On Transformers 2
Three of the undead astronaut team decided to make a grand excursion to the rave multimedia complex to watch the recently released Michael Bay epic ‘Transformers 2′, an elegant, comprehensive addendum to Bay’s earlier masterpiece simply known as ‘Transformers’. The work opened with a giant transformer wreaking havoc on the city of Shanghai. I hope one day we will be able to do something similar, in the metaphoric sense at least.
I thought the film raised a few important philosophical questions. First, is it possible for machines to possess consciousness? In the film there are various metallic shards storing incredible amounts of energy that have the power to resurrect transformers out of commission, as well as convert everyday appliances into smaller bots with consciousnesses. Are we approaching the day when we can create consciousness out of nothing, when the essence of life will in fact be a man-made commodity? What is the future of mankind anyway?
Many cartoons from my childhood suggests that we are likely to become cyborgs. Perhaps this process has already begun for some of us, just not to the degree of obviousness depicted in certain works of fiction…
Actually, I don’t think the film contained any other questions of philosophical persuasion, besides ‘why are two models so in love with Shia Lebouf in the film?’, and ‘why aren’t there any asian main characters in a robot movie?’
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hah, I think you give the movie too much credit in saying that it raised any issues regarding machine consciousness. Although i duly note your retraction at the end. Besides your questions regarding ‘why are two models so in love with Shia Lebouf in the film?’, and ‘why aren’t there any asian main characters in a robot movie?’
I also have a few of my own, mainly, “why do the autobots always pick the crappiest machines to transform into, aka, big trucks, sedans, suvs, and other crappy car models while the bad guys turned into jets, guns, etc.” Now I havent done much research, but i imagine it has a lot to do with the era the transformers first aired in America. Michigan, the automotive industry, semi trucks and high ways were the heart and soul of America. Perhaps back then a white boy standing outside of his home felt pride swell up in his chest everytime a semi rolled by.
I’m all for singularity, as long as it doesn’t result in us humans being used as batteries.
if there’s truly a singularity, we won’t care if our bodies are used as batteries as long as our minds aren’t enslaved.
flare, good observation on how the good guys chose the crappy vehicles. When I saw the truck with the large GMC logo on the front, I should have thought ‘man, we have no shot against the evil bots.’
so are the autobots bankrupted because of the recession
-I watched the Transformers cartoon version during my childhood days. It is nice to know that good computer graphics brought the Transformers back again. I wish to see more of the Dinobots in action perhaps on another sequel-
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/200907a.brief.htm#009
is it just me? i don’t remember ANY a-10s or f-16s. i do remember f-22s, chinooks and c-130s. if there were any f-16s, it probably fit b/c the US sold egypt old f-16 models.
as for wimpy human weaponry, devastator got smoked by a freaking rail gun, which have been delivered to the US navy. the navy currently has a 32MJ railgun. to give a sense of perspective, 1 MJ (megajoule) is equivalent to the kinetic energy of a 1 ton vehicle moving at 100mph. now imagine 32 tons of something smacking into u at 100 mph and tell me that wouldn’t hurt even if you’re a giant robot.
I think the whole autobots love civilian cars and decepticons love military stuff stems from where they landed in the old cartoons. The autobots woke up amid abunch of crappy civvie cars whereas the decepticons encountered military bases first. Then again, there’s the whole Autobots are hippies and love to mingle secretly with the puny fleshlings, kind of hard to do that if you’re a milspec vehicle just driving around the interstate. I too am disappointed in the lack of a Dinobot character though. Especially a certain shakespeare-spouting Dinobot ala Beast Wars.
ex. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SepcT0KtUM&feature=related
^ that doesn’t really answer the question tho. why did the cartoons’ creators choose a parking lot for the autobots to land in and a military base for the decepticons to land in?
the “buy US” idea doesn’t work either b/c bumblebee was a VW and the most popular character besides optimus. sideswipe and his bro sunstreak were lambos. ratchet and ironhide in the original cartoon were both nissan vans. the cars were all international b/c the toys came from two different companies in japan and were just rebranded and reimagined as a US cartoon.