discussion

7

Please watch the following episode of Futurama. It is Free Will Hunting, Season 7, Episode 9.

If this link does not work for you, there are other options. The public libraries have DVD copies of Futurama in circulation, so you may be able to find the episode there. Also, there are reasonably priced online services which can provide the single episode. Such as Hulu, Google Play, Amazon, and iTunes. 

Due Date:

Purpose:

The purpose of this discussion is for you to think critically about the morality of actions and why you think an action is moral or immoral and about the nature of free will as it relates to all of that. It is easy to say what you think, but it is hard to back it up in a debate. This is an extreme case, but working with it makes every- day cases easier.

Task:

1. For your initial post, you need to: 1. Think carefully about the the story of Bender the Robot

in the Futurama episode above and then explain whether you think Bender always had free will. Did he? Is his situation so different from people? 

2. Say why you think that. As always these cases, you should not say merely that this is how you feel, but rather explain why you have that feeling.

3. Say how you think another student may reply to your stance. Doing these 3 things is worth 10pts.


2. Reply to 2 other students in this class who have opposing views to you or take on the role as the devil's advocate and object to them. If possible, avoid replying in the way that they thought someone might reply. The replies are worth 5pts a piece. Going above and beyond (replying more than twice with substantive comments) is rewarded with extra credit.


To Succeed:

1. Make sure you are clear about your stance, that you do not devolve into name-calling and uncivil behavior.


2. Debate and replies to replies are encouraged as this is practice for real-world debates.

3. Make sure that you have all of the above points in your posts.

4. I will comment replies if the post is very off-the-mark in the interpretation of the case, if it is unduly inflammatory, or otherwise not appropriate.

Pro-Tip: 

This is something I come across quite often, some claim that Bender has some free-will. This is to think that free will comes in degrees. This is mistaken. Either a being has it or they don't, there's not a middle ground. You could say that for some of his actions he was acting with free will and for others he was not, and that is fine, this would mean that whether Bender has free will changes throughout the episode.