Surrogates 10/18

Upon discovery that Steeplejack is a surrogate himself who is trying to disable the rest of his kind, we also find out that his creator is the man who created the first surrogate, Lionel, and believes that the human race’s dependency on them is unhealthy. How can previous texts from class help lend us an argument either for or against Lionel’s deactivation?

5 thoughts on “Surrogates 10/18

  1. This theme proves to continuously repeat in association with technological advances, both historically and fictionally. It parallels with Yod being the first ever of his type but destroying all of the lab work in order to prevent any more of him from ever being created again. Similarly, in Battlestar Galactica, the cylon John also revolts against the concept of cylons, proclaiming that they were not designed logically. These examples support Lionel’s deactivation because they help prove that inventors of technological advancements often have different intentions than how the inventions end up serving.

    • I totally agree when you say “These examples support Lionel’s deactivation because they help prove that inventors of technological advancements often have different intentions than how the inventions end up serving.”
      I think this is a recurring theme in almost all the texts we’ve read, where the creations don’t necessarily serve the exact purpose they were formed to do because they end up creating a different vision for themselves.
      In Battlestar Galactica – Cylons rebel and take their own fate into their own hands
      Minority Report – the Precogs sometimes have alternate visions
      Ex Machina – Ava literally has no regard for her creator and “lover” Caleb; she only wants to be free

  2. Canter’s deactivation of the Surrogates is his reaction to an ethical dilemma, it appeared that at first it was helpful in the realms of law enforcement, public health, and had other good societal value, but once they started to conceive of young adults using them as well it crossed Canter’s ethical line. This is like Paige said a recurring theme in most works, how does society or the creator deal with the out of control problem of the nature of his or her creation? In “Never Let Me Go,” there is the incident where the one scientist takes the cloning too far in the opinions of these humans, and begins to try to make the super race of genetically modified humans. They see this as problematic and put an end to his operation, however they still keep the clones for harvesting purposes. I bring this up because of the moral implications brought forth by it, and Lionel Canter cannot bear the thought of his creation permeating to the youth of the society to the point where every human person is using virtual reality as a means of living. Because Canter cannot take it he uses Steeplejack to fry the circuits of all the surrogates. This story is interesting because it is the first time we have really dealt with virtual reality. It is really an interesting and complex topic, but within the story itself, the proof of the societies reliance and addiction to virtual reality really culminates, and is proven with the suicide of Detective Greer’s wife.

  3. Canter, when creating the first surrogate, seemed focused exclusively on the functionality and practicality of the device for people with disabilities—an “elaborate prosthetic,” according to Victoria Welch (140). Canter objects to the widespread use of surrogates—especially now that VSI intends to market to children—and endeavors to sabotage all other surrogates by making use of his own. Comparable to Yod’s sacrifice in He, She and It or to Ava at the end of Ex Machina, Canter wants to make it impossible to recreate this type of technology because he believes it is unethical and ultimately harmful to society. Despite being reliant on the technology himself, Canter uses Steeplejack to challenge others’ dependence on the surrogates; as James suggested above, this dependence is illustrated tragically by the death of Greer’s wife after the EMP rendered her surrogate useless. Steeplejack is forcing the operators to “live” sans surrogate, returning them to a more honest (if not more discriminatory and crime-ridden) reality.

  4. There are two texts we can look to that could argue for and against Lionel’s deactivation: Battlestar Galactica and Ex Machina. As we see in BSG, an entire race is created who then rebelled against their leaders. But as the series unfolds, we find these beings to maybe be sentient, and simply want to live unrestricted lives by the humans. Yes, they have plans to destroy humans, but if there was an agreement and acceptance of one another, the story could move forth into a cohabitation of the galaxy. For this reason, I could see why Lionel’s surrogate not be deactivated. On the flip side, however, Ava in Ex Machina should have been destroyed from the very beginning. She actually should not have been created because not only is her purpose questionable at best, her desire to be “human” has a complete disregard for others lives – the machine and informational systems in her still controls her actions.

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