Hardwired...to Self-Destruct
Inspired by Isa-Jane Ensing's post: Todestriebe
The "death-drive" (Todestrieb) is a psychoanalytical and philosophical concept, supported by thinkers such as Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan and Arthur Schopenhauer. It stands in opposition to our natural tendency to survive, create and procreate, all characteristics of the so-called will to live. Freud theorised that both tendencies are innate to the human beings, working as opposing forces. Todestriebe (plural) manifest themselves through various human behaviours, such as obsessive repetition of acts harmful to our bodies or minds.
Whether self-destructiveness emerges as a form of self-punishment, as simply the absence of the will to live, or whether it is a truly innate force, deeply ingrained in the human psyche, one thing is certain. We are all familiar with it. Thus, it would be quite interesting to embed such tendencies into an automaton and see how this would reflect back to us and what kind of feelings it would evoke.
One such example is Snippy, the self-destructing scissor robot.
While trying to come up with ideas regarding how to portray Todestrieb in automatons, I realised that the "death-drive" comes in two forms. It either manifests itself as a spiral of extreme, self-indulgent acts, or as numbness, the complete absence of action, being too comfortable in this harmful situation and refusing to get out of it. According to these two different forms, I came up with two "models" of automatons.
In order to showcase the "wild" side of Todestrieb, I would create a simple automaton that would move erratically, almost like dancing in a frantic way. At some point, warning signs of extreme temperature would go off, but the creature would continue spinning, ignoring the signs. Eventually, the creature would combust.
Moving on to the "numb" side, the one most commonly associated with depression. I would design a robot, somewhat anthropomorphic and sad-looking, for bonus empathy points. I would have it stand under a water-pouring machine, slightly moving, maybe cradling itself, but not moving away from the rain. Sparks would start flying, and eventually the robot would short-circuit.
*All the pictures were generated via DALL-E