4b_man and machine

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Man and Machine: An essay on Blade Runner, The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and Star

Trek: First Contact.

'[The Terminator] does not advance an 'us against them' argument, man versus machine, a Romantic

opposition between the organic and the mechanical, for there is much that is hybrid about its constructed

elements. Blade Runner, both Terminator films, and Star Trek: First Contact are all films which explore the

relationship or debate between human and cybernetic forms of consciousness. What exactly is the nature of

the relationship between human and machine? Are they fundamentally opposed to each other, or do they

share many similarities?

The relationship between human and machine, the organic and the mechanic has traditionally been portrayed

as one of opposites and incompatibilities. The organic has been fiercely defended by traditional theorists and

conservative thinkers and filmmakers, portraying the cybernetic as the evil and inferior corruptor of

humanity. More radical and progressive theorists have put a spin on such a belief by emphasising the very

intimate relationship that humanity has with the technological, as the supposed evil is really a product of

what we have created and programmed.

At the root of the debate is the perceived fear that there is potential for human beings to be eclipsed by, and

hence destroyed by their constructions. However, the dawning of an age of technological superiority can

only be possible because humanity has become the maker of its own demise by creating his/her ownsuccessor.

The reality is that the human and the machine share such a similitude, that the meaning of what it is to be

human has become indistinct, uncertain, and potentially irrelevant. Traditional ideas of how one is

distinguished from another have become redundant as images of the organic and the mechanic move towards

a state of hyperreality -- the original and the copy simulate each other to the extent of indiscernability.

Therefore, the notion of what it is to be human has become ambiguous to say the least. While the machine

and the human have many obvious and distinct differences, that they also share common characteristics may

be a disquieting thought to some. Blade Runner and both Terminator films demonstrate how easy it is to

'pass' as human in the present and future. In the former, the only way to discern a replicant from a human is

to take a very precise test of the dilation of the subject's pupils. In the Terminator films, a leather jacket,

sunglasses and a motorcycle was enough to allow the T-800 to 'pass' as human among present day

Angelinos.This ambiguity in what it means to be human has led to the realisation that that today and tomorrow's human

being has become hybridised with the technological. Whether this is in the form of humanity's reliance on

everyday technologies, or in the possibility of a more advanced form of consciousness (ie. the cyborg or the

android), the organic and the mechanic can not realistically be portrayed as duelling opposites of good and

evil.

Donna Haraway, in her 'Manifesto for Cyborgs', played upon the hybrid nature of the cyborg to comment on

the confusion of the cultural, physical, and now technological boundaries humanity faces. More of a politico-

feminist discourse than a literal dissertation on the physical and psychological effects of the technological on

the organic, she still managed to provide a 'potent talisman for the global convergence of human body and

electronic network, extending our post-Futurist romance with mechanical technology' (1).

The cyborg may be seen as a result of the continuing interchangeability humans are experiencing with

technology. The human beings in the four films discussed in this essay are directly dependent on thetechnological. From the motor vehicles, answering machines, and Sony Walkmen of The Terminator, to the

spaceships, replicators, and transporters of Star Trek: First Contact, human beings have ultimately become

one with the machine in film, and hence in their daily lives. The humans in The Terminator failed to noticed

the Terminator because they were 'plugged in to their mechanical devices' (2), as we as human beings have

become 'plugged in' to the abundance of everyday technology that currently exists.

In the reality of day to day life, humanity has become intrinsically connected with the technological, where

everyday instances of technology are utilised to enhance and expedite our daily lives. It would seem that the

emergence of the cyborg, a new hybrid entity, is simply the next step, like Turing's Man -- 'a complete

integration of humanity and technology, of artificer and artifact'. (3) The fusion of the body with mechanical

enhancements already exists today, from basic prosthetic limbs, to telecommunications, and to neural

network computers, technology has become a very entrenched part of our lives. (4) Only a month ago did the

Sydney Morning Herald (5) report that a man had been able to control a computer by thought alone after

receiving an electronic implant that fused with his brain cells. What would have seemed impossible years


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ago has now become a reality. The emergence of a cyborg culture now seems more than imaginable: it is

inevitable, and is happening now.

