Westworld: The Complete Series

Can consciousness and thinking be reduced to calculation, to binary code lacking semantic reference? Put another way, can we imagine machine consciousness, true artificial intelligence (AI)?Of course we can, and have, since Star Trek's Data (Brent Spiner) and Ash (Ian Holm) in the original Alien film. Before that we had the talking automaton Robby the Robot in the 50's sci fi classic Forbidden Planet (Shakespeare's "The Tempest" set in the future on an alien planet with Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) as Prospero the Magus and Robby as his deformed slave Caliban). They are intelligent, yet we feel something is lacking that makes these earlier robotic characters seem less than human. Can these robot slaves be set free? Well, see what happens when we imagine the lovely Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores in Jonathan Nolan's masterful WestWorld - then we easily take the leap required by the Turing Test to seeing her as developing the contextual relevance and the 'automatic' free choice of response that we so strongly associate with human consciousness. (Or even Sean Young as "Rachel" in Ridley Scott's Bladerunner, but did you fall in love with Jeffrey Wright as "Bernard" in Westworld?) Indeed, the naive human male character in WestWorld (Jimmi Simpson as "William"), on first visiting WestWorld, acting as scout seeking to discover the Promised Land of true AI, falls in love with Dolores. Well, who wouldn't fall in love with Evan Rachel Wood performing the role of seductress at the height of her beauty! But does this film version of a thought experiment for conducting the Turing Test match what AI is really capable of achieving? (Ford, the AI architect of the Westworld hosts, tells Bernard that he designed a memory function so Dolores and Maeve and others could learn from their experiences and develop the ability to vary far from their prefabricated scripts.) So, can an AI program in the foreseeable future develop the ability to respond verbally and behaviorally within its immediate contextual relevance and exhibit the 'automatic' free choice that we humans achieve naturally through our human consciousness?What the film experiment contained in the Westworld series actually shows is how powerfully our human programming (intentionally- and semantically-based) drives us to detect consciousness in other things that display intention, which we then choose to join with or reject; even to the point of choosing to fall in love with a seemingly conscious, beautiful android.Despite the fantastic creative experiment by writer-director Jonathan Nolan in Westworld to exhibit android intelligence (i.e., machine consciousness), human intelligence is still the only game in town for thinking, whether about science, business, politics, or art. And only humans can love.The film series WestWorld cleverly raises the key underlying philosophical question: What makes human consciousness different than extremely efficient machine calculation? Is it a spark of essence of consciousness that is somehow not physically detectable, the ineffable 'freedom' inherent in our free will?In Jonathan Nolan's Westworld, the AI 'hosts' play the Maze game invented by the park's original AI genius Arnold (who himself may or may not be a real character, he may just be a figment of memory planted by the Prospero-character Ford (Anthony Hopkins) or he might just be the mind behind the evolving consciousness of a special few of the android 'hosts') as a part of the back-narrative of the host "Bernard" (Jeffrey Wright), following most paths to a blind alley, just another repetition of the scripted loops the host is designed to follow; but in some lucky cases (such as Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Maeve (Thandie Newton)) their pursuit of the maze is eventually successful, with the host finally arriving at the 'center,' the holy grail of real consciousness, the self-reflexive center of individual identity. As commonly said in another context, you have to experience it directly (the Cartesian res cogitans) in order to actually have it. We have the capacity for language and consciousness built into us already by evolution, and our awareness of our own consciousness (and thus our awareness of the consciousness of others) develops as we encounter the world and develop the language capacity to comprehend that world. Human consciousness has evolved over eons, driven by our highly social communal interactions and the language ability needed to moderate those complex social interactions, as has our ability to display freedom of will in all our activities, including thinking, feeling, and experiencing love. See Daniel Dennett's recent book From Bacteria to Bach and Back (2017), esp. ch. 13 ("The Evolution of Cultural Evolution"), ch. 14 ("Consciousness as an Evolved User-Illusion"), and ch. 15 ("The Age of Post-Intelligent Design") for a very readable, detailed exposition of this scientific fact.We aren't just more complicated than computers. We are persons.

Took a little longer to get threw international delivery but it’s a good series worth the wait

While the actual product is most likely of excellent quality, the seller is not. The DVD collection is for Region 2 (the EU and UK) only and cannot be played in any North American DVD player, thus it should not have even been listed for sale in the U.S. (North America/Region 1). Nothing in the ad or on the package indicated that it is a Region 2 set, so the only way I found out was by inserting Disk #1 in my machine and getting the message that it "could not be read due to the region" and of course failed to play. The Ad did not specify this is a "UK" item. Only that "some UK items may differ from US products" or words to that nature. I immediately requested a refund and noted that I had open the Set package but unable to use the product. After paying nearly $50 (including tax) I was only refunded roughly $33. SO I am dinged $16 for opening a plastic bag????? Again, the seller in the US should never have put this up for sale!

Great show

I was a little worried about this version not working in North America / US market based on some reviews. These discs play for me just about perfectly. If you have a 4K BluRay player, you should be fine. I have a Sony X800M2 player and they are good. Only grip and deducting one star, is about 4 different times (season one and two so far), specific moments of the disc "froze up". It was a minor hiccup, I was able to either fast forward through the "frozen" part or open the disc tray and start over. The discs are NOT damaged at all, so I'm not really sure why this would happen. But I would buy them again, don't let that minor detail stop you. It was frustrating but only happened a couple times, and it could be my player, who knows.IN SHORT: These should work in the USA just fine if you have a 4K player, NO issues on a North America player. Nice bonus content, good value for all 4 seasons in 4K. Would buy again.

Amazing series, awesome special effects, riveting story line, and very talented actors. Just a word to Jeff Bezo, still not too late to buy this and continue the storyline on prime, many of the actors feel it ended too soon. I bet every fan of this show would become prime subscribers.

The product came in great shape and works perfectly. Exactly what I wanted.

I love the original Westworld movie from the 70s and when this Mini series came out I was excited and it is a wonderful , wonderful whole fantasy world. You really have to invest your time and I would only suggest you watch the first movie to get an idea of where they're coming from with this Mini series. I Was so upset when they didn't get another season! So I had to buy it..

great item

La serie non si discute, il fatto di ricevere un cofanetto danneggiato ( chiaramente maltrattato in spedizione) sì. Amazon dovrebbe curare l’ imballo, era una semplice busta di carta. Aspetto di vedere tutti i dischi per essere sicura che funzionino (è il prodotto che mi interessa) ma… così non va.Sulla serie: anche se la scrittura ogni tanto non è lineare e alcune scelte sono un po’ fine a se stesse (specie nelle ultime serie) la considero un capolavoro. Ottimi attori e colonna sonora memorabile. Fotografia spettacolare.

What a great series, I binged watched the hole box set in a few days. will watch again in the future.

Alle Staffel sind mit Deutscher Tonspur (DD 5.1)

Four stars because I haven't watched it yet & my review is just an FYI for buyers in Blu-ray Region B/2. It works (New Zealand). The Blu-ray region was not stated in the Amazon listing & is not printed on the box-set.