Humans

Author: Sam Vincent

When we have to consider the world of the synthetic human, we need to look most deeply at the concept of humanity itself. What makes a human a human? If something synthetic is nearly all of those things, does that make it human? Where does it begin? If a human is no longer filling those requirements, are they still human? These are big questions, and Humans takes a shot at them in a way that you'd never expect. The frank look at what it means to be human and less-than-human has a lot of ties both currently and historically. What starts as the story of the Hawkins family spirals out into a much bigger story that brings in those big issues, and when they have significantly answered those questions, they get to the bigger implications. The story of Synths, androids that appear, and perhaps even think, like humans, and how they interact with the world and their owners is a powerful one, and when we finally get a look at the possible endgame for that sort of being, it is both chilling and fascinating. Why it's on the list: One of the finest explorations of consciousness and the social contract ever put on television.