I both adore and despise Fight Club. It’s my favorite movie, and I dread watching it. For quite some time I’ve struggled to understand exactly how I could feel this way about a film, have such contrasting, passionate opinions about it, unable to come to a concrete decision. I’ve realized the genius of Fight Club, the reason it ranks as the #1 movie in recent history on so many lists, is that David Fincher successfully accesses and illustrates human characteristics so innate, so suppressed within ourselves, that we recoil at the idea of acknowledging them. The entire story is based off of human’s animalistic desires, our aggressive tendencies that silently direct the actions we ultimately take. The characters are harsh, live depictions of the people inside ourselves that we keep silent. Is this humanity then? Is humanity violent, self-absorbed, cruel? Or is humanity the means by which we overcome our primitive wishes?

Mahatma Ghandi (staple public figure to quote in a blog post) said that one of the seven deadly sins was “science without humanity”. Depending on who you ask (and if you’re asking me), this is essentially becoming the slogan for modern technology. Robbie certainly convinced me that humanity is less about our instincts and traits, and more about the way we communicate with each other outside of the realm of these characteristics. This article from ABC News takes the words of eighth graders explaining why the harms of technology so outweigh the benefits. One of the first reasons they listed was “waste of time”: more empty moments filled with the distraction of twitter or texting, and less communicating with the people sitting right next to you. Science, in a certain light, seems to be tearing humanity apart. The intention of increasing communication has become warped and we now find ourselves in an age where we are so obsessed with constant updates on the lives of others far away, that we neglect the words and eye contact of the people we don’t need technology to reach.

In our History of Law class this week, we were discussing whether it is rude to use your phone in the middle of a conversation with someone from an older generation. Students had strong opinions on both sides of the spectrum. But the fact that this debate now exists, the fact that it is plausible to hold a conversation with someone while deeply engaged in following the social lives of people through a screen, seems to be a detriment to humanity as a whole. However, this is the culture we live in. And if humanity creates culture, then is science undermining humanity or simply redefining it?

Of course there is no right answer. Take drones, for example, as The Huffington Post does. On one hand, these robotic planes play their role as protectors and shield communities from the threat of terror. While simultaneously blowing up homes and schools filled with innocent people who, ironically, are so impoverished that the technology which ends their lives is more fantastic and advanced than anything they could have imagined. As the article points out, technology will give you cancer and then teach you to cure it.

In the Toyota commercial we watched on the first day of class, the man rears back his angry head and accelerates through the wall and into the real world in his brand new car. Tyler Durden’s every action mirrors this aggression. Freud would agree, preaching that everything we do stems from either sex or aggression. Though this may be a trait of humans, it is not humanity. Animals share this quality too. Humanity is more. Humanity is communication and comprehension.

At least in my opinion. If it’s true, then Siri has us screwed.