“Humanity has underestimated the consequences computerization.” These words from the man-made sentience Project 2501 in Ghost in the Shell (1995) serve as a warning to society. The proliferation of technology in the modern world has accompanied discussions regarding the implications of increasingly advanced technology for human civilization. Many writers and filmmakers have contributed to such discourse using science fiction literature to illustrate issues that might arise with our rapid shift towards a high-tech society, as well as to explore essential philosophical questions using machines and modern technology as allegory. One such question concerns the true nature of identity and the self. The films Ghost in the Shell and Perfect Blue in
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This philosophical dilemma asks whether, when all parts in a ship are replaced, it remains the same as the original ship. Like the ship, every physical aspect of the Major has been exchanged for cybernetic enhancements owned by Section Nine, except for a small part of her original brain. Thus Kusanagi’s Paradox adds an extra dimension to Theseus’ ship: life, a mind, a ghost. This “ghost” is what supposedly makes a person uniquely sentient and human in the world of Ghost in the Shell. Ultimately, if Kusanagi has a ghost, this should define her as her own unique individual.
However, the “answer” to her paradox is not so simple as defining herself solely based on her psyche. Throughout the film, she observes others’ cyberbrains being hacked into or manipulated by the Puppet Master, implanted with false memories, and eventually begins to question whether she herself is real (Sharalyn Orbaugh, Sex and the Single Cyborg, pg. 446.) Kusanagi cannot tell whether her memories or even her ghost are authentic, or whether everything she thinks about herself is entirely fabricated by Section Nine. As she asks Batou, “I mean, who knows what's inside our heads? Have you ever seen your own
This philosophical dilemma asks whether, when all parts in a ship are replaced, it remains the same as the original ship. Like the ship, every physical aspect of the Major has been exchanged for cybernetic enhancements owned by Section Nine, except for a small part of her original brain. Thus Kusanagi’s Paradox adds an extra dimension to Theseus’ ship: life, a mind, a ghost. This “ghost” is what supposedly makes a person uniquely sentient and human in the world of Ghost in the Shell. Ultimately, if Kusanagi has a ghost, this should define her as her own unique individual.
However, the “answer” to her paradox is not so simple as defining herself solely based on her psyche. Throughout the film, she observes others’ cyberbrains being hacked into or manipulated by the Puppet Master, implanted with false memories, and eventually begins to question whether she herself is real (Sharalyn Orbaugh, Sex and the Single Cyborg, pg. 446.) Kusanagi cannot tell whether her memories or even her ghost are authentic, or whether everything she thinks about herself is entirely fabricated by Section Nine. As she asks Batou, “I mean, who knows what's inside our heads? Have you ever seen your own