How Statuesque!

Prometheus, the Titan who “championed early humans” , and the main benefactor of humankind is quite intriguing. For he showed concern for his own creations, and felt that he must protect them from what might come later on, and thus stole fire from the gods and gave it to us as if through the breath of life. This sort of attachment to your creation is not unusual, it has been expressed through different ways; for example, in actions mimicking acts of lust and such, with automata or even statues. Pygmalion’s ivory lady, Galatea, the subject of his agalmatophilia, reminded me of the current Japanese craze, the “waifu” body pillows, and plastic sex dolls. These creations feed these lonely/misunderstood/weak people’s needs throughout the years, and in a way it is a show of power on a lifeless (or is it just powerless?) creation.  However, these more carnal interests would drag us into an ethical whirlwind and we would have to look at such creations, if they truly have a soul or not? If they gain more “human” characteristics, are they becoming more human? I would like to call this a question of “consensuality”; where you create statues, give them life and sensuality through skill, mechanisms, or electricity and then use them for your own pleasure without their consent. But, what if s/he does not consent? Is it statue-ry rape?

But even when it gains some elements of humanity, it truly does not become human. For it does not age, and thus we enter into the miasma of aging and decay, not to mention the issue of timelessness becoming a crucial aspect that almost challenges these “masters” idea of power and makes them realize that the tables have turned, for these timeless figurines can live forever and preserve their beauty and sensuality as the “masters” wither and die. This becomes more of an issue the more real this lust-doll looks and feels. The real-er it is, the more confusing reality becomes, and that’s when the mind games go full-on crazy. The realism of such dolls is also a show of craftsmanship, skill and talent, and the fact that it affects other humans in such ways, may be a show of power by the creator.

The more skilled the creator is = the more realistic a doll becomes = the more disillusioned the user is = the more inflated the creator’s ego becomes.

This makes us go through a power cycle and it just never ends.

This makes one think, what makes humans human? With these huge leaps in technology, soon we will be misjudging robot for human and vice-versa. Is it the soul? Does this include free-will? With AI, we can have robots/automata with certain behaviours and would act differently than each other, taking different paths, is that then free-will?