Cyberpunk

  I was intrigued by our in-class watching of Ghost in the Shell II, and decided to watch the first film for the topic of cyberpunk. Ghost in the Shell explores interesting elements from the potential near future, most in ways common to the genre. Dirty cities overpopulated and riddled with crime and corrupt governments or authorities. Ghost in the Shell shows a world where cyber augmentations are almost the norm. Early in the film, the protagonist explains she recruited another primarily because he was not augmented, and could this variety would help their unit cover weaknesses. Choosing someone primarily on that basis provides insight to how uncommon the normal, unaugmented humans must be in this universe. The idea of evolution, sentience in machines, and the line between man and machine are the most evident themes of the story from start to finish. Similar themes can be seen in I-robot, in which machines reach an advanced enough state it's difficult to draw the line. The abundance of augmented humans helps push this thematic more so, especially in regards to the protagonist's struggle wondering if she is a real person or just an advanced machine. These all serve as a potential warning for a future mankind too attached or reliable on technology, and the value we still have being evolving and adapting beings.