When we consider the film ‘Paycheck’ from a philosophical perspective one can see various questions that are asked by the story. The film revolves around a concept of an individual, Michael Jennings, who essentially sells two years of his life in return for the prospect of 92 million dollars. Once the project was finished he would have his memory wiped to the day that he started.
Phillip K. Dick through this may be raising a multitude of philosophical questions. Firstly there are those concerning moral and ethical implications regarding the interruption and interference with nature. Should there be any need to have concern that technology is interfering with us in such a close matter? Through the film we may ask questions of personal identity. With memories playing fundamental roles in our own personal identity are we the same person during the time of memory loss as we are after? The film may also raise questions concerning the potential value of money and the extremes that people travel to in order to have financial prosperity. That is to say that this man was prepared, essentially, to sell two years of his life in order to have the financial stability to retire. How can the company and the individual be certain of the medical repercussions on his health? That is to say that we may ask the individual and ourselves who may be accountable if the project goes wrong and the result is more than just their two years of their memory that is lost, or some psychological damage is incurred. We may also ask ourselves what would happen if this kind of technology fell into the wrong hands.
The interference of technology
As the world emerges into a new technological era the film asks us questions of technological advancement. As the film i-robot did, Paycheck shows technological advancements that are somewhat out of control and unregulated. The project that Jennings works on was originally shelved by the government, and Jennings also finds the technology may have unseen consequences. At what point will technology not need human intervention or creation and it will be able to develop itself? In Paycheck the advancement is one where we may see into the future and this leads us directly back to the moral and ethical implications of this kind of technology, that I expounded earlier.
Personal identity
With regard to personal identity we may look to other films. Memento, The Bourne Identity, Total recall and Solaris all raise philosophical questions relating to personal identity. Through these films and Paycheck we can ask questions regarding such areas of philosophy as Locke’s positive theory of personal identity commonly seen as the memory theory. Locke explains;
“…at time t2, I am identical with a person at some earlier time t1 if and only if I can remember the t1 experiences as my own.” (http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/L066SECT1, retrieved March 13, 2005.)
This creates various problems for Locke, some of which he attempts to resolve himself. One of the problems that we are interested in is the one that relates to Paycheck. That is to ask, are we not the same person at time A as we are at time B if we cannot remember time A through memory loss (or as in Paycheck memory being wiped)? Locke attempts to resolve this;
“He says that he would be the same biological being (‘man’) in spite of his forgetting; but he would not be the same person, because a person is an amalgam of the actions for which that person can take responsibility, and one cannot take responsibility for what one cannot remember.” (http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/L066SECT1, retrieved March 13, 2005.)
Although Locke attempted to defend his theory in this way there was still heavy criticism. Thomas Reid stated that forgetfulness does not destroy personal identity. Although there may have been criticism Locke still raises the question that we have to ask ourselves in regard to Paycheck. That is to say, is Jennings the same person during the project as he is at the end? If not the weight of the money that is offered may become somewhat lighter.
Health
This kind of technology would also be too difficult to control. How could one regulate who had access to this kind of equipment and what action would be taken to ensure that no participant was morally, physically or psychologically damaged?
Wrong hands
Firstly, what would happen if in order to avoid payment or to cause harm to another people were to erase memories. People could commit crimes and then erase memories of those affected in order to get away with the crime. We can see in the film that the project that Jennings was working on was one of high importance, and it transpires that the government is involved as the project originated from a shelved project.
Apart from the philosophical issues that are raised through the technology used in the film to erase memory there are other areas of philosophy to look at too. One of which would concern parallel or alternate universes. That is to say that Jennings saw his future and left himself an envelope of items that would help him once the project had finished. What happened to the universe of which he saw himself get harmed? Could everyone look into the future and then change some of the decisions that they make in the present in order to better themselves? This may lead to many different universes depending on the certain decisions that people make responding to what they saw in the future. If someone makes a different decision regarding the present, does the future change? Or does the future stay the same in that universe and another is formed?
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