Bicentennial Man (1 of 2)

Work Title: Bicentennial Man (1 of 2)
Medium: Film
Episode Title:
Year: 1999
Writer(s): Isaac Asimov
"Original" Writer: Yes Own work?: Yes
Summary:

A robot shows human characteristics from the start, making social relationships through three generations as he pursues his humanity.

  • Self-Written?: 1
  • Source Name:
  • Source URL:
Era/Year of Portrayal: near_future
Distinctive characteristics of the world in portrayal:

There are robots, virtual technologies, etc. Also takes place in the distant future.

Technology

  • Name of portrayed presence-evoking technology: Robots, two-way video, 3-D and virtual technologies
  • Description of the technology: A robot that becomes increasingly human in physical characteristics
  • Nature of task or activity: The robot is at first assistive in physical tasks to human and more and more emotionally attached and interactive
  • Performance of the Technology: The robot goes through various stages of physical and emotional development, eventually taking on human characteristics
  • Description of creator(s): Corporation represented by man in his 40s-50s
  • Major goal(s) of creator(s): To create a robot to assist human in tasks
  • Description of users of technology: Man and two women in their 30s-50s; child
  • Type(s) of presence experience in the portrayal: social_presence
  • Description of presence experience: Medium as Social Actor. The characters get the sense that the robot is increasingly human
  • User awareness of technology during experience: The characters are at first aware that the robot is not human but as his phycial and social characteristics become more human-like, they are more and more unaware
  • Valence of experience: The characters interact with the robot in different ways which result in different feelings -- happiness, sadness, frustration, anger, comraderie, etc. One female lead character event enters a love relationship with the robot
  • Specific responses: The characters are at first suspicious of the robot; they become more curious about his humanity as he takes on physcial and social characteristics that are more human-like; ultimately the robot is recognized formally as a social entity
Long-term consequences:

The robot shows the world that he is human in the ways that matter and it formally accepted as a social being

Other:

Coder name: Melissa Selverian
Coder email: melissaselverian@comcast.net
Coder affiliation: Temple University