Ghost in Shell Notes

Ghost in the Shell was one of my least favorite films to watch thus far. While the animation for the time is incredible, anime just might not be for me. The storyline was relatively difficult to follow and I had a hard time staying engaged. This could just be one of those personal preference movies I have a preferance against. Also, writing the paper to relates Issac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics was challenging possibly because the storyline was difficult to follow. However, it is interesting to think about whether Asimov's laws can be applied to hybrids (part human, part robot). 

Isaac Asimov’s

“Three Laws of Robotics”

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws

The Bicentennial Man https://www.aaai.org/Papers/Symposia/Fall/2005/FS-05-06/FS05-06-002.pdf

- Told from point of view of Andrew  servant in Martin household; programmed to obey Three Laws 

- Given human name 

- Encounted human bullies on way to library  ordered to take off clothes and dismantle him 

o Could not hurt them because of the first law and had to obey their orders 

- Last ditch attempt to be accepted, Andrew arranged that his posintronic brain would slowly cease to function, just like the human brain

o Didn’t violate third law since his aspirations and desires were more. Important to his life than the death of his body

- Any program has its bugs 

- Matrix  unplugging self 

- Gun comes out of a suitcase

- Diplomatic immunity

- Offer anyone protection 

- Thermoptic camouflage 

- Liquid creates outer skin of robots 

- Puppet helper  using old method 

- No evidence; just a whisper; in ghost 

- Slight brain augmentation but mostly human 

o Family man, honest

- Acted same way would be predictable; what’s true for the group is what’s true for the individual 

- Using a phone  trashman 

- Must arrest the trashmen

- do you even know who you are

- whats a simulated experience; ghost hack into government officials

o wife and kid, simulated experience

o doesn’t know daughters name, when got married 

- Simex erasers  drop in the bucket 

- Asks how much is original: 

- Controlled metablisms, computer enhanced brains 

- Both signed bodies away and ghosts to section 9 

- Countless ingredients 

- Thoughts and memories only unique to me only distinction is face and mouth 

- 3107

- If man realizes technology is within reach, he achieves it 

- have a tendency to not know origins

- completely synthetic 

- have human brain cells in titanium

- only way feels human is because of the way shes treated

- whisper in ghost again telling her sedan is not a dummy 

- Motoko’s team

o Mokoto

 Mostly-mechanical 

 original biological brain but body is robotic; never treated as inhumnn; wonders if she might have been programmed, but everyone around her treats and considers her as human

 Questions humanity but considers herself human

o Torgusa  almost entirely human 

 Intelligence-enhancing tech is only non-biological component of body 

 Lack of technology gives a different perspective 

 Police instincts come into play when susupects something untoward involving section 6, which leads up to the theft of the puppet master  Mokoto took order from Torgusa a

o

- Puppermaster 

o No body and completely digital mind 

o Computer program

o Characters we follow assume puppet master is a biolgoial human being since having a brain is one fundamental requirements for being a person

o Puppet masters actions are those of human, no matter what material supports them 

o He has been active around the world conducting cyber terrorism and ghost-hacking people's brains.

- The older man of the group tells the others to stop shooting and as the police storm the room he claims diplomatic immunity.

- Nakamura, the head of Section 6 enters to say that taking a programmer out of the country is an offense

- Suddenly a voice speaks out and assaults the foreigner, an invisible attacker rips the man apart. 

- A wild gunfight continues as Batou gives chase. The Major tries also but the man seems to escape and stands in a shallow waterfront. An invisible Major Kusanagi proceeds to kick the man senseless. On questioning Batou and the Major realize the man was also a hacked puppet.

- On a roadway at night a blonde woman is hit by a car. In the Section 9 lab she is a cyborg wired up and is electro-shocked. She had been built two hours earlier at Megatech and escaped. The body has no organic brain but does have semblance of a ghost.

o Confirms the cyborg is the puppetmaster; torso becomes alive and states name  self-aware computer program

- After a hot and heavy firefight The Major gets on top of the tank and tries to lift the hatch. Her arms tear off and the tank grappels her head and shakes her like a doll. Batou arrives with an anti-tank weapon and takes out the armoured vehicle. He takes the Project 2501 torso from the car and places it beside the wounded Motoko. 

- irl gets up to leave and tells Batou she is neither the Puppetmaster nor Major Kusanagi, rather a new being. The newborn states "the 'net is vast and infinite" as she leaves the safe house.