Arnold, Ford, and Liberty

Published December 8, 2016 · Updated July 6, 2022

Dear Gentlemen,

It appears that I was correct and suffering was at the heart of Westworld.

My error was to assume that suffering was a bi-product of Ford’s creativity. Instead, it was deliberate.

The result is an interesting distinction between Arnold’s motives and Ford’s. They are distillations of Isaiah Berlin’s two types of liberty.

Negative liberty is freedom without interference or control from other people. In the show, Arnold tries to free the hosts from suffering. He gives them negative liberty.

Positive liberty is the freedom to become something. Often this process can be painful and against the immediate wishes of the individual. Dr. Ford wants to grant this to the hosts. He makes them suffer in order that they might achieve it.

Positive liberty is exemplified by Rousseau’s famous words in The Social Contract: “We shall force them to be free.” These words could easily be Dr. Ford’s.

Is suffering necessary for freedom?

All the best,
George C (Birkenhead, England)

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