The cyborgs depicted in the cinema are a more elaborate construct, but are still based on the same principle

of the organic/mechanic hybrid. In both Terminator films, the T-800 is a robotic endoskeleton encapsulated

by the flesh of Arnold Schwarzenegger. In Star Trek: First Contact, the Borg are a collective of hive-like

beings, encrusted with metal armory, enhanced limbs and faculties. The T-800 is programmed with an

unwavering will to terminate its target Sarah Connor in the first film, and her son John Connor in the sequel.

The Borg are on an unflinching mission to assimilate organic lifeforms so as to enhance their own

knowledge and absorb their technology.

The cyborg represents the hybridisation of the organic and the mechanic. The android on the other hand,

represents the mechanic as simulacrum of the organic. The android does not combine organic elements with

technological parts. In Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the novel that Blade Runner is

based on, the author describes the androids (or replicants) that populate this dark techno-world as 'fierce cold

things trying to pass themselves off as human, but are not.'(6) The deception that androids generally

demonstrate suggests that such an entity would be defined by its appearance, or how people see it.

Everything begins and ends with appearances, surfaces without depth, copied human behavior [sic] lacking a

basis in human nature. In this respect, the android queers the distinct categories of human and machine.(7)

As figures that are intrinsically all surface, androids do not play with the relationship between the organicand the machine, but instead, concentrate on how the organic and the mechanic replicate each other to the

point of no distinction. The T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgement Day is

[v]isually indistinguishable from the human more indomitable and unswerving in its antihuman mission

in many ways [it is] a starker projection of a tecnologized world. (8)

The android is pure simulacrum. As Baudrillard notes, as simulacra, 'images precede the real to the extent

that they invert the causal and logical order of the real and its reproduction.' (9) As the T-1000 mutates into

the images of those people and objects surrounding it, the original and the copy are no longer discernible.

The T-1000 smooths out the rough edges of its predecessor; it blends in. As a 'trickster' and 'shape-shifter',

the T-1000 annexes the human body and soul rather than simply terminating it. The T-1000 is a perfect

example of the hyperreal -- a copy with no distinguishable original.

Thus, as cyborgs and androids populate these films, and as today's world has already become so

technologised that such entities do not seem so far-fetched, one must recognise that the organic and themechanic share much in common. However, the mechanic has been portrayed as the 'other' for centuries.

Descartes compared humans and machines in the seventeenth century, maintaining that humans are always

superior to machines because humans possess the unique ability to reason. (10) Similarly, the Enlightenment

allowed humanity to believe that their ability to reason gave them the capacity to create their own destiny

rather than submit to a preordained social order. (11) In The Terminator, Kyle Reese tells Sarah Connor that

'You can't reason with him'. The Terminator is programmed to kill; he does not determine that for himself.

He does not possess the human ability to reason, to feel compassion, or decide for himself what is right and

wrong. The Borg of Star Trek do not listen to reason either, illustrated in their mantra, 'Resistance is futile'.

Futile because they are programmed with the unswerving goal to assimilate the organic and technological

into their own collective.

Entities such as the Termintor, the replicant, and the Borg are figures of human artifice, but at the same time,

they demonstrate the vulnerability of the human body because they have been enhanced. They are the newmodel, an improvement on their originators. They are hastening the replacement of the organic by the very

technology that is already replacing human beings in the present -- in factories and with computers.

From a conservative perspective, technology represents artifice as opposed to nature, the mechanical as

opposed to the spontaneous, the regulated as opposed to the free, an equalizer as opposed to a promotor of

individual distinction, equality triumphant as opposed to liberty, democratic levelling as opposed to

hierarchy derived from individual superiority it represents the triumph of radical change over traditional

social institutions. (12)

Human and machine are portrayed as opposites, or even as enemies, in a battle for supremacy, a battle of

good and evil. Technology represents everything that threatens the tenets of conservative thinking.

Therefore, a spate of films have been made with this attitude, most particularly, with The Terminator, which

portrays the mechanic as a menacing evil intent on the annihilation of humanity.

