Twilight Zone and Philosophy

Link to the book:


The Twilight Zone and Philosophy


Jordyn:



--Dare to Enter the Zone?--

● “There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area we call the Twilight Zone."


● When tv shows were just beginning to be broadcast nationwide across television screens in the 1940s, parents and teachers were afraid that their children would be brainwashed into the tv screens or so-called “idiot boxes”.


● Newton Minnow, chair of the FCC (federal communications commision) dubbed the television show “the destroyer of civility and family values”


● Then came The Twilight Zone which made parents, children, and teachers alike begin to really use their brains while they were glued to their tv screens.


● For five seasons, in short 30-60 minute black and white episodes; viewers were encouraged to think as they journeyed through the twisting and turning scenes that led lem to bizarre endings. Bizarre endings that were somehow logical once thought about after the fact.


● In the 156 episode show, which covered multiple aspects of humanity, plunging deeper into the extraordinary, and ultimately reality; the twilight zone would pave the way for all other anthology programs in the future.

--Rod Serling--

● “Writing is a demanding profession and a selfish one. And because it is selfish and demanding, because it is compulsive and exacting, I didn't embrace it. I succumbed to it.”


● Rod Serling wrote 92 of the shows 156 episodes. He also was the show’s nararrator.


● Rod Serling converted to Unitarianism even though his family were assimilated jews.


● Rod Serling, the writer and creator of The Twilight Zone, had a philosophy that


humanity’s greatest threat and enemy was itself. This philosophy was the centerfold and driving force behind everything he produced or wrote in his lifetime. He liked to examine the human condition by placing himself within a scenario and producing quality work from it. This idea helped make The Twilight Zone one of the 20th centuries most important tv shows and Serling one of the most important television writers in hollywood history.


● When asked where his ideas come from, Serling replied; they come from the Earth, from every human experience ever heard of or witnessed, translated in the human brain into a form of understandable dialogue. He said ideas come from things that are smelt, felt, seen, experienced, and emotionalized. They come from the air. It’s the easiest thing on Earth, to come up with an idea. The hardest thing, is to put the idea down on paper.


● Serling drew from his own experiences for nearly almost all of the Twilight Zone episodes. He used the shows science fiction and fantasy elements to thinly veil his own opinions and viewpoints.


--Episode 1--


● Where is Everybody? Oct 2, 1959


● The episode opens with a nameless man wandering around what seems to be an abandoned town. He is unable to remember who he is or how he got to the town. He wanders the town looking for people, there are signs that someone is around, he just cannot find them. The man quickly becomes more unsettled as he begins to panic near the end of the episode. Finally he collapses and pressed the button “WALK” which in reality is a panic button. That is when the viewers realize the man has been in an isolated box being observed. The man is Mike Ferris and he’s been tested to see if he can stay sane while being alone inside of a spacecraft that is traveling to the moon. The episode is about the human’s need for companionship.


● "Up there, up there in the vastness of space, in the void that is sky, up there is an enemy known as isolation. It sits there in the stars waiting, waiting with the patience of eons, forever waiting... in the Twilight Zone."

--Episode 156--

● The Bewitchin’ Pool


● Jun 19, 1964


● In this episode, two siblings are shown to live the most lavish life, everything they’ve ever wanted is right their in front of them. Except for the love and attention from their parents. Their mother is cold and their father is too busy. One day they follow a boy into the deep end of their pool and when they return to the surface, they’re in another dimension where there are many little children and a lady named “Aunt T” who says she cares for many children whose parents don’t deserve them. The children play and have fun, but they soon realize their parents must be worried about them, so they return back to the pool to see that their parents hadn’t even noticed they were gone and happen to be getting a divorce. The parents fight and blame the children which persuades the siblings to return back to “Aunt T’s”. At the end, the parents are getting worried that the children have been underwater too long but they can’t find them at the bottom of the deep end. The children find what they wanted, unconditional love, in Aunt T and barely hear the sounds of their parents in the distance as the episode ends.


● "A brief epilogue for concerned parents. Of course, there isn't any such place as the gingerbread house of Aunt T, and we grownups know there's no door at the bottom of a swimming pool that leads to a secret place. But who can say how real the fantasy world of lonely children can become? For Jeb and Sport Sharewood, the need for love turned fantasy into reality. They found a secret place in the Twilight Zone."



Jillian:

I chose to do my part on the episode “I Sing the Body Electric” and how it relates to an idea of transhumanism.

