What Is Westworld Really?
Well, I've been watching HBO's Westworld and I love it. I had low expectations because I did enjoy the original film, as dated and flawed as it is, and I didn't think a remake or TV show could do its ideas justice. I thought it was destined to be shallow or cheesy. But I've been pleasantly surprised how deep this series is, and how philosophical it is (I consider that a good thing).
Westworld poses a question that's been explored in science fiction before: once artificial beings are advanced enough, what will separate them from us? I think the answer is frighteningly... nothing. But there's another question I think Westworld is asking that I find equally fascinating.
Let's take the robots out of the equation and what do we have left? Westworld is about actors and playing a role. Not just professional actors but the acting we all do in everyday life: the repeated lines and actions that make up the majority of our lives, the struggle to "improvise" and "go off script" and the constraints put upon us by those who are in control.
Because life often feels like a loop, not just for the Westworld hosts, but for humans too. How much different is our thought process from the branching flowchart that we saw when Maeve was in diagnostic mode? Perhaps the only real difference is that we can't dump our thoughts to a terminal like they can with the hosts... yet.
The series poses a question that is much older than robots, perhaps as old as humans: what is free will and how many of us actually have it?
