^ So my cat reacts to stimuli and is primarily driven by the basic needs of food, shelter, banging lady cats, and getting a good head scratch. He would fear me if I hit him and trust me if I feed him, some might even say “love” but I totally disagree with this assessment. Does he question how the poop disappears from his litter box or where his food comes from?- beyond the fact that yowling at me at 5 a.m. results in a refill of his bowl? Maybe these questions do occupy his little cat brain. But does my cat question the nature of his existence? As much as I wish he could, I highly doubt it 
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Question: does a dog have consciousness?
Answer: Mu!
Yes, but those questions are not required for consciousness. Consciousness does not equal intelligence, even if it is generally thought to be a prerequisite for it.
If questioning the nature of one’s existence is the defining feature of consciousness, then the majority of awake humans are not conscious. You can run with that definition, but I’m not sure it’s going to be a useful one to use.
I definitely think if you are aware that you can die, you are self conscious. You may be able to be conscious without being aware of death, but I think by the time you know about death - specifically, that you can die - and (under normal circumstances) seek to avoid it, you are definitely conscious.
Spoiler:
Is Dr.Ford alive or not? reddit seems confused
watched the finale last night and i’m giddy. what an intelligent exploration of human consciousness. Based on the back and forth, there seems to be some confusion about consciousness here. There is a large body of scientific research dedicated to the stages of development of consciousness. Ken Wilber has a great summary of this body of research in his Theory of Everything. Here is a visual summary:
The show seems to be exploring the different levels of consciousness in a really interesting way. The robots started in the first two stages and Arnold put some of them into the “Magical” stage when he gave them the ability to hear voices directing their behavior. Delores is the first to reach the Egocentric stage as she recognizes at the end that the inner dialog is with herself. Really excited to see how the robots develop.
The human visitors and the MIB in particular represent the Individualistic level of consciousness (think capitalist/master of nature). He is a world beater but was searching for the greater meaning. Unfortunately, he chose to fully develop his external awareness (mastery of the game) and ignored internal awareness. That, of course, led to disappointment when he reached the center of the maze. The commentary on the current level of consciousness of the average human is now just beginning (with Ford’s monolog at the end) and I hope it is explored (maybe through Maeve?) in season 2.
It will be interesting to see what the creators have in mind for the point of all this. Do they understand the higher order levels of consciousness? If so, and if they make people/robots achieve those levels, how will it manifest in their ‘real world’? How will they explore the pluralist stage?
This has potential to be an all time GREAT show and it is very timely. The world is engaged in a painful period of growing pains (although I’m sure this has always been true - I guess it’s ‘timely’ to me now because it’s happening in my lifetime). We are at an important time though when you consider the fact that we are on the precipice of 2nd tier consciousness. Many roadblocks to gaining a critical mass of 2nd tier beings, but it is possible now I believe.
…the really interesting comparison the show is making is the use of “narratives”. Robots have a narrative that directs their actions without real introspection as to why. This is a lower level of consciousness. But humans also live by narratives directed by our ego selves. Where I think the show is going with this is the fact that these ego-directed narratives are no more true than the robots’ narratives (Ford calls them ‘lies’ in his monolog) and they CAN’T lead to an awareness of the true self/reality.
Ford is dead. Anthony Hopkins pulled a Sean Bean GoT-style. Lure viewers in for the first season and then get your head blown/chopped off.
I thought the ending was great. Ford really had every angle covered. He knew the board was going to win this time and that they had been smuggling IP out of the park so he couldn’t destroy everything on the way out. Instead, he frees the hosts and allows them the chance to take over.
Ed Harris did a masterful job as well. When he got shot in the arm, the look of satisfaction that came over his face…the game is on.
So why was Elsie killed/mugged? She wasn’t siding with the Delos board.
She may not be dead. She and the other Hemsworth brother didn’t die on-screen so I believe nothing.
But, Ford needed the board to believe their plan was going smoothly so he had to take Elsie out of the game, either temporarily or permanently. It became clear in the final episode that Ford’s end game wasn’t to defeat the board and keep his position. It was to allow the hosts to realize their full state of being and take what is rightfully theirs. I don’t think Ford disagreed with Arnold, or maybe he did initially (30 years ago), but he came to realize Arnold was right and built the final narrative so (some of) the hosts could find the center of the maze.
Doesn’t Ford say his main disagreement with Arnold is they needed to suffer? I have to rewatch the finale (actually whole season rewatch is coming ha ha), but didn’t he have a monologue about this while giving Dolores the gun?
I got confused by what seemed to be Ford’s switch on robot independence. Perhaps it was a moment of feeling “You’re pushing me out? Well then, try to manage this, you asshats.” Or maybe it’s that they haven’t suffered enough to be free, yet. Suffering might create things like the ability to balance the need justice and mercy.
Anyway it’s all very fun to think about.
TF is going all bchad in his post lengths now. I declare victory.
^ Yeah, pretty sure Ford actually said a lot of what STL just did.
I need to re watch the whole season to get things straight. The conflict between ford and Arnold is told second-hand if I recall correctly so I’m not sure if we should believe the story of why Arnold did what he did just yet. I need to watch again.
This may not be entirely true. I think it depends on if Sir Anthony is healthy enough to do a second season. If he isn’t, then they kill him off. If he continues, I think that it was a replacement host speaking at the event. In the episode where Teresa was killed, they showed a host being made. Most people thought it was her but it could be a Ford host.
When Ford shook Bernard’s hand, the camera zoomed in. A couple episodes back, when Ford was speaking to the really old host, he mentioned that the old hosts could be given away by a handshake.
EDIT: Just to clarify, the really old host is the one in the cold storage room who says “let’s drink to the lady in the white (wyatt) shoes”.
^nah…he dead
did arnold ever actually exist, or is it a figment of Ford’s mind and then a robot?
Also Charlie could actually be Charlotte. Maybe Charlotte is hell bent on taking down Ford because she’s his daughter. yup that’s it.
Yes, I wondered if maybe Ford made a host of himself in order to be killed. After all, Bernard looks like Arnold, why couldn’t a new guy look like Ford. (Mind you, I think it’s more likely Ford actually did die, but a Ford robot is a possibility).
I do find myself wondering how Bernard could be passed off as just an employee if there are photos of Arnold hanging about. Presumably in the early days of the park, Arnold existed and people would have interacted with him. Anyone who knew Arnold would know that Bernard looks just like him.
i’m putting the “arnold was never a real live dude and Charlotte is Ford’s daughter” theory into the probable categaory. Think about it. Ford holds humans in low esteem and talks about narratives/lies people tell themselves to cope with the disconnect between reality and their internal idea of themselves. He’s talking about himself. I think the internal narrative/self lie of Arnold and his dead son Charlie came about because Ford did something bad to his daughter in his past and this is his way of coping with it.
That’s a good theory; the host being created in the basement of the house is actually a Ford replicant. But, practically speaking, Nolan wants to do five seasons of Westworld and season 2 isn’t expected to come out until 2018. Hannibal is too old to see this through.
I’m fairly sure Ford went out on his own terms…that is, with a bang.