Bicentennial Man Summary

Holy Name University
Tagbilaran City

Name: Aimee Joy Orion Philosophy 2 (1:30-2:30 MWF)
Course: AB PoliticalScience 2 Sir Joselito Gallendo

PROJECT IN PHILO 2

(Summary and Insights)

Summary : Bicentennial Man
A character named Andrew Martin requests an unknown operation from a robotic surgeon. However, the robot refuses, as the operation is harmful and violates the First Law of Robotics, which says a robot may never harm a human being. Andrew, however, changes its mind, telling it that he is not a human being.
The story jumps to 200 years in the past, when NDR (his serial number forgotten) is brought to the home of Gerald Martin (referred to as Sir) as a robot butler. Little Miss (Sir's daughter) names him Andrew. Later, Little Miss asks Andrew to carve a pendant out of wood. She shows it to her father, who initially does not believe a robot could carve so skillfully. Sir has Andrew carve more things, and even read books on woodwork. Andrew uses, for the first time, the word "enjoy" to describe why he carves. Sir takes Andrew to U.S. Robotics and Mechanical Men, Inc. to ask what the source of his creativity is, but they have no good explanation.
Sir helps Andrew to sell his products, taking half the profits and putting the other half in a bank account in the name of Andrew Martin (though there is questionable legality to a robot owning a bank account). Andrew uses the money to pay for bodily upgrades, keeping himself in perfect shape, but never has his positronic brain altered. Sir reveals that U.S. Robots has ended study on generalized pathways and creative robots, frightened by Andrew's unpredictability.
Little Miss, at this point, is married and has a child, Little Sir. Andrew, feeling Sir now has someone to replace his grown-up children, asks to purchase his own freedom with Little Miss's support. Sir is apprehensive, however, fearing that freeing Andrew legally would require bringing attention to Andrew's bank account, and might result in the loss of all Andrew's money. However, he agrees to attempt it. Though facing initial resistance, Andrew wins his freedom. Sir refuses to let Andrew pay him. It isn't long afterwards that he falls ill, and dies after asking Andrew to stand by his deathbed.
Andrew begins to wear clothes, and Little Sir (who orders Andrew to call him George) is a lawyer. He insists on dressing like a human, even though most humans refuse to accept him. In a conversation with George, Andrew realizes he must also expand his vocabulary, and decides to go to the library. On his way, he gets lost, and stands in the middle of a field. Two humans begin to walk across the field towards him, and he asks them the way to the library. They instead harass him, and threaten to take him apart when George arrives and scares them off. As he takes Andrew to the library, Andrew explains that he wants to write a book on the history of robots. The incident with the two humans angers Little Miss, and she forces George to go to court for robot rights. George's son, Paul, helps out by fighting the legal battle as George convinces the public. Eventually, the public opinion is turned in favor of robots, and laws are passed banning robot-harming orders. Little Miss, after the court case is won, dies.
Andrew, with Paul's help, gets a meeting with the head of U.S. Robots. He requests that his body be replaced by an android, so that he may better resemble a human. After Paul threatens legal action, US Robots agrees to give Andrew an android body. However, US Robots retaliates by creating central brains for their robots, so that no individual robot may become like Andrew. Meanwhile Andrew, with his new body, decides to study robobiology - the science of organic robots like himself. Andrew begins to design a system allowing androids to eat food like humans - solely for the purpose of becoming more like a person.
After Paul's death, Andrew comes to U.S. Robots again, meeting with Alvin Magdescu, Director of Research. He offers US Robots the opportunity to market his newly designed prostheses for human use, as well as his own. He successfully has the digestive system installed in his body, and plans to create an excretory system to match. Meanwhile, his products are successfully marketed and he becomes a highly honored inventor. As he reaches 150 years of age, a dinner is held in his honor in which he is labeled the Sesquicentennial Robot. Andrew is not yet satisfied, however.
Andrew decides that he wants to be a man. He obtains the backing of Feingold and Martin (the law firm of George and Paul) and seeks out Li-Hsing, a legislator and chairman of the Science and Technology committee, hoping that the World Legislature will declare him a human being. Li-Hsing advises him that it will be a long legal battle, but he says he is willing to fight for it. Feingold and Martin begins to slowly bring cases to court that generalize what it means to be human, hoping that despite his prosthetics Andrew can be regarded as essentially human. Most legislators, however, are still hesitant due to his immortality.

