Joey: The Mechanical Boy

Came across an article by Bruno Bettelheim, titled ' Joey: A "Mechanical Boy". Bruno discusses a case history of a boy who suffers from schizophrenia, and behaves like a robot. In fact the boy believed he was a robot, expressed through drawings.



His motions and mannerisms mimic a disjointed mechanical movement. The boy would go as far to uses props like an extension cord to pretend he was plugging himself in while eating. In fact everyday functions like sleeping were not possible unless joey was able to relate his behavior to some mechanical device, such as crafting a apparatus from cardboard. masking tape, wire and other paraphernalia that allows him to live while sleeping. The behavior, traced back to his childhood and lack of emotional fostering from his parents. This is interesting for its comment on what makes us human. As they went through rehabilitation, his behavior became more responsive to his environment. 'The heart of Joey's delusional system was the artificial, mechanical womb he had created and into which he had locked himself. This idea that humans can mimic robots, to the point were people recognize them as robots is interesting. This behavior is described as autistic as well. Autism is characteristic of isolating oneself from the outside world, projecting in ward on to one's self. Like robots, autistic children lack emotional response, lacking human characteristics. Our ability as humans to interact with our environment and respond to complex situations is one part of it. The uncanny nature of a boy robot, who is human, i think is rooted in this idea of unhomely that Freud speaks about in his paper the uncanny. The uncanny emphasizes that which is not native to the situation. A boy should not be a robot, a head should not be mimicking facial expressions because its is not native to that context.