October 16, 2024 12:30 pm
Philosophical reflections on life in a futuristic environment.
This year marked the 12th anniversary of Psycho-Pass, the iconic cyberpunk franchise that Production I.G. has been working on for years. Psycho-Pass acquired the status of a monumental media franchise, dissecting questions of moral choice, humanism, freedom and submission.
What Is Psycho-Pass About?
The world has rid itself of crime – it is now calm and reliable. In Japan, utopia has become reality thanks to the groundbreaking Sibyl system – the pinnacle of human progress. Artificial intelligence has given society security. And robbed it of freedom.
The Sibyl system, based on psycho-pass data, categorizes residents into three groups: reliable citizens, potential criminals, and criminal personalities.
The last two types become the target of the Public Security Bureau: they must be re-educated and recruited, while those whose indicators are already at dangerous levels must be eliminated. This is the price of civilian peace.
The Psycho-Pass is an extremely mobile and fickle thing and is influenced by many factors. Bad thoughts, doubts, traumatic events – everything can throw you from one category of citizen to another in a matter of minutes, and Sibyl will notice it.
Psycho-Pass Explores the Topics of Humanity, Ethics and Freedom
For many years, it was believed that Sibyl was infallible and that its work was the basis for the safe existence of the state. The deadly force of this world are the guardians, the watchdogs of Sibyl: potential criminals who, for one reason or another, have agreed to work for the system.
They have advanced weapons in their hands – Dominators, capable of reading a person's psycho-pass and passing a sentence on the spot. However, the house of cards begins to collapse when those who want to expose the imperfections of the dominant system appear.
Psycho-Pass is a dynamic and philosophical cyberpunk with a strong detective component. Every character has a lofty idea. The idealistic inspector Akane Tsunemori defends the rule of law as an institution that protects citizens, sometimes failing to notice that the current regulations do not allow for the protection of the most ordinary residents.
She is echoed by Kogami, who is disillusioned with human laws and people in general. The main question the characters cannot answer for themselves is: is personal freedom too high a price to pay for security that has no place for ethics? Can justice exist without humanity?
Psycho-Pass Proves that No AI Can Understand Human Nature
Sibyl seems like the perfect solution until the truth about how it works is revealed in the first season. However, the characters agree to put up with this knowledge because they are convinced that despotic control is necessary at this stage of social development.
The characters hate AI, but protect it from people who dare to challenge the powerful system of control and surveillance. Again and again they have to ask ourselves: why is Sibyl so necessary for humanity? Is unfreedom sometimes better than freedom?
None of the characters in Psycho-Pass seems to think so. After all, even in a perfectly constructed society, there are still those who will interfere with innocent lives.
In the end, human nature is dual, and no algorithm can explain it, let alone completely subdue it.
Philosophical reflections on life in a futuristic environment.
This year marked the 12th anniversary of Psycho-Pass, the iconic cyberpunk franchise that Production I.G. has been working on for years. Psycho-Pass acquired the status of a monumental media franchise, dissecting questions of moral choice, humanism, freedom and submission.
What Is Psycho-Pass About?
The world has rid itself of crime – it is now calm and reliable. In Japan, utopia has become reality thanks to the groundbreaking Sibyl system – the pinnacle of human progress. Artificial intelligence has given society security. And robbed it of freedom.
The Sibyl system, based on psycho-pass data, categorizes residents into three groups: reliable citizens, potential criminals, and criminal personalities.
The last two types become the target of the Public Security Bureau: they must be re-educated and recruited, while those whose indicators are already at dangerous levels must be eliminated. This is the price of civilian peace.
The Psycho-Pass is an extremely mobile and fickle thing and is influenced by many factors. Bad thoughts, doubts, traumatic events – everything can throw you from one category of citizen to another in a matter of minutes, and Sibyl will notice it.
Psycho-Pass Explores the Topics of Humanity, Ethics and Freedom
For many years, it was believed that Sibyl was infallible and that its work was the basis for the safe existence of the state. The deadly force of this world are the guardians, the watchdogs of Sibyl: potential criminals who, for one reason or another, have agreed to work for the system.
They have advanced weapons in their hands – Dominators, capable of reading a person's psycho-pass and passing a sentence on the spot. However, the house of cards begins to collapse when those who want to expose the imperfections of the dominant system appear.
Psycho-Pass is a dynamic and philosophical cyberpunk with a strong detective component. Every character has a lofty idea. The idealistic inspector Akane Tsunemori defends the rule of law as an institution that protects citizens, sometimes failing to notice that the current regulations do not allow for the protection of the most ordinary residents.
She is echoed by Kogami, who is disillusioned with human laws and people in general. The main question the characters cannot answer for themselves is: is personal freedom too high a price to pay for security that has no place for ethics? Can justice exist without humanity?
Psycho-Pass Proves that No AI Can Understand Human Nature
Sibyl seems like the perfect solution until the truth about how it works is revealed in the first season. However, the characters agree to put up with this knowledge because they are convinced that despotic control is necessary at this stage of social development.
The characters hate AI, but protect it from people who dare to challenge the powerful system of control and surveillance. Again and again they have to ask ourselves: why is Sibyl so necessary for humanity? Is unfreedom sometimes better than freedom?
None of the characters in Psycho-Pass seems to think so. After all, even in a perfectly constructed society, there are still those who will interfere with innocent lives.
In the end, human nature is dual, and no algorithm can explain it, let alone completely subdue it.