Reflection/Insights
It is a very touching and heartwarming movie about a house-robot (Robert Williams) that begins a 200-year journey to become and to be legally recognized as a human. During his journey, he has to face the fact and live with it that all loved ones around him grow older and eventually die while he is immortal. Bicentennial Man is a film that depicts philosophical musings in a science fiction story.
The film doesn't contain a good an introduction to the family who adopts Andrew. But the reasoning behind the lack of focus on the family is due to the fact that "Bicentennial Man" isn't about the family who buys Andrew, but a narrative of Andrew himself but It is really about inner emotions, the changing of times, how people change overtime, and the meaning of life from an original point of view. "Bicentennial Man" is a sweet, touching production with lots of heart and a shapely message.
I also like the purity and the innocence of the story. It's a must see for all open minded people. Most people who have seen this movie are of the opinion that it was average at best. Indeed there is no complicated plot, no big action scenes and a predictable ending but there is a Story. It's Andrew with his Box of Chocolats, simply going through life searching for what eludes him and what we generally take for granted - humanity. This movie can make you cry so bad. The only real failings were the large gaps in time and how Andrew came about - but then it's difficult to compress 200 years into 1 1/2 hours.
The movie,if you really dig in deeper to it or in reality of life, it is impossible for a robot to become human. Even though how high in quality we have now in terms of technology, there is no one or nobody who can make another human being other than GOD.. Well, it was just a movie but it was very touching and full of meaning to me and for the minds of other people. They would think that not at all times things are possible especially on the scene where andrew had died before he could hear the words that the world congress announced that he is already human, it was a painful one but in reality, it was just right.
The movie also showed a moral values. Like, the robot with all his programmed mind, have a very big respect to the people around him but some of the people in the movie and in our real lives, we seldom see people who have the same attitude with Andrew. A very liberal and wide-open minded robot. Also, it revolves on the concept of humanity and how an object such as a robot could be considered as a rational being, rather than what it was originally intended to be which was to serve human beings.
I love the characters involved, they had done their acting so well and was very suitable to them. I love the Sir, since I was a fan of him even before, and Andrews wife that had done very good in acting especially when in the movie she was used or played the character twice. But most of all I admire Robert Williams, i am an avid fan of him and in this movie, he did reaaly great. I admire Robin Williams in the sense of his acting skills considering that for over half the movie he is acting within a cumbersome suit. Very good movie-we could all learn something from this-Inside is more important than external appearences.
Furthermore, the concept of sovereignty is portrayed in the scene as Andrew was able to assert himself as a rational being when he requested for his freedom since he believed that he had the right to ask for it. Freedom is a sovereign right. It is aspired by rational beings who view themselves as beings of worth. There it showed the reality that we, as human beings have freedom, we can have it but there are also bounds or limitations. Your right to freedom will end if it involves others people like violating their rights too.
Also, I was attracted and bothered on the part when Andrew visits someone who has bought one of his clock and he asks, "Do you enjoy my clock?" If it were me I would have asked, "Do you like my clock, does it keep time, does it fulfil the purpose for which it was made? It makes me wonder if God sometimes says to us, "Do you enjoy my creation? Do you enjoy my sunsets? Do you enjoy this day, that I made for you? I suspect we look for efficiency and success more often than we look for God's hand in the everyday events of our lives.
As a summary, every thing in this world have the right to exist, have the right to be loved. But, we should not also forget that of all the things that we have now, everything is from GOD and nobody can ever make the things so perfect like God because it is only God who can do things perfectly. One of it is our lives that we have now, we should cherish it because it won’t last forever.