Halfway through the Christmas special, I took out the notes on the "self" part, and recalled how the philosophical gurus identified the connotation of the "essential self", and the screenwriter of "Black Mirror" How did it hit some big cows in the face from the perspective of "true black technology".
The screenwriter first introduced the concept of self-awareness from poisoning: your behavior shows your "heart" and shows "who you are". People with schizophrenia infer from this that they think they have found their own kind.
Descartes said in "Meditations on the First Philosophy", "What am I? A thing of thought" In other words, Descartes believed that the inner content of the essential self is the mind. John Locke believes that the self is not the whole consciousness, but a part of consciousness, that is, memory. There are of course some philosophers, like Kierkegaard, who think that passion can be used to define the self, but there are quite a few philosophers who believe that the attributes of your mind that make you who you are. And now, "Black Mirror" tells you that the human way of thinking can be copied, and another consciousness can be created, and all its thinking habits, preferences, memories, almost all the spiritual qualities that can drive your behavior are all related to what you think The true, unique, irreplaceable you are the same.
Without considering the issue of feasibility, the assumption of this film is that the human spiritual world can be completely copied. So, what else makes us who we are?
The answer is, no.
The theoretical paradox of the above philosophers is that if the self is determined by certain characteristics, then the self is determined by those particular characteristics, regardless of how other characteristics vary. As long as these characteristics are present, whatever it is, it is "self".
Of course, there are more dynamic viewpoints.
Existential thinking is what I think is the most positive way to think about yourself. They believe that the self exists in choice, that the self is the product of action and thought. Sartre said, "The ego is always in the future, which is what we aim at when we try to make ourselves into something." In other words, we actually give ourselves meaning, and we find our "authentic self" in the process of taking responsibility for ourselves. But from this point of view, the screenwriter has cut off all hope—you know, it's us who force "our own consciousness" to give in to what "we" don't want to do. In other words, we put so much pressure on "self" that "self" loses itself. (That is, the process of forcibly enslaving the replicated self-consciousness)
Of course, our great Mr. Marx holds a different view than you, he believes that "man is the sum of social relations". Can we find ourselves in our interactions with others? The screenwriter of "Black Mirror" tells you that if technology really finds out to this day, this method of confirming the authenticity of oneself will also be shot, because you may be blocked by everyone, and you will not be able to find any yourself in the community The characteristics of your own, your own talents, the only thing you have, is a sign that you are very dangerous, your ego is completely wiped out.
Even more frightening, the last ten seconds tell you that not only can you not be sure of your own uniqueness, but you can't understand the existence of the outside world. You are most likely just a brain in a vat.
Suffice to say, the title of this episode is ironic—desperate in content, yet has a beautiful and hopeful title.
Of course, according to the big discussion about AI after Lee Sedol's defeat, I don't think human technology will reach this level in a short time. However, it is clear that here, technology seems to be no longer the focus, the focus is to cause a lot of thinking.
above. Personal opinion.
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