Title: Science Fiction Film, Technology, and the Hybrid Future

Author: Lorenzo Nencioli

Primary advisor: Rachel Rubin

Secondary advisor: Judith Smith

Abstract :
This paper is concerned with depictions of human-machine hybrids in science-fiction cinema. Specifically, it is an analysis of five science-fiction films from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s and the ways in which these films address cultural fears regarding advances in artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, automation, and other recent scientific developments via the image of the cyborg and sentient computer. My goal is to provide both a textual analysis of these films and an analysis of the sociopolitical climates in which these films were released. My sources range in scope from interviews with the filmmakers, to film reviews, to the economic history of Jeremy Rifkin, to feminist-scholar Donna Haraway, to the predictions of inventor and AI scholar Ray Kurzweil. Ultimately, my analysis points to a trend of increasing fear over the possibilities that our technological creations will supplant humans as the dominant power on the planet. These films can be seen as warnings then, concerning real changes in the sociopolitical order wrought by this growing technology.

Who might be interested in reading this work?

Anyone interested in the history and philosophy of science-fiction will be interested in this project. To a lesser degree, those interested in the history of high technology (AI, the Internet, etc.) should also find something of interest in this paper. And finally, anyone who believes that a merger between humans and machines is imminent should find some fuel for the fire in this study.

Winner of the 2004 Michael Lenz Award for Nontraditional Research