a) Make a list of how nodes are used by the main characters: Memo, Luz, and Rudy. What uses seem perfectly normal to you? What uses seem perverse? Are there any uses that should be illegal? What uses are very similar to interactions on the internet?
b) In Sleep Dealer, Luz makes a living by uploading and selling her memories in cyberspace. Is this ethical? How does selling actual memories compare to writing a “tell all” autobiography, for example? How does it compare to participating in a reality television show?
In “Sleep Dealer” nodes are needed to perform different types of work. The main character - Memo uses the nodes to work in a hi-tech factory. Luz, the girl Memo meets on the bus on his way to Tijuana uses the nodes to sell her memories. And Rudy, soldier, uses the nodes to pilot his drone while working to secure the dam in Memo’s village.
Memo’s use of the nodes seems the most natural to me. Without them he wouldn’t be able to work, and he wouldn’t be able to send money to his family.
Rudy’s use was rather disturbing to me. He used the nodes to control his drone and kill the “bad guys” who wanted to steal water from the dam. The nodes made his work look like a video game. Very unrealistic, which makes killing someone look like nothing than what it really is, even to a soldier.
I found Luz’s way to use the nodes to be perversive. She used them to sell her memories. It is one thing to write a book, even an autobiography. What she was doing was way more than that. She didn’t only tell the story, she also gave a visual. A facial expression can sometimes say much more than words. If no one can rob us of our memories than why would someone willingly give them away, especially for money (grrrrrr).
I think that it should be illegal to use nodes for Rudy’s and Luz’s purposes. I never killed anyone, I can’t even imagine doing such a thing, but the way it was shown in the movie it looked (I can’t believe that I’m actually going to write this) very simple. All you do is control a drone and shoot your target, just like in a video game (and now everybody plays video games so what would be the difference?!) And as to Luz, our memories should stay untouchable. They really are OURS (no matter if good or bad) and no one should be able to record them and sell them to whomever. That is why I understand Memo’s reaction when he gets really upset when he finds out that Luz has been selling her memories that included him. He shared everything with her, including how his father died, which he didn’t want to do from the very beginning, he wanted to keep it to himself.
Al thought I feel that Luz’s use of the nodes was very inappropriate I find it very similar to today’s internet use. For instance (even in our ENG 099) we blog. We write entries that consist of responding to a certain reading. Our responses are personal, at least they should be. But we blog in class, because that is our assignment, some people blog just to simply share their days experience. Some people go to extremes (I mean extremes!) Who wants to know what time you wake up, eat breakfast, go shopping, fight with your boyfriend, what the argument was a bout …etc… kind of thing.
As I mentioned before I find Luz’s way of earning money unethical. I understand that she wants to be a writer, but what she is doing with Memo’s story, to me, is way to personal. There are certain boundaries, that everybody should ably to, such as keeping things that, were meant to be private, private.
From what I understand a “tell all” autobiography is an autobiography that includes all the details of a persons life, even all their deepest secrets. I don’t really believe that writing such an autobiography is possible, because everyone has their little secrets that no matter what we just want to keep them to ourselves. If someone, however would decide to really, but really write about everything they have been through in the smallest details that still wouldn't equal to what Luz did for a living. Not only she sold her memories that contained Memo, but she also did not tell him of her doing so. Like I mentioned before, words don’t give as much as facial expressions. We can tell everything from our face, when we’re happy, sad, angry, even when we’re lying …..and its not only the facial expressions but our whole body movement. I'm just wondering if , according to Luz, sharing our personal experiences is so simple, why in movies based on facts we see actors rather than the people who actually took part in whatever it is we are watching?
Reality TV shows are meant to show life as realistically as it is possible, but to me it’s a bunch of BS. Everything is staged, people whom are presented to be real people are actors. Reality TV is made for entertainment purposes only, so we presented with things, actions what we want to see. There is nothing real about it. To me, Reality TV, what the name itself stands for, is exactly what Luz does with Memo's entries. Nothing is fake, it's a hundred per cent true.
Very interesting--and very relevant to the way the world is going because, as you note, of the internet. Technology, as the director of Sleep Dealer shows, can be a boon, but also a trap...the difference usually lies in how we use it, and for what. If, for instance, having your medical profile online means that the emergency room can access it instantly when you come in unconscious because of an accident...I would say that is a good use. But for exploiting others...
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