Sunday, November 20, 2016

The Myth of Sisyphus in Westworld

I recently took to watching the show West World and while I have only seen the first couple of episodes I have already noticed that the show has a bit of a sisyphean tone to it. For those who don know the show tells the story of a resort park set in the old west. The park is inhabited by AI controlled ¨hosts¨ who form the story lines of the park. However, guests are free to do what ever they want and they often abuse the hosts. So at the end of everyday the hosts memories are wiped so that they can continue living in the ideal world that has been set up for them. I thought this was interesting because later in the show the creator of the park say that the hosts are the only ones who are truly free because all they have to do is live out their day over and over again. I thought this was an interesting new take of Camus´s argument on the Myth of Sisyphus and on how we as people will act with no perceived restrictions.

2 comments:

  1. I have been watching this show, repeating cycles and all, for several weeks and did not once make this connection. Nice work.

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  2. I have been watching this show, repeating cycles and all, for several weeks and did not once make this connection. Nice work.

    ReplyDelete