Question
PAGE 1: After watching Season 1 of Westworld, what are three central questions about human personality (what it means to be human) that come to mind? Name specific aspects of the series that illustrate these questions. (2 pages)
Helpful hint: You should begin this part by doing the following:
Briefly explain the series.
State that there are three central questions about human personality that come to mind and state what they are. This should function like a thesis. You should have this at the end of your introductory paragraph.
The following 3-6 paragraphs should details the three questions about human personality that you identified. You should state in the first sentence of your paragraphs what question you are treating.
PAGE 2: After watching Season 1 of Westworld, what are three central questions about human personality (what it means to be human) that come to mind? Name specific aspects of the series that illustrate these questions. (2 pages)
Read John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding and explain whether or not you agree with his central thesis after watching Westworld. You must have three reasons as your why you agree or disagree with his central thesis, using Westworld to illustrate your points. (2 pages)
Read Harry Frankfurt’s “Freedom of Will and The Concept of a Person” and explain whether or not you agree with his central thesis after watching Westworld. You must have three reasons as your why you agree or disagree with his central thesis, using Westworld to illustrate your points. (2 pages)
Reflect on how your understanding of human nature has evolved after watching the series and reading the selections from Frankfurt and Locke. (1 page)
Solution
Westworld & Personhood
The first season of Westworld focuses on the actions of Robert Ford, who is the co-founder of the park, named Westworld. The character changes the hosts’ programming allegedly to create a novel narrative for the park. In the process, he encourages the Dolores, who is the oldest operating host at the park, to locate the legendary “center of the maze.” In the series, the center represents the capacity to sentience. The parks’ co-founder, Arnold Weber, had the same desire to achieve host sentience. The change affects other hosts and creates confusion among the park staff and guests. Regardless of the uncertainty and the doubt surrounding the capacity of Ford to lead the park, Dolores finally gains sentience, which leads to a party in the park. During the party, Ford announces another narrative, a hosts’ revolution against human staff and guests, which leads to Dolores murdering Ford and killing many other guests at the party. After watching the season, three questions about human personality emerge the pursuit of sentience, desire for control, and human tendency to have an ulterior motive.
Personality Questions
The pursuit of sentience is one of the human personality questions that emerge in season one of Westworld. The entire season focus on the theme, which establishes that which makes humans the ability to feel. Since the beginning of the film, Ford (a co-founder of the park) focuses on finding the “center of the maze,” which is the point at which actual feelings (sentience) are achievable. The theme is essential because sentience makes the hosts as close to humans as possible and is what makes them achieve human personality.
The second question that emerges from the season relates to the uncontrollable desire of humans to gain control. It is an ancient human personality, which is the pursuit of power and authority. The character drives many decisions made by humans and robots at the part as they seek to dominate others. Some of the scenes that portray the personality include in episode one when The Man in Black attacks Teddy and Dolores, Ford’s focus on finding the “center of the maze”, and Dolores’s decision to murder Ford and other guests at the party. The story is a typical example of the human desire to control and subjugate others.
The human’s tendency to have ulterior motive is another question related to human personality that emerges in the first season of Westworld. Throughout the season, many of the characters appear to have an ulterior motive that drives their actions. Various scenes reveal the personality, such as the arrival of the Man in Black and his attack on Teddy and Dolores, Robert Ford’s change on host programming, and the appearance of Logan and William and Bernard’s secret questioning of Dolores to ensure that nobody has tampered with her. While these are only a few examples, each episode indicates the human’s ulterior motive that derives their decisions and interactions with others.
John Locke’s Reading
John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding provides a central thesis trough which to analyze the series, Westworld. I agree with his central thesis that at birth, the mind is a blank slate, which is later filled through experience. Locke correctly argues that all human ideas emanate from experience, either by sensation or reflection. From the series, the hosts, include Teddy and Dolores begins behaving mysteriously, but until them, the head programmer, Bernard Lowe, did not have any idea about an incorrect code. The experience generates the idea of checking the code.
Another indication of the validity of Locke’s thesis in the series is the ideas that Ford comes with after succeeding in finding the “Center of the maze.” The claim relates to Locke’s notion that human pursues an understanding of their ideas by discovering their environment because they lack a universal truth. Ford seeks the capacity to sentience, and when he realizes that it is possible, he generates another narrative (or idea), the hosts’ revolt against the humans, hosts, and guests. The idea did not develop until the co-founder of the park realized that it was possible to move beyond limitations.
The third indicator of the validity of the thesis emanates from the role of sensation in generating ideas. The series is filled with indications of the realization of ideas following experience. The best example is Dolores’ achievement of capacity to sentience. It establishes that she could develop the ability to feel and think. For example, the new discovery led to her decision to kill Ford after he came up with the new narrative of a revolt against human hosts and guests. Probably, before her experience of achieving the capacity to sentience, she would not have come up with the idea of resisting Ford’s new narrative.
Harry Frankfurt’s Reading
Harry Frankfurt’s in “Freedom of Will and The Concept of a Person” suggested that human beings are complex systems with a will and desires as the differentiating cause. Complex psychological differences make up the person, and only persons have desires. In the series, human desires and free will determine various decisions. For example, in episode 7 of the first season, Theresa and Hale make a conscious decision to steal Ford’s research for Delos’s board to remove Ford out of power and take over complete control of the park. The episode suggests their free will motivated by the desire to gain more power over the management of the park.
The second example of free will driven by desire is the decision by Ford to use Dolores to find the “Center of the maze” and initiate the revolt by hosts against humans. From Frankfurt’s perspective, Ford was driven by his free will to change the operations the park to achieve is a desire to maintain only hosts. Ford makes numerous decisions to fulfill the desire, including programming hosts to be his willing servants and begin the revolt.
Dolores is another character in the series driven by a desire to use her free will. She is one of the characters evident throughout the series. Although she can be seen initially as being a servant of Ford’s, she finally uses her will because of the desire for freedom. The decisions are critical in the last episode of the season when she realizes that humans are in danger of hosts out of Ford’s command. To achieve her desire, she shoots and kills Ford and many guests at the party.
Reflection
My understanding of human nature has changed after watching the series and reading the selections from Frankfurt and Locke. One of the changes is the fact that it could be challenging to tell the difference between humans and machines because the former creates the latter using human ideas and opinions. In the film, although some characters, such as Dolores, are machines, their personalities align with those of humans because of human experience (Locke) and wills and desires (Frankfurt). The movie has numerous examples of how humans develop as persons and personalities through experience and reflection.
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