Although it is not a new film, the analysis, which also deals with artificial intelligence, is always topical
Spielberg's film describes a family that receives a robot child instead of their sick daughter who is hospitalized for a long time. In this film, a robot is described in the form of a child whose software has incorporated all the feelings and sensations of a boy. Here is presented a possibility that in the future it will be possible to develop robots with perfect human qualities. A robot that can feel and be excited as much as a human being, whether it is a child, an adult, a man or a woman. The robot child is a metaphor for the ambition of those dealing with artificial intelligence and it is nothing more than an illusion(1). This is for the reason that you cannot imitate what you do not understand and let's not forget that this is the human mind. As the studies in the understanding of the brain progress more, it turns out that it is more complex than what is thought, and this is also shown by the psychological studies on the personality of the person.
We will follow the rationale of the film and accept for the purpose of presenting the problematic of trying to build a computer capable of imitating the human brain as a practical possibility, what are we actually going towards? The same ability to develop and to be precise produce a child-robot. This seems to have two sides. One side is the "point of view" of the robot child and the other side is the adoptive parents. This child will not be able biologically to develop and reach physical maturity. He will forever remain at the same height, the facial expressions will be that of a boy and without the accompanying mental maturation. The face remains the same. Neither the physical maturation nor the mental maturation accompanying it are imprinted on them. How will he feel? Everyone grows up and he doesn't. As far as his peers are concerned, he is constantly lagging behind. He does not experience the experiences of emotional, sexual, identity, social maturation. How will he feel about that? Since he remains the same age, his age is joined by members of another yearbook. If it is "produced" as a 15-year-old, the 14-year-olds join it the next year and pass by it. Two years later, the 13-year-olds at the time of its "production" and so on. And he stays at the same age. His feeling will be very difficult. Will he want to continue living like this? He will indeed accumulate experiences, but they will always be fixed at the same age. The feeling will be hard and unbearable. What is the point of such a life?
If we take the other side, what do the parents see? Their robot child is not growing up. It is possible that he will be able to lead an independent life thanks to the programs that will be embedded in him and that will give him various technical skills. But he will always be a boy. There are no parents who do not want to see their children grow up, leave home and start families. This child will not be able to start a family and will never have children and they will never have grandchildren. There's a kind of boy hanging around their house who can't grow up even if he wants to. They grow up and grow old and they will always have a 16-year-old or any age under 20 at home. What will they do with him in 10 or 20 years and so on? The set of relationships between teenage and aging parents and their children who are coming of age do not exist here.
Those engineers and scientists according to the film reached an unprecedented scientific-technological achievement, but socially and emotionally hopeless, the tragedy of the adoptive parents and the robot child. Spielberg's film has an unequivocal message. The engineers and scientists must think very carefully before they go towards development of this species. The results will be grim and irreversible. In this scientific and technological activity there is a sense of technological arrogance but without any responsibility for the accompanying results, which is a shame.
