Blog #19: City on the Edge of Forever

The episode "City on the Edge of Forever" from the original Star Trek shows many examples of Paradox and time travel. The video not only demonstrates the idea of cause and effect, but also the idea that every little act effects history. Though Jim did not want want her to die, she had to because that is how history was meant to go. If she had lived, the USS Enterprise would have never existed, and the crew would have been stranded for the rest of their lives. It makes you think about how one person can make that much of a difference in history. It brings back the idea that people are not meant to travel in time because the entire course of the world can change just because of simple curiosity.

Blog 18: Sound of Thunder/ Into the Universe/ All you Zombies

The idea of Paradox and traveling through time is very haunting to me. It creates a sense of erie feelings because of the delicate way that simple things will change history. In the story "Sound of Thunder", that feeling comes over you when you look at the differences between before and after the trip. The simple act of steppin on the butterfly changed the course of history, and its leaders.
Into the Universe also gave the example of Paradox because it is about a man imagining how to make time travel possible. He gave examples as to why going back into the past is not possible, but it could be by going into the future. I don't think that people will come up with that technology to travel at light speed, but even if they could, should they? I don't think people are meant to travel in time, but rather, to stay the course.
In "All You Zombies" we see a very confusing story about a man that can only exist by traveling into the past. He sees all of his past and future selves in front of him as different people, genders, and ages. This is an example of paradox because he sees them all as Zombies...something that once lived in a different time, of rather in a different life. They are Zombies to him because although he sees himself, it is not himself at the present, but rather, a mere shadow of what he was in a time.

Blog #17: Borg

In the video "Star Trek", we see an episode called "Borg", and the crew of the Enterprise is conflicted with another species. The Borgs are a mechanical species that live a society based on we, not on the indevidual. When they capture a Borg, they discover the differences of this particular Borg opposed to all of the others. He is an indevidual and he can think for himself. They teach him the ability to reason, and he is named Hue. He begins making decisions, but the Frankenstein Complex is a big part of the movie because of the captains speculation and disbelief. He holds a prejudice toward Hue until he gets to know him, and the lesson is that a living being is no different than humans based on how they were created, and how they live their lives.

Blog #16: Reason

In the story "Reason", the author writes about robots surrounding the idea of the first three laws in robotics. We see the Frankenstein Complex in the story because of the robot's ability to reason and think for itself. The Franenstein Complex I think also has to do with the fear that our robots will break the first three laws of robotics, and turn against us with their ability to reason.

Blog #15: The Measure of a Man

Star Trek: The Measure of a Man was a very interesting episode to watch. In the story, Data becomes endangered because of his complex structure and indevidualism as a robot. Those who know him consider him to be their friend. Those who don't see him as a mere object that can be used for further experimentation. Through many different trials between crew members and scientists, they come to the conclusion that he is indevidual. They realize that he has memorys, emotion, and a sense of self image and well being. Data is a big part of the Frankenstein Complex not out of fear, but out of persecution against him because of his differences.
We have seen this before in history. During the holocaust, Jews were seen as objects for use and study and labor. They were not seen as indeviduals, and they were persecuted against and eliminated. I thought that it was interesting when they brought up slavery in the story, because it relates to the time in our own history when African Amereicans were persecuted against for their differences. Though that part was unusual to the point where it was almost irrelevant to the story, it made the story that much better because of how it made me contemplate the world we live in.

Blog #14 EPICAC/Mimicry

In the story EPICAC, we see a machine that develops not only a sense of self and well being, but also emotion and longing. In a way, EPICAC was humble in the way he lived and in the way he died. By falling in love with a human, he realizes who he is and who he can never be for her, and he begins to see the reality of the world, and the purpose in which he was made. In sacrificing himself for his love and for his friend, I think the robot really did understand true emotion of love and friendship. In his poems, he shows a true understanding of emotions that have to do with love, and the anguish that he is going through because of that love being lost. In a way however, it was also ironic that he was the smartest robot and could solve any problem because it is true that not every problem can be solved simply by facts. I think this story could have had potential to be that of the Frankenstein Complex, but it wasn’t because nobody feared him, or even knew about his talents. If the robot could talk or move, I think there could have been more of a fear because he could have gotten out of control with his emotions. He may have not given up on his love, but he did because of his imprisonment of his own body.

The Frankenstein Complex is better demonstrated in the other story we read, Mimicry. In Mimicry, the robot, or rather clockwork doll, wants to become more like the girl that she lives with. She really has nothing to fear but does because of the robot impersonating her. I think when it comes to the Frankenstein Complex, what we fear is not the robot itself. I think we fear the inability to control what we make to the point where we are being taken over by our own handiwork. In this situation, the girl feels exploited in her own personality because of the robot that longs to be her, and have her strong sense of identity as well.

Blog #13: Post Modern Prometheus

In the the movie Post Modern Prometheus, there were many strange but very interesting things that happened. First of all, it reminded me very much of not only the Frankenstein Complex, but also Xenophobia in a way because of our fear of what is different. You could see the fear and the bias that stuck with people simply because of an idea being embedded into one person's head. The terror that grew inside of the people of the thought of a monster coming into their houses was astonishing as soon as one person planted the idea. It spread like a poison through people and woman feared that they were impregnated with a monster, a demon, or an non-human creature. In the end however, he turned out to be very human. He was ridiculed and looked down upon by the town simply because his features did not follow the norms of society. It kind of makes a person step back for a moment and realize that we see it everyday in the hallways of our very own school. There is ridicule and mockery everywhere because of people's differences. We see it in history too; where one idea became a disaster because of fear.