INOJALES, Adrian Chester R.

MWF 2:35-3:35
Bicentennial Man: Movie Thoughts and the Psychological Approach

Based on our discussion just recently, we had tackled sentience and consciousness and how
they are different. On what I understood, consciousness means being awake and being aware. In a
broader sense, I think it has something to do with our subjective space of awareness and being
aware of external object or something within you. Sentience on the other hand refers to the capacity
to feel, perceive and experience subjectively. However, the difference between the two is just
slight. All sentient beings are conscious beings.

In the movie, there was no much contrast between Andrew and an ordinary human person.
As the movie progressed, Andrew learned how to become human by discovery and of course,
experience. For example, he learned to empathize when he accidentally broke off the glassware of
Amanda. In a sense, having the ability to have empathy for others is a sign that you are a functional
human being in a sentient way.

Though in the first part, he was purely mechanical because obviously he is a robot. In this
logic, any deterioration was machine-driven and not caused by any naturistic approach. He was
meant to live very long because he was not organic the first place. But in the latter part, he received
human features like having nervous system, the ability to have sex, to eat and have skin. In the
end, he chose to have blood that will allow him to age; thus, giving limitations to his body.

The thought process of Andrew is also the same with others even he acquired this ability
by artificial means and not by natural development. He had functioned like a human and at a pace
better. This was proven in the first part already when he performed housekeeping duties until the
time he could love someone.

Being awake and being aware is being conscious. In the film, it didnt fail to prove so.
From the start, Andrew was a conscious being because he is awake and aware. By the point that
he could do the things assigned to him, he already proved that he is conscious. Other scenes that
prove his consciousness would be his care for little miss, trying to get things in order, and his
relationship with all the characters.

I think I liked the part when he asked freedom from Martin, the patriarch of the family he
served. By this time, he even made it sure that he was able to see beyond what he needs and chose
for himself although having the consequence of being apart from the people he got close with,
especially with Amanda. This is very crucial to every man because we can only make decisions
when we are truly free. By that time, I knew that Andrew was more than being a robot.