I did a couple of months ago in school, and which I haven't gotten back yet. >.< It's too big to scan, so I'll try to photograph it and post it here. It's one of my favorite paintings that I've done to date.
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Comments: 37
"I did not ask to be alive." My own thoughts exactly.
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This is so well drawn, it reminds me of Jasper from The Dolls of New Albion.
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A nice reflexion on the dichotomy between human and machines.
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Seeing this, reading the comments, I'm reminded of Mass Effect Geth...
Not sure if you know about them, and as I'm at work I shouldn't really be on here so I can't go into a whole explanation, but I always enjoyed the story of the Geth, and at one point in the game you get to hear a Geth ask its creator if it has a soul.
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This is so fantastic that I'm lost for words. Excuse me while my mind reboots.
That's better. I didn't know that robo-ethics was a real, not to be offensive, anything. This, however, is fascinating. I am sorry to say that I don't have Asimov's I, Robot, but I am endlessly put thinking whenever the idea of whether robots should have rights (when they gain human-level intelligence or pass the Turing test), but to wonder whether they would actually want those rights has every gear in my mind turning. I'm pretty sure I'll be returning to this picture soon and often!
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i love every aspect of this drawing, it's amazing
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Interesting concept, one could say that if a robot was made to be just like a human, heck it would have the same desires and whatnot as a human. But it starts to get murky when you think if the robot really is sentient and not just a toy that emulates being a human.
That said, what about a robot that does not act very human, and although speaks, walks, and thinks and can communicate with people is...well different, moreso like an intelligent alien, spirit, mythical being or even a god.
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looks pretty cool and reminds me alot of a pic I did (call "cold mechanicalization" if you want to search it and yeah corny name when you get down to it though XD)
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LOL! Oh snap, they are pretty eerily similar. XD Cool beans.
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but hey I like how you added the shading thing o yours I should have tried that.
you have a pretty cool gallery by the way
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Startingly fantastic. The phrase is one that many people likely ask themselves.
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I really like your interpretation of the theme. If you've never had the chance, I would also look at Ergo Proxy. Some fans of anime don't seem to appreciate it, but I think you might after seeing this. Especially, the parts dealing with an "infection" of the robots that leads them to behave as if they were praying for suicide, along similar lines to what everyone has mentioned here: "I am conscious; I am in hell; please release me."
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Thanks for the recommendation. 
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This piece really makes me think. . . we never really do consider the robots when it comes to making them do certian tasks, like going to the moon or into space, or sending them into a volcano to retrive a molten rock at the rist of their own expence. We don't think about how they might feel, because we did not make them feel. But, what happens when we do?
And your comment, again, makes me wonder Would we give robots rights if they became more human? Should we think about their needs instead of just our own?
"If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and acts like a duck, then it must be a duck" I wounder, would we alow that kind of classifaction to apply to a robot?
Amazing drawing, I love how you made the back ground the cornor of a dark room. And the suicide itself seems so simple, yet, at the same time complicated. Bravo.
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Brilliant.
Makes me wonder how a robot would view suicide: the same as humans or differently? How would suicide occur to a robot? What would be that final straw? Would the robot think it was simply malfunctioning?---You can just ignore those ramblings. I just end up going on and on on certain subjects.
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LOL! Your ramblings are almost exactly the same as my own ramblings on this subject. XD Once I get going on a tangent, I just can't stop! Heh, man, I just wonder about this stuff all the time... Like, would suicide have the same meaning to a robot as to a human? How would a robot view death? Would robots, if given the opportunity, develop any kind of religion to explain the "afterlife?"
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Hm. A religion for robots...That just raises so many more scenarios and questions.
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I read a short story about that, once; it was quite fascinating. It was called "The Quest for St. Aquinas", although, I should probably go look for the author now. Posed some pretty interesting questions about robotic beliefs and stuff, if they had them.
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There is just something about this that is too aweseome...its like a silent cry
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Some of the things you've been saying in your comments when you discuss robots-- about how if something looks a bit human, and acts human, should it be treated as such, and things like that-- well, it's not robotics, but the classic novel "Frankenstein" covers a lot of that. I don't know if you had to read that for high school, but if not ... the main point of it is that the monster feels, thinks, acts like a human-- but is shunned because he is NOT, because his outward appearance is that of a monster.
... I don't know. Never mind.
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Yes, I've read Frankenstein, but not in a long time. I didn't enjoy it that much. -_- But I see what you're saying, and that's definitely true, especially in the book.
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It's ... well, I enjoyed it much more when I read it outside of school than when I read it for school, if you catch my meaning. Books are often like that.
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Oh, I didn't even read it for school. LOL! XD I read it with my dad, and I still didn't like it very much. Don't get me wrong, I can understand why it's a classic, but Victor's constant bitching really got to me. XD The part of the book that I really liked was the monster's story, even if it did get a bit tedious after a while.
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That and Elizabeth. O YE GODS how I hate Elizabeth. But yeah, Victor does tend to whine. A lot. Ooh, but I pitied the monster. Like loads. Poor guy didn't even get a name!
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If you haven't read it you really should read "I, Robot"- Isaac Asimov. (NOT the Will Smith movie) it toys heavily with robot rights and rationals.
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Oh yes, I've read "I, Robot." I loved it so much that I read it in about two days. LOL! XD Great stuff.
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