Perhaps the most pervasive fear within this persuasion of thought -- along with the annihilation of the human

and rise of the superior machine -- is the potential for the organic to become obsolete. The slogan used by the

Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner, 'More human than human', seems a frightening thought in light of the


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fact that the product of this multi-world corporation, the replicant, has become indistinguishable, 'a nearly

perfect mimesis as the replicants threaten to render their creators superfluous.' (13) The mechanic is

expedient, driven and unhindered by the emotional weaknesses of the human. Hence, the mechanic is

portrayed as dangerously superior, amoral, and evil.

This 'technophobic' portrayal of the mechanic as 'the other' in film is undisputable. However, it should be

recognised that the organic and the mechanic do have certain fundamental differences, especially when

concerned with their reproduction and with 'the gaze', maybe even regardless of the fact that their portrayals

in film are politically or socially unbalanced.

The reproduction of the organic and the mechanic provide a stark contrast between forms, as is illustrated in

the aforementioned films. In both Terminator films, technology has virtually destroyed all traces of the

human in the post-nuclear world of 2029, reconstructing the environment in its own image. The facilitator of

this reconfiguration is Skynet, who has ultimately rendered the organic body obsolete because it has

discovered the means of its own reproduction. Indeed , the fundamental tenets of organic reproduction -- the

sexual, have been eradicated.

Without feminine or masculine creativity -- indeed, without human imput of any kind -- Skynet produces

machines, or terminator units, totally artificial simulations of humans to act as weapons in the hunt for the

few remaining people that pose a threat to its autonomy. These creations are not forged from some universal

human code, like the DNA molecule, but rather from the logical parameters of electronic circuitry. (14)In The Terminator, the heterosexual act of procreation between Sarah and Reese is re-affirmed as the only

way to save humanity in the future. A definite line is drawn between the organic and the mechanic in terms

of reproduction. The self-replicating automata of both Terminator films, Blade Runner, and Star Trek: First

Contact are pitted against the sexual and natural 'procreators' -- human beings. Ironically, the drone has the

capability of exerting its own sexuality in these films. The Terminator exhibits a tough, masculine image, his

leather-clad and rippling muscles have been designed by the filmmakers to arouse sexual desire in the

women and men who watch the film. Even the grotesque Borg Queen in Star Trek seduces the android Data

with her overtly erotic demeanour. One may reconcile this by recognising that any sexual characteristics a

cyborg may possess are still originally human characteristics copied by the machine.

In its self-replication, the cyborg/android produces an infinity of beings -- a collective programmable force.

Humanity produces individuals, or specifically in the aforementioned films, one man -- a saviour. John

Connor, Rick Deckard, and Jean-Luc Picard exemplify the bastion of the organic -- the unique individualdefending the human against the analogous threat of the technological.

The gaze of the organic is motivated by such things as survival, desire, and hunger. Kyle Reese has spent a

lifetime gazing at the photo of Sarah Connor. He has 'come across time' for her. For the cyborg/android, the

gaze is of much less significance. The gaze of the cyborg in The Terminator is enhanced with infra-red,

kilobytes of data, and programmed options. They are programmed, and hence do not have to rely on their

eyes to determine the truth. In Blade Runner, the means of deciphering who is human and what is replicant is

done through the Voight-Kampff test, observing the dilation of the subjects pupils upon being prompted with

questions leading to emotional responses. The film is rampant with images symbolic of the eye, especially

the fact that the replicant's maker, Tyrell meets his death at the hands of his progeny, literally, after Roy

pokes Tyrell's eyes into his brain. Tyrell sees the truth, but all too late.

In Terminator 2: Judgement Day, the security guard in the hospital discovers 'the truth' -- that the T-1000

exists before him as replication of himself, only when the T-1000 pokes him between the eyes. (15) Aswindows to the soul, the eye is the fundamental part of the human. It allows us to 'see' the truth, and is not

just an artificial enhancement that is programmed.

Nevertheless, in the face of distinct differences between the organic and the mechanic, the conservative ideal

of placing them in opposition is unrealistic. Both the human and the technological share an intimate

relationship that recognises that what it is to be uniquely human has become indistinct and uncertain. The

organic and the machine have become hybridised in the present, opening the way for the future emergence of

the ultimate hybrid form, the cyborg, or the ultimate simulacrum, the android.

