"Ghost in the Shell" Notes & Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics

Futuristic society 

“What's going on with all that noise in your head?” “Must be a loose wire”

Ghost in the shell intro - building a human, building a robot - becomes a “real” girl 

Dipping and re emerging from water - amniotic fluid 

Unconscious, just being built to - waking in the dark, opening the blinds 

Sad looks

Doing a sort of “surgery” on these women, searching their brains 

“Breaches her barrier program and reaches her ghost” ? 

“I hear it in my ghost” 

“Overspecialize and you breed in weakness, a slow death” 

Plugs herself into her seat, can see everything on route

Seeing her shadow, but not her

All the info someone accumulates in a lifetime is just a drop in the bucket 

A cyborg who goes floating in her free time 

“When i float back to the surface i feel like i'm becoming someone else”

“Not long ago this was science fiction”

32min mark - use this monologue

Cyborg commits suicide? Stands in the middle of the road and allows herself to be hit by a semi 

“Doctor”, trying to revive cyborg

“You’re doubting your own ghost” 

“I am a living, thinking entity created in the sea of information”


Isaac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics”

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

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

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




I think it is safe to say that Asimov’s Laws would apply to cyborgs as well. Asimov’s Laws are very general, and essentially reflect that of standard human values and morals. Cyborgs are part human and part machine, but given that some may be more human than others, or that some may have a human spirit while others simply have a human flesh, it would be unwise to say that these laws shouldn’t apply to cyborgs at all. For those who lack human awareness and moral cues, Asimov’s Laws create a great foundational guideline. For those who do have a human basis, Asimov’s Laws really are not anymore restrictive than that of standard human belief. Ensuring the safety of others, obeying our higher-ups, and protecting ourselves (while not putting others in harm’s way) is really just an ethical human basis. Therefore, even if we were part human and part machine, I think it is safe to apply Asimov’s Laws, not as a display of power or human-robot hierarchy, but as a universal standard of ethical practice common to both humans and robots, or the combination of the two, cyborgs. 


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