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Films

Sci Fi & The Meaning of Life

Shai Tubali sees how non-human minds mirror our condition back to us. [CONTAINS SPOILERS!]

“Philosophy and science fiction are thematically interdependent… science fiction provides materials for philosophical thinking about what it means to be human and the nature of consciousness.”
(The Philosophy of Science Fiction Film, Stephen Sanders, Ed, p.1, 2007)

In Spike Jonze’s film Her (2013), Theodore falls in love with a sophisticated operating system that takes the voice of a woman. The so-called ‘Samantha’ starts their relationship as a hesitant consciousness with early signs of self-awareness, even jealous of his physical existence. Yet soon enough Theodore realizes, to his horror, that she has discovered the delights of limitlessness.

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