Westworld
What is the biggest unanswered question facing science? For me, the answer is an easy one. No one, not even your anesthesiologist, understands the first thing about consciousness. Anesthesia is particularly interesting in this respect, the highly paid practitioners know that it works, but they haven’t the faintest idea how or why it works. Think about this the next time you go under for any type of surgery.
An anesthesiologist needs to understand everything about the nature of consciousness before telling you how and why you enter oblivion after they gas you up. They simply can’t do it. The person who unravels the mystery of consciousness will become the most famous scientist that has ever lived. I am not going to hold my breath while I wait for the big announcement. Obviously, it is a challenging problem.
A friend of mine recently underwent surgery on her wisdom teeth. It was her first experience with anesthesia. She described the state she was in while the two problematic teeth were removed. She told me that she was in a dreamlike state, and she didn’t like it when they brought her back to reality. Anyone who has seen Inception can relate to her dilemma.
I told her that general anesthesia is much different. There are no dreams. I equated the experience to the type of consciousness I had before I was born. Try as I might, I can’t remember anything from that period of history, human or otherwise. The same holds for the period I was on the operating table. I’ve tried, and I have nothing. The harder I think, the less insight I have. Oblivion is all I can come up with.
This brings me to the stellar HBO show Westworld. Some of you might remember the movie from 1973. The theme of the TV series is similar to the film. Androids become self-aware and revolt against their programmers. The HBO version takes a deep dive into consciousness and what it means to be self-aware.
The androids in Westworld are reset after they are killed or traumatized. The memories are erased, and they start the next day brand new. Of course, they start remembering what has happened to them and begin exploring the path toward self-awareness. As you might imagine, this doesn’t work out for the people pulling strings.
The most interesting aspect of the show, the one I am most concerned with, is the revelation that Westworld exists to collect data on human visitors. After all, immortality awaits the human whose consciousness can be perfectly cloned and placed in an android body. Right? Well, not really. At least, I don’t think so.
The questions Westworld raises are profound. And, yes, so far, they have dodged the really sticky stuff. It is that problematic issue that I want to touch on. If I die and my consciousness is put into an android body, is that still me? What if the new version acts just like me and is faithful to me in every way imaginable? What if the android fools everyone who knows me? What if no one can tell that it is not the original flesh and bone version of me?
In the show, humans are replaced by androids, and no one skips a beat. They often mention immortality, as if the mechanical analog is a continuation of the human version. There is one big question they are ignoring, and they are right to ignore it. The question, and its subsequent answer, rain hard on their parade. If the version of me sitting at my computer right now does not know that I have been put into a new body, what difference does it make? That part of me, the ghost in the machine that is aware of my living self, must be extracted and input into the new body. If not, even though others may see me running down the road, I am dead as dead can be. Of course, this dilemma has not been addressed on the show.
What good is immortality if I am dead? What good is it if only the clone knows it is alive and sincerely thinks it is me? How can I know that I am roaming around if the spark in me is not present in the new form? And there it is, the problem with a consciousness exhibiting true fidelity.
The people involved in the making of Westworld are to be applauded for tackling such a big issue. The show is very well done. I am looking forward to its eventual return for a fourth season. It is going to take some very clever maneuvering to stick the show’s landing. I believe the writers are up to the task.
