“Let us imagine a nation in which
everyone is hooked up to a network of VR infrastructure. They have been so
hooked up since they left their mother's wombs. Immersed in cyberspace and
maintaining their life by tele-operation, they have never imagined that life
could be any different from that. The first person that thinks of the
possibility of an alternative world like ours would be ridiculed by the
majority of these citizens, just like the few enlightened ones in Plato's
allegory of the cave.” (Zhai, 1998, p.82).
With the advent of technology, humans have found
ways of utilizing technology to improve our standard of living. Amongst our
technological advancements, we have the technology to manufacture human-like
robots (humanoids) to replace/aid humans in various tasks. Humanoids, although
once a fantastical notion derived from cyberpunk novels and films, has now
become a reality, as they are now
accessible to the public. The film ‘Surrogates’ represents a technologically
advanced society where humanoids are considered being the social norm; with
everyone owning and controlling a bot to navigate themselves through their
daily lives. In this essay, we will be discussing how films like Surrogates are influenced by (based on)
cyberpunk and current technological creations. These films also provide us an
insight of possible outcomes of the future and what actions we must take to
prevent human destruction.
‘Cyberpunk’ is a literary movement that occurred in
the 1980s. Its main literary purpose is to combine elements of high tech and
pop culture (both considered mainstream and underground at the time) and break
down the separation between the organic and the artificial. The cyberpunk
genre, in a sense, has greatly affected the content/literature in modern sci-fi
novels and films, according to Erich Schneider (2004), “Cyberpunk literature, in
general, deals with marginalized people in technologically-enhanced cultural
'systems'.”
The settings in cyberpunk novels usually depict a ‘system’ that dominates the
lives of ordinary people: Systems range from an oppressive government, a group
of large, paternalistic corporations or a fundamentalist religion (Schneider
2004). These systems are able to influence or even perhaps control the
individual by using information technology (mass media and computers) this
becomes the ‘cyber’ in cyberpunk. Technological systems can even go as
far as to extend into its ‘human’ components, via brain implants (chips),
prosthetic limbs, artificial (cloned) or genetically engineered organs, thus in
a cyberpunk world, ‘humans themselves become the Machine’ (Schneider
2004). The ‘punk’ aspect in cyberpunk refers to the individuals that are
considered outcasts, criminals or visionaries in cultural systems. They yearn
for freedom for its own sake and believe that systems are oppressing their
needs (i.e. George Orwell’s novel ‘1984’). Furthermore, cyberpunk literature
centres these individuals and their plight on stopping corrupted systems, by
using the system’s technological tools to their advantage (The Cyber Punk Project 2004).
‘Surrogates’ is a 2009 blockbuster film, based on a
fictional, Sci-Fi comic book series of the same title. The film follows a
detective, Tom Greer who lives in the year 2054, where everyone (including
himself) controls humanoid robots known as surrogates
from the comfort of their own homes. In this wired-up reality, people become so
immersed with their cyber-substitutes that they pass along all their sensations
– work, play and even sex – via virtual world (Boyle 2012). As incredibly far-fetch the film Surrogates may
seem, the story contains intriguing elements from the cyberpunk genre: there is
a system, a giant cooperation that distributes surrogates and a
corrupted police department. There is also a counter group of humans that
refuse to become hooked up to a machine and prefer their traditional standard
of living. Detective Greer serves as an outcast or punk, who after witnessing a death of two people (whilst using
their surrogate), Greer realises the consequences for using an android, as they
are an easy target for murder. Greer’s marriage to his surrogate-orientated
wife is also disintegrating, believing surrogates ruined their physical relationship.
The people behind the film Surrogates and futurists claim that the foundation of the film is
based on our current technology and technological concepts (Saenz 2009).
‘Surrogates’ take a combination of nanotechnology, neuro-computing, robotics
and advances in artificial/material science, and according to Dr James Canton
(2010) “Surrogates is
clearly a near-future vision”, and that “in the future robots are going to start to look
like humans…within 10 years you're going to have the world of the surrogates.” Moreover,
behind this film’s typical Hollywood blockbuster action front, Surrogates is
actually a thought provoking film, in the sense that it arouses issues regarding
the dominance of technology (virtual world) and the endangerment of natural human
existence. The film is also a representation of how our society is
progressively becoming more superficial and artificial. The surrogates’ initial purpose was to
protect, heal and to aid humans, however because of the human condition, surrogate
technology is being wrongly misused, where its purpose is to feed our desires
for the absolute. Surrogates are essentially seen as perfect, ideal
representations of our selves; hence anyone can customise their androids to
their own personal preference (Salton 2010). We can even go as far as constantly modifying
them, treating our surrogates as if we were changing a Facebook profile picture
or an online avatar. The surrogates are also designed to preserve the human
race and protect us from immediate danger, however it is evident in the film
that they sever natural, human interaction, which in-turn can jeopardise the
human race. This poses the question; are surrogates really beneficial to our
society or will they plunge us further to our own demise?
In contemporary society, we are currently facing an
epidemic, with the rise of social networking and virtual gaming, people are
becoming more involved with the virtual lifestyle, that they tend to lose
themselves to cyberspace. We may not be aware of it, but it’s these virtual
realities and networks that bring us closer to the Surrogate ‘reality’. When
surrogates do become available to the mass public, without a doubt these
fantasies and real-world desires would be lived out. Surrogates will become a
lifestyle choice for individuals, either good or bad; it’s in our nature to
improve, grow and experiment. However, like in the film, there will be
individuals who will break away from the cyber world and recognise the
consequences of ‘the Machine’. These
punks will seize the movement and strive onward and upward, as this has been
generally the case throughout human history, is that giant leaps of progress
become the result of a very small group of intelligent, determined individuals.
References:
·
Zhai,
P, 1998, Get Real: A Philosophical Adventure in Virtual
Reality, Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, Inc. United States of America
