In the movie Surrogates, everyone stays at home and connects their brain to a computer. The computer connects to a lifelike android, and the effect is that everyone can live through their androids, called surrogates, and do whatever they want with perfect, beautiful, superhuman bodies without fear of injury.
It’s an intriguing concept, great science fiction, and a pretty slick movie with Bruce Willis and explosions and stunts.
There are a few things wrong with it. The first thing that struck me was that if you had the technology to connect your brain up with a surrogate android, you don’t really need the android. You could connect your brain to a simulation instead. Much less messy and more possibilities that way. But it would have been a different movie.
The next thing that bothered me was that the surrogates themselves were somewhat boring. Sure, they looked like eternally youthful beautiful people, and one ugly fat guy went around using a pretty female surrogate, but where were the fantastical creatures and surrogates with four arms or wheels or wings? Why the restriction on one surrogate per person? I suppose you can only fit so many ideas into one movie.
The real problem with the movie was the conciet that either *everyone* has to use surrogates or *no-one*. So we have the Bruce Willis character who yearns to spend time in his real body but can’t because it’s not really socially acceptable. And we have the anti-surrogate movement who might well be sympathetic if it weren’t for the fact that they want to force everyone else into their way of life, too.
Which brings me to the final heroic act by the Bruce Willis character — and this is a bit of a spoiler — who when presented with the opportunity to destroy all the surrogates at the push of a button selfishly pushes the button because he thinks it would help his wife. It’s an act of gross vandalism, but afterwards is a heart-warming scene in which all the people disconnect from their computers, go outside and see the light. The underlying message is: using too much technology makes us inhuman. Never mind the fact that it might be mostly useful, or fun. Never mind that Bruce Willis has destroyed the surrogates of infirm and disabled people who really need them, along with destroying the toys of people who want them and bought and paid for them.
I think this kind of technology would be great. Sign me up.