Westworld Is About Human Nature, Not Robotic Consciousness

Published December 1, 2016 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hello,

Love the podcast. I have two thoughts.

Firstly, I find it fascinating how you guys talk about the hosts. As if they were people. I’d like to propose a game: pick any host in any scene, and in your minds completely dehumanize them. Make them look like a 60’s sci-fi robot on wheels that talks like professor Hawking. Then see if you still have the same thoughts and emotions about them.

The point of this is: These are not human, these are just things that look like humans. At this point the tv show is not about machines gaining concioussness, it is about how we, humans react to human-looking laptops. And the paralells you can draw between guests-hosts, viewers of the show-hosts is mind blowing, and I think intentional.

It is human nature to bestow human qualities to things that are human-like. We do the same with animals, we imagine they have human-like emotions and behaviours, even if they don’t.

Maeve is programmed to act the way she does now. They even said so before: Felix said that someone else with far more privilages already rewrote her core code. Dolores also acts on a loop. I think the tragedy of this season will be the multiple timelines. Finding out that whatever Dolores did, however close we thought she is to gaining concioussness, she is after 30 years still just as far as she was with William.

My second thought: one of you guys called Ford a psychopath a few podcasts ago, referencing what he said about both the hosts and humans. He said there is no concioussness at all, and all human qualities, including intelligence are merely peacock feathers helping us to mate. Well, apart from killing a human, his views are right. When writing Ford the creators clearly did a lot of research on modern psychology, based on the modular brain model. This model tells us that we can associate pretty much every single thing we think, want, or act on with a brain module. The counciouss self is also a brain module located in the left hemisphere right next to the language center, and it’s purpose is to create a narrative, create our story, explain to ourselves why we DID certain things. It allows us to look at ourselves as a whole, as a single person. But as Ford said, that is just an illusion. Some years ago using FMRI machines in a series of experiments it was proven that the concious self module activates AFTER a decision was made. In short what we think we are actually activates after we act or make a decision. And it has very little influence on the decision making mechanisms of our brain. That is why it is very difficult for an adult person to change. Laziness, willpower.. these don’t exist. These are just words we made up to explain why we don’t act the way we want to act. Our decision making mechanisms (our subconciouss mind) works not unlike that of the hosts. We were programmed since birth by out experiences. We live in loops, and have no real power to break free. We do have the illusion of it though, much like Dolores and Maeve do.

Finally, another game. Try a simple meditation technique. Focus on your breathing for example. When you try to clear your mind and not think of anything, you will realize, that your thoughts come from somewhere else, and you don’t even have the power to decide what you are thinking about.

I find it most amazing, that modern psychology just now proved what the Buddha said 2500 years ago: “Our feelings can not be trusted, our thoughts are not our own, and the self doesn’t exist.”

Have a nice day, – Zoltan

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