The year is 2017 and a new technology has changed the way humans live their lives. Most people now spend their lives at home, going about their business as usual, using remote-controlled robotic bodies called surrogates. Commonly designed to resemble idealized versions of their operators, these surrogates have superhuman strength and agility and allow their operators freedom from pain and damage while they remain safely at home in their operator's chairs. The leading manufacturer of surrogates is a company called VSI or Virtual Self Industries. According to VSI, the use of surrogates has eliminated fear, racism and crime throughout society. The many benefits of surrogate technology have led to its widespread use and acceptance, but some believe these benefits have come at the cost of our humanity.
Surrogates (2009) follows FBI agent Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) as he investigates a murder; the first one in years. A young couple is attacked by a man who destroys their surrogates using a strange weapon. Greer and his partner, Peters (Radha Mitchell), seek out the victims' operators and are shocked to find that the young woman was actually a man and that the other victim was the son of Doctor Lionel Canter (James Cromwell), the inventor of surrogates. Both operators are found dead in their chairs, the mysterious weapon somehow bypassing their surrogate's built-in fail-safes.
The overweight man operating the attractive young woman surrogate is described by his landlady as a good tenant who never left his apartment. While possibly considered strange behavior in today's society, it would seem this man's agoraphobia is the norm in this world. Whether his liberal use of the freedom offered to surrogate users to alter their appearance is ...
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...ides to save only the human operators, allowing all surrogates in the world to be destroyed.
The premise of this film takes on an eerie plausibility considering the technologies used are not too far-fetched from what is possible today. For the sake of entertainment, certain liberties are taken to depict the society as a utopia, but an explanation for the apparent widespread wealth is not given. In several scenes, lifeless mannequins are used perhaps as symbols to be contrasted with their not quite as lifeless surrogate counterparts. Unfortunately the film does not explore many of the consequences of the premise in much detail, instead relying on a familiar plot line and frequent action sequences to entertain its viewers. Nevertheless, this fiction could soon become a reality and the implications of what it will mean to be human are critically important to consider.
Her children were made fun of, teased and had their own emotions to deal with from the surrogacy. Their family went downhill after this experience. Their “social life” was flipped upside down because of the way people looked at the mother for being a surrogate mother. She even wrote a book telling people not to be surrogate mothers or get involved in the process. She states that it is too much for a family to go through, or even one person to handle. Another complicated surrogate story in the past was in 1986 and is known by “The Baby M Case.” The surrogate mother, Mary Beth, gave birth to Melissa Stern, and decided she wanted to keep her as her own. Due to Mary’s decision there was a two year legal battle with the biological and intended mother and father, Betsy and Bill Stern. Because of their original deal, the Stern’s won custody of baby Melissa and Mary Beth was given visitation rights. This case stirred up many concerns in New Jersey because people began questioning how good surrogate pregnancies would work out. In 1988, surrogate mother, Patty Nowakowski gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The couple she carried the babies for only wanted a girl so they left Patty
In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, truth and happiness are falsely engineered to create a perfect society; the belief of the World Controllers that stability is the the key to a utopian society actually led to the creation of an anti-utopian society in which loose morals and artificial happiness exist. Huxley uses symbolism, metaphors, and imagery to satirize the possibiliy of an artificial society in the future as well as the “brave new world” itself.
...n Brave New World , John, a ‘savage’ not raised by the society asks the world leader, Mustapha Mond, why they do not show films like Othello. Mustapha cites that not showing that kind of film is the “price we have to pay for stability.” As well, he speaks of the necessity for different classes of people to be in operation, even though more efficient methods through science exist. The prime directive of all these ‘utopias’ is to pacify their public and either thrill them with the collective being of a nation, or sedate them with excitement and drugs.
