LogFAQs > #969097184

saspa posted...

Plus every season had a more or less clear theme and what was going on every season. 1 is all about birth of artificial intelligence and being self-aware. 2 is about rebelling with a bit about humans wanting to live forever. 3 is about free will and rebelling/rage against the machine I dunno.

4 is about... weird flies that make humans bleed black blood like something out of the thing or cronenburg's the fly? And not-charlotte just faffing about wasting time doing "revenge" on humans and somehow controlling all the known world?

I think they all had pretty strong themes relating to power, social constructs, and the juxtaposition (and blurring of boundaries between) the "real" and "artificial." Beyond that they all explore other facets of human nature that tie back in to the main themes. Season 1 was about the nature of emerging consciousness, and about what, if anything, separates "real" consciousness from "artificial" consciousness. Season 2 looks at the nature of personality, as well as the transhumanist concepts of and transferable consciousness, copied consciousness, immortality, survival, and how those concepts clash with the power structures we associate with modern society, as well as the nature of memory and how it differs (and doesn't) from experience. Season 3 re-examines the juxtaposition of "real" versus "artificial" from Season 1 through the lens of identity, and begins to reverse the roles of "real" and "artificial" within its own narrative, postulating that within systems of control any distinction between "real" and "artificial" consciousness is indeed meaningless. Season 4 builds on some of the seeds planted in Seasons 2 and 3, exploring how the conscious ideas of self and identity are inextricably tied to the physicalmolded by both experience/memory and also the very nature of the body that contains them. It also completes the reversal of roles started in Season 3whereas before the reversal of "real" and "artificial" was metaphorical, with humans trapped in their own loops, enslaved by an omniscient AI, now the subversion of Season 1's power structures are complete: hosts are now guests, the real world is now the park, etc.

Now, does the show do all of this well? Not always. Season 2 had some really bad parts, Season 3 was, as you put it, very ridiculous at times, and Season 4 didn't feel like it really knew where it was going until about a third of the way in, and then completely dropped the ball in the last episode.