POTW Pokémon of the Week #4: Porygon, Porygon2, and Porygon-Z

[CrystaI]

In the Pokedex entries of Porygon, it uses so many times of the word じんこう (Kanji: 人工) which by literal translation it is "artificial".
For Magearna, its category and current information available in TCG is using the word じんぞう (Kanji: 人造) which by literal translation it is "manmade".

I checked it again, that within all the in-game information available in Japanese, Porygon never used the word じんぞう (Kanji: 人造), and also oppositely Magearna's info don't uses the word じんこう (Kanji: 人工). So yeah, the wording in Japanese of Porygon and Magearna are not the same.

In the Real-Life dictionary meaning, "artificial" and "manmade" had very similar meaning, but nonetheless there exist subtle difference.
Manmade - adj. Made or produced by human beings instead of nature; not resulting from natural processes.

Synonym: synthetic, manufactured, artificial​

Artificial - adj. Made or produced by human in imitation of something natural; unnatural and unreal imitation of something natural; fake and/or not genuine.

Synonym: contrived, mock, counterfeit, substitute, manmade​

So, the word "artificial" is on top of the meaning of being "manmade", it is with the intention of trying to imitate something that is already existed. "Artificial" things is definitely manmade, but however "manmade" things is not necessarily artificial. For example one may say Mewtwo is a manmade pokemon, but very few will agree it is something artificial.

Well this is just my 2 cents from rigor language interpretation.


BTW, if I go by this literal meaning, it actually implies Porygon is being an imitation of something. Imitation of what? IMO very obviously -- Pokemon. It is a data program trying to imitate itself as Pokemon. And then there I think comes the technical level debate: Can we deem the Porygon series as "genuine Pokemon"?

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

And then there I think comes the technical level debate: Can we deem the Porygon series as "genuine Pokemon"?

Another excellent question to consider. It depends on what you mean by "genuine."
As I mentioned earlier, at least in the games, all Pokémon can be converted into some for of binary data that is able to be stored and called up on a PC. Porygon is just the opposite of this, being made of data originally, it can manifest itself in the physical world.
That said, all Pokémon do that, when they are withdrawn from the PC, they convert themselves back from bits into atoms.
Porygon might be the only Pokémon able to do this without the aid of external technology, but that's just one of its special talents, like Blastoise has its hydro cannons, or psychic Pokémon can Teleport, bend spoons, or other such things.

It goes back to what do you define as a Pokémon? If you want to get very technical, Porygon can be considered to be a computer program imitating a Pokémon, and not an actual Pokémon, but don't let the fact that it was created by humans skew your view. Mewtwo, Genesect, Golett, Golurk, and Magearna are all Pokémon, in spite of being made by humans.

 

[CrystaI]

When it comes to the issue of all pokemon can be converted into data and store into the PC, I will be very careful in the speculation in here, as I doubt is it really the biological capability of any pokemon to convert itself from elemental atoms to digital data and vice versa. We had to take the technology level of the PokeWorld into consideration.

As I had also mentioned before, in the Pokemon World so many advance technology were being shown, not only limited to the super advanced AI of evolved Porygon series that is able to simulate emotions, but also other things like Pokemon Healing Machine that can instantly heal one's pokemons to full health, the storage system not only for pokemons but also digitize and materialize solid items, teleport panels in many large buildings, and FFVII-style fantasy science such as the Ultimate Weapon. With all of these as evidence of technology level of Pokemon World, I would doubt it is the advance electronic technology that is doing the job of converting pokemon into data and back into material matter, rather than pokemon possessing any ability to convert itself between data and matter.

Back in GenI, we had pokemons like Voltorb/Electrode and Magnemite/Magneton which is arguably perhaps being manmade, but I still deem them as "genuine Pokemon" because............ Whatever the reason? I don't know. But whatever it could be, I don't deem them to be non-genuine pokemon just because they are manmade.
But very strangely, personally I do not think Porygon and its evolution as any "genuine Pokemon", mainly because of its background in relation to electronic robotic technology. Instead of a pokemon, I rather see it as a digimon a materialized AI program with its physical body avatar imitating the significant biological characteristics of pokemons, hence a fake pokemon.

But whether it is genuine or fake, I still imagined that the PokeWorld general public accept it like any other pokemon, simply because it just act like a living pokemon, regardless of its actions and reactions maybe just the result of complicated data processing.

 

[Camille]

I find Porygon somewhat creepy, although its looks reflect the outdated technology pretty well, but I like its evolved forms. Porygon-Z is especially cool, thanks to Adaptability and moves like Tri-Attack, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Dark Pulse, and even Psyshock to hit the likes of Blissey. It is a shame the line has never appeared in the show since that infamous episode, especially since the flashes weren't even Porygon's fault.

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

especially since the flashes weren't even Porygon's fault.

#BanPikachu