In mainstream Hollywood films, such as AI and I Robot, we are presented with the idea that the machines will take over and replace us or somehow threaten our safety and existence. It is obvious that machines, rather technology, can threaten our safety and take away jobs. However, this is not the real threat. The real threat is more similar to what is presented in films such as Blade Runner and the Matrix, where it is almost impossible to distinguish between man and machine or where man fuels the machine. I propose, that man is being turned into a machine, an automatic robot-like state, as well as fuelling a much larger capitalist one.
I will demonstrate this through exploring current forms of discipline, which ultimately shape who we become; our tendency to suppress symptoms rather than identify and destroy the underlying source or sources; the role of what I call segregation politics, which is actually referred to as identity politics; who our bodies really belong to; and the role the media plays in transforming man into machine.
Currently, this seems too big to put into a 10 or 12 page paper, so I may have to focus on only one or two of the factors which turn man into machine. I might just focus on the role of the media since it can then encompass all of the issues but in a narrower spectrum.
The main question then would be:
How does the media turn man into machine? or How does the media perpetuate the idea of man as machine?
Machine = automated gormless inhuman being disguised as a human = pretty much all of us these days :(
I was also thinking about writing how the system tricks us into thinking we can create real change/a real revolution within the boundaries of its laws and practices, but I think I'll save that for another time. Seriously, walking with signs in masses is doing nothing. However, this does allude to the idea of freedom as simulation, which does play a role in transforming us into machines.
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