This show has recently captured my attention, but not only because its got good action and a great cast of actors, but because it poses some interesting questions about humanity and consciousness. If you are not familiar with the show, it might be enough to say, that its about a plausible future where AI exists and "robots" become sentient. I'm using air quotes on the word robots, because I'm not 100% convinced (at least not anymore) that the hosts(as they are called) are effectively robots anymore, and that, that tidbit of confusion is one of its delicious charms.

The WHAAAA moment

There is a particular scene where Bernard, the silhouette on the picture I've chosen, is revealed to us the unsuspecting viewers that he is also a host. The way the scene was written was kind of genius because up until that moment you seriously did not pick up on the subtle yet obvious clues, not unless you paid very, and I do mean very close attention. The curtain lifts when he is shown documentation of his robotic-build, of the complicated process of creating him and as he stares into the obvious evidence he replies with absolute calmness.

It doesn't look like anything to me

The actress who was in love with Bernard stares back at him realizing that she had been sleeping with a "robot" in complete shock, only to be strangled to death a few seconds later after Dr. Ford played Anthony Hopkins commands Bernard, to kill her.

What follows this scene are events that you can possibly imagine on your own, but to be honest what happens next is not at all what fascinates me about this whole thing. Let me see if I can explain what my brain is braining for weeks now. As much as this scene is about a robot that is both aware of being alive, and also not aware that he is a robot, this scene, this particular scene also describes in a perfect sci-fi way how our cognitive dissonance works. It just does so with a blatantly obvious situation that even the least intuitive of minds should be able to digest.

You know the concept - Cognitive Dissonance

I mean, the "intellectuals" love throwing it around specially when someone disagrees with their point of view. As a matter of fact I will say that the concept has lost its right hand jab because it has slowly evolved, or should I say devolved into an ad hominem.

The Doctors who love clicking their pens while sitting across from patients laying in a couches, often speak about the subject and they define it with a theory that was written back in the 50's by the prominent late psychologist Leon Festinger.

Wikipedia

Cognitive dissonance theory proposes that people seek psychological consistency between their personal expectations of life and the existential reality of the world. To function by that expectation of existential consistency, people continually reduce their cognitive dissonance in order to align their cognitions (perceptions of the world) with their actions.

I realize that the doctorese language sounds too proper for most, so I will try to speak plainly (to quote Peterson). People try to justify their actions, as to not believe in one thing but do another. When they find themselves in contradiction, they usually either twist into logical pretzels to justify it, deny it or adjust their actions. In other words being a walking talking contradiction is not emotionally painful until the moment you are aware of it, and then the game begins.

Living with the mental 404 - Page not found

Is fascinating to me, truly fascinating. As much as mental contortionism is not necessarily a positive thing, its an amazing ability our brain developed in order to function within the parameters of error. I know I'm asking for you to immerse yourself in my way of looking at this, and I realize it might feel weird, but indulge me following along the following analogy.

A good metaphor for how the mind works would be to think of it as a computer. This computer is capable of storing gargantuan amounts of information, process it in parallel (thinking is not linear), run sub processes on top of high level ones that are co-dependent of each other, cross reference, run solutions through different plausible venues, organize in different languages, etc, etc. It's an amazing computer, and as powerful as it is, because of how complex it is, it needs to be able to do the following in order to not short circuit. (emotional breakdown).

Mental Dissonance Simulacrum.-

2 + 2 = 5

"Yes, its five.... well it's normally four and everyone is going to say its four, but this time its five... it has to be five, because if its not five then it would ruin the thing I'm doing.... yes... well.... maybe 2's are not absolute... Who said two is absolute??? I mean... it could be a 2.5 equivalent within the scope of my current situation, and if its a 2.5 then it works, but because of efficiency we can represent it with a 2.... Yes, Yes... that's it... 5... 5 - HAHAHAHA I knew it... FREAKING 5"

End.

It's amazing!!! admit it

I mean, my example is stupid, so please don't go around saying to people there is a guy named @meno who explained to you why math is wrong, that's not the point. However, can you not think of someone who is running in error, murdering truth in order to protect his emotional self? - I happen to know many of them, and they are not evil, they are not stupid, that's not it. Its how the machine works, it needs to run in error, it needs it.