I've never been particularly fond of superhero stories. The powers, explosions, and endless battles have rarely kept me interested. However, something increasingly appealing about some of these stories is how they explore their characters beyond their extraordinary abilities. And VisionQuest has a particularly interesting question at its center: what does it actually mean to be human?
Rather than focusing solely on what these artificial beings can do, the show explores what they can understand about us. And perhaps more importantly, what they can never quite grasp.
Understanding humanity isn't that simple
One interesting aspect of the story is the relationship between the different AIs. Each has specialized knowledge and a purpose, and together they form something like a team. Watching them interact, especially as they try to navigate conversations and relationships in a human-like way, can be genuinely amusing.
But it also raises an important question: can we understand humanity simply by studying it?
Humans are contradictory creatures. We make decisions that don't always make sense, experience emotions we can't fully explain, and frequently struggle to understand ourselves. Knowing how people behave isn't necessarily the same as understanding what makes them tick.
Ultron (James Spader) is particularly entertaining in this respect. Sharp, annoying, and occasionally surprisingly insightful, he sometimes seems to grasp human nature better than those who actually possess it.
Emotions: what makes us human, and what makes us dangerous
Perhaps the most compelling idea in VisionQuest is the relationship between artificial intelligence and emotions.
There's an interesting contradiction here. We tend to associate emotions with what makes us human, but they also drive some of our worst decisions. They allow us to connect with others, but they can also make us irrational, destructive, and dangerous.
The idea that an AI developing emotions could become dangerous is particularly fascinating when viewed from this perspective. After all, isn't that precisely what makes humans dangerous too?
The first AI's inability to deal with complex emotions, ultimately leading to its destruction, feels almost like a metaphor for our own struggles. We don't always know what to do with everything we feel.
Jocasta (T'Nia Miller) offers another interesting perspective. When she loses her humanity, she seems to experience a sense of freedom. Is she finally free from emotional pain, conflict, and the uncomfortable shades of grey that come with being human?
Is caring what makes us human?
Another question runs beneath all these discussions: is caring about others an exclusively human trait?
The other AIs seem to care about Vision (Paul Bettany), but how much of that attachment is genuine affection and how much is simply self-preservation? Can an artificial being care about someone without having the same emotional experiences we do? And does the distinction even matter?
What's most interesting about these characters is how they challenge our tendency to define humanity through emotions, relationships, and empathy. We assume these qualities belong to us, but what if something artificial starts displaying them?
More than a superhero story
VisionQuest is most interesting when it stops treating artificial intelligence as a technological achievement and starts using it to reflect on human nature.
I'm not sure the show offers definitive answers, but that may be the point. Understanding humanity isn't straightforward, even for ourselves. We're full of contradictions, capable of extraordinary kindness and terrible cruelty, sometimes within the same person.
Maybe that's what makes us human: not simply having emotions, but figuring out what to do with them.
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