Redefining Man and Machine: Ghost in the Shell

Inspired by this week's reading about Ghost in the Shell and Hans Bellmer, I requested friend acquire the movie. I think Ghost is so popular because it directly tackles the relationship between robots and humans. It questions what defines living beings - our bodies? Our ghosts? When a human police officer receives robotic implants, or a gynoid robot receives a girl's imprint, the boundary between man and machine dissolves. In the end of the first movie, Major Motoko Kusanagi merges with the aether of the internet, director Mamoru Oshii suggests the audience prepare themselves for a redefinition of society through interaction with machines.

I feel this is a reflection of Japanese thought. My roommate showed me a video news article she found online. It describes the roles robots play in actual Japan, today. It suggests, with the country’s aging population and low birth rates, Japan has turned to immigration and robotics to maintain its labor force. There are robotic wheelchairs, servers, and pets, many of which resemble humans and have a defined facial structure. One professor shows off a robotic duplicate of himself and theorizes that giving robots faces makes them easier for people to respond to. The movie shows how close Japan is to achieving a society like that in Ghost in the Shell.

The news article claimed that the Japanese are more receptive towards innovation and everyday contact with technology. I would disagree. The United States has many brilliant researchers who have invented many mechanical devices. Instead, I believe Americans are less friendly towards robots which imitate humans. Ghost in the Shell disturbs us because it questions our sense of being. When watching a film like Beowulf, with entirely digital characters, we turn away in disgust instead of marvel at its technological prowess. Imitating human life causes us to crash headfirst into the uncanny valley. Nevertheless, the United States is also a developed country where families are beginning to have fewer children, and baby boomers are beginning to age. One day, given the economic and health situations, we may face the same issues as the Japanese.