Summary:

What does being human mean? Is it simply existence in a human body? Is it the capacity to feel or experience certain things? Having the appearance of a person? Humanity can be hard to describe, but it may become a little clearer when ideas such as trans- and posthumanism are brought up for discussion. Transhumanism is the idea that humans should have the ability to evolve further than their natural physical and intellectual limits. This can be done through scientific and technological advancements in how we view the body and robotics. The Twilight Zone touches on transhumanism a bit in the episode “I Sing the Body Electric” where a family decides to “build a grandma” to take care of the children. The children are allowed to pick the pieces of their grandma from her eyes to her voice. When the “nanny” is ready and arrives at the house, she tells the children that she is capable of a lot of things including physical labor, childcare, and love. Even on top of that, she doesn’t age. One of the kids doesn’t like her at first, but when she realizes she can’t die, she begins to trust that the robot won’t abandon her. At the end of the episode, when the children are grown up and moving away, she makes a comment that she will be recycled into another human-like robot for another family to enjoy. So what does this say about transhumanism? The Twilight Zone is notorious for making us think about things that seem outlandish at first, but aren’t that far out of our reach. Technology is advancing rapidly now, and we even have electronics that learn from us and can interact with us like pals. AIs that are gaining a programmed form of consciousness are becoming larger parts of our lives every single day. AIs are all around us as Instagram influencers, public speakers, social justice advocates, home appliances, and even toys. The idea of transhumanism itself continues into posthumanism, where the goal is for most, if not all of humanity to consist of humanoids that can never die and have endless knowledge, much like AIs. This brings up many questions like “robot rights” or if the ideas of transhumanism and posthumanism are even beneficial to our way of life.

Cameron:
I did my part on chapter 14: The Science of Alternate Realities, not including the last section on "Quantum Mechanics and Parallel Realities".

Summary:

We experience reality in three-dimensions, but shows like The Twilight Zone often present us with scenarios in which we must consider a different way of interpreting reality. These alterations can be anything from the fourth dimension, to time travel, and can force us to consider that there are multiple ways of interacting with our environment. Time travel is an especially interesting topic to discuss for philosophers and physicists alike. Because some people argue that time is a fourth dimension and as such should theoretically be able to be explored in a multidimensional plane as all the other dimension of length, width, and depth are. But then, why do we only experience time in one direction? What would be the consequences of time travel? How would time travel affect our perception of reality? These questions, and more, are something The Twilight Zone provides many different answers to. The possibility of the "Grandfather Paradox" is explored in episodes "Walking Distance" and "The Odyssey of Flight 33" where the characters encounter their former selves. The possibility of being unable to change the past, supporting the notion that we do fall on a set, unalterable timeline is explored in "No Time Like the Past". Even the possibility of multiple parallel universes is explored in "The Eye of the Beholder", where beauty standards are dramatically different from our own. The point being that all of these possibilities are just theoretical ways of explaining why we experience the universe the way that we do. These episodes are more than enough to make you scratch your head, and consider the notion of reality in which you believe.


Quiz Questions:



1. What were tv’s called by parents and teachers in the 1940s?

2. What is the fifth dimension called?


3. How many seasons did The Twilight Zone air on tv?


4. How many episodes did The Twilight Zone have?


5. Who believed that humanity’s enemy was itself?


6. How did Rod Serling get inspiration for The Twilight Zone?


7. What was the theme of episode 1?


8. What was the theme of episode 156?


9. What is a dimension mathematically?


10. As far as we can tell from our senses, how many dimensions is our universe?


11. How many dimensions does a "hypercube" exist in?


12. What do some people consider the fourth dimension?


13. What question interests both philosophers and physicists?


14. What is the most discussed philosophical issue with time travel?


15. What is the difference between transhumanism and posthumanism?


16. What kind of things would transhumanism “solve” for humanity?


Discussion Questions:

1. What ideas have you had that you find are hard to explain or write down? How did you finally write them down, or did you? How could you help another person to write their ideas down?

2. Do you believe that transhumanism and AI technology is ethical or beneficial for our society?


3. How would you describe “being human?”


4. Is it possible to program a computer/robot/AI to have human qualities and to love and empathize like humans?


5. Do you believe in alternate dimensions? Why or why not?


6. What do you think the fourth dimension is and why?


7. Do you believe in the infinite parallel universe theory, and how does what you believe limit your perception of time?





Works Cited:




● https://twilightzone.fandom.com/wiki/The_Bewitchin%27_Pool


● https://nofilmschool.com/2014/08/watch-twilight-zone-creator-rod-serling-discuss-his-philosophy-creativity


● https://books.google.com/books?id=WB1KDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=twilight+zone+and+philosophy&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmmtXL1vrgAhVCXKwKHZmCBnIQ6AEILzAB#v=onepage&q=twilight%20zone%20and%20philosophy&f=false


● https://drive.google.com/file/d/14zxPSzd9iQWNsREldVTceRTvZHD7z_7z/view