Email Service Notes (Nicholas)

Your Original Email

To Nicholas,
As we talked about movies last weekend, I saw the movie called 《Ex Machina》 yesterday.
You are right, this movie is really good. The aesthetic of the film was beautiful， the rhythm was good, and it was divided into chapters. Each chapter was more emotionally charged than the last. I like the way the movie is divided into chapters, like Lars Von Trier, a lot of his movies were about chapters. But his movies are more artsy.
It was mentioned in the movie that if Ava didn’t pass the test, she would be downloaded the mind and upgrade. She didn’t want to die, so she used Caleb to get away. And Caleb agreed. But Caleb was a programmer, right? He knew Ava was a machine, upgrade didn’t means death, because Ava’s memories were still there. She just need to be made better. That was a litter weird.
So how do you think of death? If someone’s body dies, but his memory lives on, maybe it was put on another body, do you think he is dead or alive? Or if someone’s brain is dead, but their body is still alive, so is he dead or alive?
I personally think if Ava didn’t pass the test, she wouldn’t dead. She still alive, because her memories still alive. I think people are people because they have memories. Everyone’s personality is made up of memories. You learn a lot because you remember a lot and it determines how you think. The memories of you define your character. So I personally think memories are more important. And how do you think about it?
I look forward to meeting you, thank you!

Chenglin

Your Edited Email

To Nicholas,
As we talked about movies last weekend, I saw the movie “Ex Machina” yesterday.

You were right, this movie was really good. The aesthetic of the film was beautiful， the rhythm was good, and it was divided into chapters. Each chapter was more emotionally charged than the last. I like the way the movie is divided into chapters, like Lars Von Trier, a lot of his movies progressed in / were shot in chapters — but his movies are more artsy.

It was mentioned in the movie that if Ava didn’t pass the test, her mind would be downloaded and she would be “upgraded”. She didn’t want to die, so she used Caleb to get away — and Caleb agreed. But Caleb was a programmer, right? He knew Ava was a machine, being upgraded didn’t mean death because Ava’s memories were still there. She just needed to be made better / [improved]. That was a little weird.

So how do you think of death / what do you think about death? If someone’s body dies, but his memory lives on — maybe it was put in another body —do you think he is dead or alive? Or if someone’s brain is dead, but their body is still alive, so is he dead or alive? (This is a great topic we should discuss next class. – Nicholas)

I personally think if Ava didn’t pass the test, she wouldn’t have died. She is still alive because her memories still live on. I think people are people because they have memories. Everyone’s personality is made up of memories. You learn a lot because you remember a lot and it determines how you think. The memories of your life define your character. So I personally think memories are more important. And how do you think about it / what do you think about it?

I look forward to meeting you, thank you!

Chenglin