A film such as The Terminator addresses the fact that it is impossible to clearly distinguish between human

and machines.

It focuses on the partial and ambiguous merging of the two, a more complex response [rather] than the

Romantic triumph of the organic over the mechanical, or the nihilistic recognition that we have all become

automata. (16)

Two major issues spring from the aforementioned films that illustrate the hybridisation of the organic and the

mechanic. The portrayal of human and machine has been played with in these films, and in most cases, their


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'roles' and characteristics have been reversed. Concurrently, the meaning of what it is to be human has

become blurred by such a portrayal.

The two Terminator films most clearly illustrate the role reversal between the human and the machine. Janice

Rushing and Thomas Frentz have noted that the films themselves are aptly named.

[The word] "termination" is a term not ordinarily applied to human homicide: it usually is reserved for the

cessation of mechanical functions. (17)

Since the humans in the film are superfluous nuisances to the superior machines, they are not 'murdered', but

are merely 'liquidated' or terminated, a function that would seem to fit better in the reverse.

As the roles or characteristics of the human and the machine have become reversed, we seem to have become

more like the machine. In Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Sarah Connor undertakes her mission to save the

world with 'a mechanical determination and [a] tunnel vision that befits both terminators.' (18) When she

finds the scientist responsible for Skynet Miles Dyson, she takes on the role of the mechanically driven

hunter stalking the weak human prey.

When Sarah reaches Dyson's house, the red dot from the infra-red sighting mechanism on her weapon fixes

on the back of his head while he works at his computer, duplicating the scene from T1 where the dot from

the Terminator's weapon appeared on Sarah's own forehead at the Tech Noir. (19)

Just as the machine is programmed, human beings are programmed in their own cultural and sexual

constructs. The Terminator films warn of a technologically inspired way humans have of judging the worldand those in it on the basis of appearance,

while it also cautions us about the basis of those appearances -- how much they are simply constructed for

us, without our awareness, and made to seem quite natural and transparent. (20)

The Terminator initially passes as human based on its appearance, but as the films progress, we see what it is

really made of, on the inside. It perfectly illustrates that bodies 'do and don't end at the skin.' (21) At the

same time, the humans in the films present us with an initial image we accept as normative, until the film

progresses and we see inside them as well. (22)

In Blade Runner, the replicants act in a manner more akin to the human. The humans in the film seem

apathetic and oblivious to one another. The replicants seem to genuinely care about one another, planning

their survival, protecting each other from cancellation, and grieving over each inevitable death. In an almost

cliched twist, they are 'more human than human'. The mechanic figure of the film is, ironically, Rick

Deckard, who mechanically pursues the replicants in his unswerving goal to kill them.The film most effectively demonstrates that the division between the organic and the mechanic is no longer

clear cut obvious. The replicants in the film simulate behaviour so well that real people do not know that

they are not human. The 'problem is so acute that the burden of authenticity, of having to prove you are in

fact human, falls on virtually everyone.' (23) It is one of the first, and is the most effective film to challenge

the traditional and conservative view of the organic and mechanic in constant battle and opposition. Blade

Runner debunks and deconstructs the oppositions at work within conservative views on the organic and the

mechanic.

The marrying of human and replicant undercuts the posing of nature as an opposite to a negative

technological civilisation [T]he film deconstructs the oppositions -- human/technology, reason/feeling,

culture/nature -- that underwrite the conservative fear of technology by refusing to privilege one pole of the

dichotomy over another and by leaving their meaning undecidable. (24)

The meaning of what it is to be human is now less defined and more uncertain. The present day attests tosuch a statement, as humanity has become 'plugged in' to everyday technologies to make our lives easier,

more convenient, and more enjoyable. The four films previously discussed have shown that the cinema has

taken this idea and has merely enhanced it by introducing such mesmerising creations as the Terminator, the

replicant, and the Borg. It is the hybrid form (whether as physical hybrid 'cyborg', or simulacrum 'android')

that seems to be the most accurate and realistic description of how the organic and the mechanic exist in

relation to each other. It is a symbol of the relationship we have with the technological in the present, and is

the image used by filmmakers in portraying the future.

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