More Than Human

Ideas both big and deep can - and has - been explored in Sci Fi. Some themes that have resonated with me include 'What it Means to be Human'. This could be said to be the point of ALL fiction in a way I suppose. But to explore humanity through the lens of near-perfect robot replicas of human beings, like in Blade Runner and the newer version of Battlestar Galactica is thought provoking in a way that a more literal story about being human could be.

Robots, whether almost-perfect copies of humans, or more obviously mechanical beings are a way to show us to ourselves. They may associate with normal humans in the story or not…usually in a longer story they WILL mix with human characters…and in their differences and contrasts to those humans, they will illuminate different parts of what makes people "people".

In the long-ago Star Trek Next Gen episode "The Measure of a Man" Captain Picard must defend his officer, the android Data, to establish his freedom and personhood in an episode that resonates all the way to the new garbage Star Trek: Picard series.

In the classic Blade Runner, Rutger Hauer delivers one of the all time great sci fi and cinema monologues with his "Tears in the Rain" speech that beautifully expresses the uniqueness of himself. Data echoes some of these sentiments in the episode mentioned above.

In Battlestar Galactica (2004) there are advanced cylons that are indistinguishable from humans. Indeed, some cylons are not even aware that they ARE robots. Some of the most interesting episodes for me are the few times we get a deeper look at the cylon characters and their society and the 'evolution' of some of the individual machines.

Since it's a lesser known series, I feel compelled to mention the "robot novels" by Isaac Asimov, a series of four books featuring an Earth detective paired with a human-looking robot. The two struggle with each other and their joint-murder investigations they are assigned to, against a backdrop of a Galaxy going through various growing pains.

The Terminator gives us a look at the contrast between vulnerable, fragile humans vs an unstoppable, unfeeling force of mechanical nature in the robot that's hunting them. Similar dynamics can be seen in Westworld and in the creepy Hal from 2001: a Space Odyssey.

Artificial beings, in their contrasts to humans, can show many shades of what it is to be human. Robots are one of the great inventions of sci fi fiction.

Are these the droids you're looking for?
which ones are your favorites?

Have a good one!
Banes out!