Crying at Robots: Emotional Responses to Artificial Intelligence
Robots, especially those with ambitions to be human, or adopt human traits, always seem to make an emotional connection with me. Johnny Five is an early example. I recall witnessing Lieutenant Commander Data (Brent Spiner), the android who steered the U.S.S Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation, stumble and fall, yet continually pull himself up, in his quest for humanity. His response to most situations were tinged with a childlike curiosity. Encountering the deadly Borg, intervening in an alien squabble, discovering a new gaseous cloud, and even sex, were all greeted with the same enthusiasm and wonder.
Stephen Lee Naish on the emotional intensities of robots in popular cinema.