Film Clip (143)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 11 min
- Kinolab
- 1990
Commander Data, an android, uses his technological skills to acquire knowledge to create a new android, his daughter Lal, in his own image without human help or oversight. He then guides Lal through the process of incorporating into the human world through means such as allowing her to choose her own gender and appearance, teaching her about laughter, and warning about human perception of difference. Ultimately, when he is asked to turn his daughter over to Star Fleet, he refuses on the grounds that it is his obligation as Lal’s parent to help her mature and acclimate to society, and captain Picard agrees that Lal is no one’s property but rather Data’s own child.
- Kinolab
- 1990
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- 11 min
- Kinolab
- 1990
The Offspring: Robotic Reproduction and Rights to a Parental Role
Commander Data, an android, uses his technological skills to acquire knowledge to create a new android, his daughter Lal, in his own image without human help or oversight. He then guides Lal through the process of incorporating into the human world through means such as allowing her to choose her own gender and appearance, teaching her about laughter, and warning about human perception of difference. Ultimately, when he is asked to turn his daughter over to Star Fleet, he refuses on the grounds that it is his obligation as Lal’s parent to help her mature and acclimate to society, and captain Picard agrees that Lal is no one’s property but rather Data’s own child.
If robots such as Data and Lal exist as close to human sentience as they do, can they ever truly “belong” to anyone? How does Lal’s ability to choose her own appearance and gender (and by extension the capability of humanoid robots to appear in myriad different ways) complicate questions of human identity? Would humans have a right to control technological procreation as a means of limiting singularity?
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Meet Lal-
- 2 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
In an imagined future of London, citizens all across the globe are connected to the Feed, a device and network accessed constantly through a brain-computer interface. Tom, the son of the Feed’s creator Lawrence, realizes that his father had deleted some of his childhood memories from the device in his brain, thus Tom has lost all access to them. For further insights into technology and the nature of parent-child relationships, see the narratives “Marie and Sara Parts I and II.”
- Kinolab
- 2019
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- 2 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
Personal Control over Memories
In an imagined future of London, citizens all across the globe are connected to the Feed, a device and network accessed constantly through a brain-computer interface. Tom, the son of the Feed’s creator Lawrence, realizes that his father had deleted some of his childhood memories from the device in his brain, thus Tom has lost all access to them. For further insights into technology and the nature of parent-child relationships, see the narratives “Marie and Sara Parts I and II.”
What rights do parents have over the minds and bodies of their children? Should parents ever be able to alter the memories of their children, even if this is supposedly for their own good? What are the consequences of the externalisation of memory through digital technology? How should children be able to give consent for alterations to technological implants?
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- 6 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
In an imagined future of London, citizens all across the globe are connected to the Feed, a device and network accessed constantly through a brain-computer interface. Kate Hatfield, a new mother, discovers that someone has hacked into the device in her head, and thus was able to access some of her lived memories. Later, the culprit of this hack is revealed to be her father-in-law Lawrence, who was attempting to implant the Feed into Bea, the new baby.
- Kinolab
- 2019
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- 6 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
Consent and Control with Personal Data
In an imagined future of London, citizens all across the globe are connected to the Feed, a device and network accessed constantly through a brain-computer interface. Kate Hatfield, a new mother, discovers that someone has hacked into the device in her head, and thus was able to access some of her lived memories. Later, the culprit of this hack is revealed to be her father-in-law Lawrence, who was attempting to implant the Feed into Bea, the new baby.
What are the dangers that come with ‘backing up’ memory to some type of cloud account? What risks are posed by hackers and corporations that run such backing up services? Is there something special about the transient, temporary nature of human memory that should remain as it is? How much of our privacy are we willing to sacrifice in order for safety/connectivity? How should consent work in terms of installing a brain-computer interface into a person? Should a parent or other family member be able to decide this for a child?
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- 4 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
In an imagined future of London, citizens all across the globe are connected to the Feed, a device and network accessed constantly through a brain-computer interface. Danny is a teenager who has become so addicted to the cacophony of entertainment coming through the Feed that he is unable to interact with people in the real world once everything in his Feed is turned off.
- Kinolab
- 2019
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- 4 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
Digital Withdrawal
In an imagined future of London, citizens all across the globe are connected to the Feed, a device and network accessed constantly through a brain-computer interface. Danny is a teenager who has become so addicted to the cacophony of entertainment coming through the Feed that he is unable to interact with people in the real world once everything in his Feed is turned off.
What are the potential consequences of getting teenagers addicted to virtual ways of interacting with content and with each other? How might this impact their ability to relate to other people in the real world? How do brain-computer interfaces which give constant, unbridled access to such entertainment and social networks exacerbate this problem? Will it become necessary in the future to “re-teach” young people how to interact offline?
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- 5 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
In an imagined future of London, citizens all across the globe are connected to the Feed, a device and network accessed constantly through a brain-computer interface. In this narrative, Ben, a member of the family who owns the company which created the Feed, uses the augmented reality features to create a virtual version of his ex-wife, Miyu, who he can make indulge in his own fantasies, regardless of what those may be. Eventually, this digital version of Miyu starts to glitch, but Ben nonetheless begins to share this virtual, subservient clone to other people to use in their own fantasies.
- Kinolab
- 2019
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- 5 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
VR Intimacy and Objectification
In an imagined future of London, citizens all across the globe are connected to the Feed, a device and network accessed constantly through a brain-computer interface. In this narrative, Ben, a member of the family who owns the company which created the Feed, uses the augmented reality features to create a virtual version of his ex-wife, Miyu, who he can make indulge in his own fantasies, regardless of what those may be. Eventually, this digital version of Miyu starts to glitch, but Ben nonetheless begins to share this virtual, subservient clone to other people to use in their own fantasies.
How are women deprived of autonomy when men are able to control virtual versions of women in their own digital fantasies? How exactly would the consequences of this infect the real world? Is it ethical to use someone’s image and likeness for private purposes without their consent? How can we ‘copyright’ our own image?
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- 2 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
In an imagined future of London, citizens all across the globe are connected to the Feed, a device and network accessed constantly through a brain-computer interface. In this narrative, Max, a citizen whose Feed was hacked, has to get the device removed from his body as his best friends watch. This procedure includes the removal of some of his memories from both his brain and from the device, although they manage to upload these into a cloud.
- Kinolab
- 2019
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- 2 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
Implanted Technology and Disconnection
In an imagined future of London, citizens all across the globe are connected to the Feed, a device and network accessed constantly through a brain-computer interface. In this narrative, Max, a citizen whose Feed was hacked, has to get the device removed from his body as his best friends watch. This procedure includes the removal of some of his memories from both his brain and from the device, although they manage to upload these into a cloud.
What are the risks involved with brain-computer interfaces, especially when we need to ‘remove’ them from our brains? How might this increase medical costs? How can memory and consciousness be ‘backed up’ and ‘uploaded’ back into our bodies using advanced technology?