Ask HN: Will robotics have a "Zima Blue" moment?
I remember this episoide from Love, Death and Robots where a simple pool cleaning robot who passed from owner to owner getting modifications along the way became a concious complex being with a free will and human form. He started creating art: simple portraits to eventually huge cosmic murals. People forgot that he was a robot and he just became this legendary cosmic artist called Zima Blue (a blue tile was his signature). But he couldn't find peace, his piece of art was stripping away all his functions and advacements and going back to becoming a simple pool cleaning robot again, to clean blue tiles which was his singular purpose. Its a thought provoking story in the age of robots beginning today which I recommend watching! I wonder if this story might come true.
It's a beautiful story on consciousness and purpose, but it is science-fiction. But one purpose of fiction, and art in general, is to make us think and not merely consume. It does not matter if it never comes true, because it has changed something in the viewer.