What Are The Ethical Issues In Robocop And Short Circuit
Summary
I chose to watch two movies that almost ask the same question but at the same time the total inverse of the ethical question throughout them. I watched Robocop and Short Circuit. Short Circuit focused on when does life begin or how do we define life while Robocop focused on when does life end how do we define the end of a person 's life. These questions are the overarching themes of both movies. Short Circuit spends much of the movie trying to define what are things that prove that a person or thing is a living being. Ultimately the test that convinces one of the main characters that Johnny 5 has came to life is that he has developed a sense of humor and can laugh. A smaller ethical issue at least from the perspective of being fleshed out in the movie is the use of technology for warfare especially robots for killing. While not tackled head on one telling scene regarding this issue is when Johnny 5 tells Steve Guttenberg 's character that "Disassembling" (his word for killing/death) is wrong. An even more minor issue that is raised does the end always justify the means as the head of security throughout the movie 's concern is stopping the robot that has escaped (Johnny 5) no matter what other people 's orders were or what it takes to stop the robot including destroying an …show more content…
To some degree we are battling with the same question when we look at the abortion issue does life begin at conception or does it begin at the moment that the fetus can live outside the protection of the mother 's womb. How can we define life who is alive and who is not. I mean there are plenty of people in the world that by some standards they are dead but walking around breathing, talking, and interacting with others but they are truly living and then there are others who are dying but they are living their life to the
I chose to watch two movies that almost ask the same question but at the same time the total inverse of the ethical question throughout them. I watched Robocop and Short Circuit. Short Circuit focused on when does life begin or how do we define life while Robocop focused on when does life end how do we define the end of a person 's life. These questions are the overarching themes of both movies. Short Circuit spends much of the movie trying to define what are things that prove that a person or thing is a living being. Ultimately the test that convinces one of the main characters that Johnny 5 has came to life is that he has developed a sense of humor and can laugh. A smaller ethical issue at least from the perspective of being fleshed out in the movie is the use of technology for warfare especially robots for killing. While not tackled head on one telling scene regarding this issue is when Johnny 5 tells Steve Guttenberg 's character that "Disassembling" (his word for killing/death) is wrong. An even more minor issue that is raised does the end always justify the means as the head of security throughout the movie 's concern is stopping the robot that has escaped (Johnny 5) no matter what other people 's orders were or what it takes to stop the robot including destroying an …show more content…
To some degree we are battling with the same question when we look at the abortion issue does life begin at conception or does it begin at the moment that the fetus can live outside the protection of the mother 's womb. How can we define life who is alive and who is not. I mean there are plenty of people in the world that by some standards they are dead but walking around breathing, talking, and interacting with others but they are truly living and then there are others who are dying but they are living their life to the