Surrogates

In the not too distant future the internet sensation 2nd Life has had a major upgrade. People are now able to sit at home hooked up to the computer which mentally controls a robot in the real world. They can feel all the usually sensations through this robot, though with considerably less pain. These robots are called our Surrogates.

The obvious question is why?

Well, your Surrogate is stronger, faster and sexier than you and if it gets hit by a car you can just get it fixed or replaced. As such, the use of Surrogates has reduced crime, with murder being unheard of and race crimes being even sillier than they already are. Such is their appeal that the vast majority of the human race (...which being an American film is just another word for "Americans" as it mentions very little about whats happening elsewhere...) now use them. The only people not using them are a small group who refuse to do so on moral grounds who have now been more or less banished from decent society.

Its an interesting scenario and an OK film which follows a fairly predicatable storyline to an obvious ending, but it passes the time if you have time to waste. And you get to see Bruce Willis do the Terminator thing.

Its only major flaw is that the world it creates is nothing like the world that would actually occur if we did get Surrogates.

Crime down? ... erm... no... two major factors that reduce crime are guilt and fear. Guilt of hurting others, fear of hurting yourself. Take those away and crime is going to soar.

I also love how little people seem to care about the less important crimes of Surrogates getting damaged. Have you seen how much people can care about a tiny scratch on a car? And how come everyone can even afford Surrogates? A state of the art robot more advanced than an actual human, you would think that would cost a pretty penny.

A world full of Surrogates would be far far more chaotic than it makes out. Even ignoring crime, Surrogates are more or less superhuman. How many people who woke up with superpowers would decide not to use them and continue normal day to day activities?

Why do people still use cars? Surely you can stick some wheels on your feet and off you go.

Why do people all still look like people? You can look however you want, where are all the original creations? Not even a few blue people or werewolves, or didn't anyone think an extra pair of hands might be useful?

It never explores the idea as much as it could have, instead sticking with the standard science vs nature and questions of how far is too far. Yet it still could have been a great film if they had just had Brucy take on Arnie.

That would have rocked.