Bicol University

College of Business, Economics and Management

Business Administration Department
Daraga, Albay

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

MOVIE ANALYSIS
“I ROBOT”

The movie "I ROBOT" 2004 is all about automation and robotics that humans designed
and created to do things easily and fast. In the story the three laws of robots are shown. The first
law is that a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to
come to harm. The second one, a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except
where such orders would conflict with the First Law. The third, a robot must protect its own
existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First Law or Second Law. The
setting of the story is actually in the future. The story takes place in Chicago, year 2035. It is set
in a robotic factory in U.S.

1. The main characters in the story are: Sonny, a robot. He is well trained by Dr. Lanning.
Sonny is different among the other robots, he has emotions and he act as a real human.
He also knows how to dream and besides he also knows how to adapt the human acts. Dr.
Susan Calvin, a robot psychologist for U.S Robot, and the corporation that invented and
manufactured intelligent robots and computing machines. She reflects upon the evolution
of these robots and discusses how little humanity really understands about the artificial
intelligence it has created. She is the one who makes the robot seems more human.
Detective Del Spooner, a Chicago police detective that hates and distrust robots because
he was rescued from a car crash by a robot using cold logic, leaving a 12-year-old girl to
drown. He is the one who investigates the case of Dr. Lanning, for he believed that the
robot is the one who killed Dr. Lanning. Dr. Alfred Lanning the co-founder and designer
of U.S Robots and Mechanical Men (USR).
2. The major issue in the movie is the case of Dr. Alfred Lanning. Detective Spooner didn't
believe that Dr. Lanning commit a suicide. Because he believes that a robot killed the
creator but he can't get anybody to believe him. Spooner and robopsychologist Susan
Calvin consult USR's central artificial intelligence computer, VIKI (Virtual Interactive
Kinetic Intelligence) to review security footage of Lanning's fall. Though the video is
corrupted, they learn that no other humans were in Lanning's office at the time, and
Spooner points out that only a robot could have broken Lanning's office window, which
was made of security glass.
3. As I have watched the movie, there are some ethical dilemmas that was present in the
movie. First is the 3 laws conflict on the Robots, which can aff noect the safety of the
human beings. Just like the creation of NS-5 Robots which bypasses the Three Laws.
Because if a robot was not programmed properly and did not follow the three laws of
robotics, it could become dangerous. It can hurt us and even rule the world. So now, who
will be or should be blame if someone's safety is compromise by a robot? Another is the
emotional components of the robots. Just like Sonny, he has emotions and he acts like a
real human. What if robot become sensible? Is that means that they should have their own
right that we need to respect? Then how would we react if robots already feel happy and
sad? I know that it is now possible that robots can have emotions because of the progress
of technology and the artificial intelligence. Another dilemma is that robots will be used
 in wars. In the movie, robots believed to V.I.K.I (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence)
that was controlled by USR CEO Lawrence Robertson and commanded all robots to
destroy the environment because he wants to control the world. They used the robots for
their own illusion, without thinking what would've happened to the human beings.
4. In the movie there are threats to human kind. One of it is the development of “artificial
intelligence”. Such as the developing of service robots which we used at home. Another
is the creation of “Robots”, that was used by USR CEO Robertson to destroy the
environment and kill some people.Using of different chemicals in creating robots that
may lead to “climate change”. Because we are now in Industrial Revolition, and there are
lot of factories out there we are experiencing climate change. The concentration of carbon
dioxide, released when fossil fuels are burned, as well as the other greenhouse rate.Also
another threat is that technology become a “necessity” to humans. Most of us are using
technology in our everyday life and some of us now can’t live without it. We are relying
our tasks and works to machines. And the “loss of reality”, in the movie it shows that we
are not living in the world that we supposed to live. We are now turning our current
world into the world we want, the world that we only read on fictional stories and word
that we dream of.
5. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the nature of almost everything which is
connected to human life e.g. employment, economy, communication, warfare, privacy,
security, ethics, healthcare etc. And it increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the
process and operations, to some extent, these machines replace human works. And I
considered it as a threat to human kind, because it substitute to some employment. And
we don't know how long will this machine will benefit us. Or, if this machine or
technologies really help to make the world better or it will just bring disasters. On the
other hand, we often found ourselves protesting against the government in the context of
unemployment, taxes, privacy etc. As AI development is speeding up, more robots or
autonomous systems are being born and replacing the human labor. And also human
becomes lazy because they depends on the machines that may also lead in developing
different kind of sickness. Humans will not be capable of rationally deciding for
themselves and they will not use their own intelligence to do their task because of
technology.
6. If I had a chance to ask a character in this movie, the question would be: Do we really
need technology in our daily lives? Do this technologies can really make our world
better? And do technologies become a necessity for us today? That was the questions that
I really want to understand more.
7. If I will be writing the screenplay for this movie, I will change the ending. Because I
want that all the robots will be destroyed. And that the humans will realized how harmful
the robots are. And that they don't need robots at home to do some works because that
was our obligation. Because if we become so dependent on technologies our health and
the way we think will be affected.
8. The movie shows the emerging of technologies as the years has been passed. The
technology as we know has slowly urbanized over the years in hope of improving
people's everyday life. But then, there are bad and good effects because of technology.
I've learned that before creating or developing something, we to think it first very well in
order for us to know what would be the effect of it. And that we should not depend on
technology in doing task in our daily lives because it will just harm our lifestyle.