AMC's Humans

Looks very interesting... doesn't hurt that the actresses playing the robots are inhumanly hot. Love those blue eyes.

But based on the one scene, it reminded me of the common advice given when I was living in SE Asia, nearly twenty years ago.
"When you hire a live-in maid, make sure she's not attractive." Also, "Let your wife choose the maid". That sounds awful today on many levels, but that was considered sober advice in the late 90s.

Here's a fun question or two:
Would sex with a robot be considered infidelity in the eyes of most couples?
Would it be ethical for robots to be programmed for such?

Asimov's famous rules are:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Simple but profound, but they don't consider this question.

Asimov explored sex with robots in his later novels.
It was considered like masturbation.
As robots became more sophisticated and lifelike humans started to fall in love with them.
In one novel Hari Seldon, the creator of psycho history, knew deep down inside his companion was a robot designed to look and act like a human female.
When she was "killed" he openly wept.

Markiehoe wrote: Asimov explored sex with robots in his later novels.
It was considered like masturbation.
As robots became more sophisticated and lifelike humans started to fall in love with them.
In one novel Hari Seldon, the creator of psycho history, knew deep down inside his companion was a robot designed to look and act like a human female.
When she was "killed" he openly wept.

I should have remembered Hari. Of course. It will be interesting to see how much Humans draws from Asimov's writing, both early and late. And whether the word android is used.

Robots are all over the place in terms of portrays in movies now, but the idea of human-like only goes back so far. If we consider Bladerunner, their androids were very human-like. (Android simply being a type of robot that mimics a human.) At the moment I can't recall human-mimicking robots that were sexuality aware in previous movies.

I thought it was a stupid idea for Asimov to combine his Foundation and robot series, and especially for Hari to get his ideas as well as his rocks off from a robot. But then Heinlein succumbed to solipsism in his last books, too.

--Brantley

I remember one of Asimovs storys about a Robot that simulated to be in love (with Dr. Susan Calvin I believe) in order to not "injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm". Great stuff

Well the original Robot Story back at the turn of the story was pretty clear-There a metaphor for Communism-there the opressed worker drones, who at the end of the story can figure out how to destroy the humanity that puts them down-but cruically can not create a world thats in anyway better.

Good robot stories deal with this even if its implicity-no so much with communism but with any metaphor for the opressed the 99% or any of the versions of this-and in this sence this kind of looks intresting becuse it does seem to be from the point of view of the rich the powerful, looking at the people they hire to bring to there house uber there cars....and well....

This looks very modern day.

Remember When you are talking about 'Species and races' your really talking about race.

I dreamt of additional copies of myself to do the chores long before learning of cloning. Multiplicity with Michael Keaton was a hoot. I'll give Humans a good chance.

I Liked a lot so far, the visuals are amazing, great acting too. And Oh Boy, Gemma Chan is PERFECT as a Fembot. I would buy that model

On a side note the Wife is too Bitchy and the tennage daughter is just awfull >

fats wrote: just seen the latest EP and I have to say that it's getting better, there was some nice twists and turns to the show, this is developing in to a must watch series.

Fats

For those of you who have seen at least the first show, here's a scenario and pict:

"You're seventeen and struggling with math, so your parents rent a math tutor synth to help you. She looks like this. Given that payment is related to results, she will use any means to inspire you to excel at math."

Anyway, hope I got the eyes about right. As you might expect knowing me, I really like the synth's eyes in Humans.

Here's another scenario and pict:

"Hey, Bert Miller down at the machine shop has a new synth. A model 17, heavy-duty but not the usual hulk. This one's female. Just as strong though. She does all the heavy lifting for him now. Saw her take the engine out of an old Toyota yesterday. Without tools."

"She doesn't stay at the shop but goes home with him. I saw the two of them in a bar the other day. That lucky bastard made some money last year on that special job with Xancol. Enough to buy the GF mode add-on."

Saw the first episode, and found it rather outeresting. Skipped the next.

--Brantley

brantley wrote: Saw the first episode, and found it rather outeresting. Skipped the next.

--Brantley

I find it somewhat interesting and potentially promising. Reminds me a touch of my old AU concept of Fraul'isets. Except they are called Synths in this show.
Basically androids. Except some of them are becoming sentient.

In episode 2, a Synth sexbot grabs a rude client's neck and snaps it. She and a small group of other Synths have become "aware", and are thinking
like humans, are being hunted down very much in Bladerunner style. She's one of them. The man searching for them is convinced that sentience is going to spread and
that could spell the end of the human race. The machines could take over. So he's a zealot.

Self-aware and sentient, they are "humans", except for being far stronger and extremely difficult
to injure. There is also growing emotions, even love, between the self-aware sentients and also with an apparent human who is trying to lead them. Except his lover was captured
and reprogrammed as a domestic synth. She pretends to be "just a machine" to keep her secret, but she also can't deny her growing human-like emotions.

When the superior machines start thinking and acting like emotional humans, things get messy. And sometimes, sexy.

The show also deals with "racism" (I'm stretching the meaning) that looks down on Synths and just wants to treat them like slaves. Or rather, as smart toasters. Yet others have developed
real relationships with the Synths. Some of the individual story lines are interesting. Like the elderly scientist pensioner who has a long-time companion Synth who is malfunctioning and the Health Service assigns him a new one that is more jailor than helper. He's trying to keep his old Synth who he is so attached to. There are three major story lines related to relationships between machines and humans. Along with the major story line about the sentient Synths trying to escape the system and being "recycled".

There is some potential here. It's a toss up at this point as to whether the show can maintain some level of genre-interesting material or not. I'm not ready to give up yet. Episode 2 was much better than the pilot, IMHO.

This sounds more and more like what Caprica should have been.

clipfreak wrote: This sounds more and more like what Caprica should have been.

I never watched Caprica, but from what I remember, the Cylons started off as shiny metal robots and only much later began to mimic humans.

In Humans, the androids are very realistic from the beginning, to the point where the truly sentient ones can pass for human, emotions and all. Except they bleed blue blood.

I guess I'm mostly enjoying the Bladerunner theme of finding ways to identify and capture the sentient androids. The defensive strategy that the sentient androids employ is to pretend to be just a machine when they are being chased by the guy who wants to recycle them. But he has ways to trick them into displaying emotions. Not as sophisticated as Bladerunner, but clearly inspired by it.

shadar wrote: I never watched Caprica, but from what I remember, the Cylons started off as shiny metal robots and only much later began to mimic humans.

Yes but Caprica kinda changed that by introducing simulated humans (ai based on a copy of someones personality / memories) in a vr world.

minor spoiler(s):


This program is invented by the daughter of the cylon robot inventor, after she dies he puts the ai version of her in one of his robots, which seems to fail. But as the daughter was pissed at her parents the ai decides to play dumb 'robot' in order to plan her escape. Without spoiling too much lets just say this is the spark of life the cylons inherit.

Although Caprica isn't bad I personally wished it dialed down on the religion stuff (same as in bsg) and concentrated more on the ai stuff.

Natasha & I LOVE this show. Seen the first 3 episodes. LOVE.