Clay and the iPerson

The juxtaposition of clay, one of the oldest and simplest technologies used by humans, with the technologies of artificial intelligence, which are so advanced that we have yet to achieve them, presented in these films is very interesting. The iPerson raises some interesting questions about artificial intellignce, such as whether or not an artificially intelligent robot could have desires or this film suggests, even a longing for social interaction and companionship. However, I think the film "Clay" raises an even more interesting question. In the scene in which the Old artist's son is trying to convince him to get "downloaded," the artist is thinking about a work he has been comissioned to do by his son's company that he is apparently having trouble with. His son tells him that once he has ben downloaded, he will be able to finish the work in a matter of seconds, because of the abilities being downloaded offers. The old artist's response to this is "But would it mean anything?" That one line struck me more than any other in the films we watched. It raises one of the essential questions about life in the "downloaded" state that this movie presents. While it may seem that this is irrelevant, considering this is a science fiction film, the question is very important because there are people pursuing this type of existence. I believe that it is very important to ask the question: would such a life have any meaning? I'm not sure of the answer. While it could be said that much more could be accomplished, it could also be said that when any task can be completed in a matter of seconds it would be imposible to ever feel a sense of accomplishment. As I said, I'm not sure of the answer, but the qusetion is, in my opinion, both very interesting and very important.