Through their use of allusion, symbolism and representation they portray many of societies flaws and imperfections. Such an imperfection includes the illustration of how totalitarian governments abuse the power they have acquired for their own gain, harming the people they are sworn to serve and protect. Through this abusive self-gaining government, we all are liable to become victims of consumer culture caused by the blind obedience to advertising and propaganda, being unable to form or voice an opinion of our own. But this lack of opinion can be at fault because of our own apathy, the ignorance and slothfulness that is contributed to the role we play in our society and the importance of that roles ability to motivate and inspire change. Whether you’ve read or viewed the novels or feature films I’ve discussed I have no hesitation in saying any text or film you have seen has been used in some way, shape or form to convey the criticisms of our ‘perfect’
...ter the film has been released the issues that Metropolis are still relevant. While the critics of the 1920s where quick to harshly criticize the film, new generations have found it inspiring and even prophetic, rightfully guessing the course of history. Even H.G Wells founder of modern science fiction and a harsh criticizers of Lang’s Metropolis, responded to the film by creating its own version of it (Testa 182). Whether today or eighty-years ago, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis resonates with the public due to similarities this society has with our own. Fritz Lang does not argue that technology will generate a regressive society, Lang argues that not only an unstable human mind, but also an unstable society, that is not in touch with all the parts of the psyches, the ego, the superego and the id, might be easily lured by the ornamentations technology bring to a society.
reproduction. The authors believe that over time the concept of an egg, an artificial womb, will be used for human reproduction, rather than incubation of fetus within a woman’s body. This process is called ectogenesis, which is “the development of artificial wombs that can sustain fetuses to term without the need for women's bodies.” (Smajdor, 2007) This article discusses the concept of an artificial womb, the health & safety benefits, the advantages to potential parents, the possibility of gender equality and balanced parenting roles and potential resistance to using artificial wombs.
One could easily dismiss movies as superficial, unnecessarily violent spectacles, although such a viewpoint is distressingly pessimistic and myopic. In a given year, several films are released which have long-lasting effects on large numbers of individuals. These pictures speak
Terry Gilliam’s dystopian film, Brazil (1985), lays out a visually stunning and ultimately sinister depiction of a future society hounded by an oppressive government’s desire for absolute control over the population. Of elementary focus in the film are the roles of technology and the subsequent dehumanization of the modern world and the myth of the “free man” under a totalitarian regime. Gilliam shows our current obsession with technology and information as an exasperating evolution of modernity that is, ultimately, leading us nowhere. Repeatedly, we see the shortcomings of a society that is overly reliant upon systematic response (as displayed by the constant demands for paperwork) and completely lacking in individualism and expression (as shown by the massive, colorless, unadorned structures that compose this future world.) While Gilliam’s film never really resolves any of these issues, his examination of them is thorough enough to merit further discussion.
The two controversial topics discussed below share a single goal: to enhance the quality of life of a human individual. The first topic, transhumanism, is a largely theoretical movement that involves the advancement of the human body through scientific augmentations of existing human systems. This includes a wide variety of applications, such as neuropharmacology to enhance the function of the human brain, biomechanical interfaces to allow the human muscles to vastly out-perform their unmodified colleagues, and numerous attempts to greatly extend, perhaps indefinitely, the human lifespan. While transhumanist discussion is predominantly a thinking exercise, it brings up many important ethical dilemmas that may face human society much sooner than the advancements transhumanism desires to bring into reality. The second topic, elective removal of healthy limbs at the request of the patient, carries much more immediate gravity. Sufferers of a mental condition known as Body Integrity Identity Disorder seek to put to rest the disturbing disconnect between their internal body image and their external body composition. This issue is often clouded by sensationalism and controversy in the media, and is therefore rarely discussed in a productive manner (Bridy). This lack of discussion halts progress and potentially limits citizens' rights, as legislation is enacted without sufficient research. The primary arguments against each topic are surprisingly similar; an expansion on both transhumanism and elective amputation follows, along with a discussion of the merit of those arguments. The reader will see how limits placed on both transhumanism and elective amputation cause more harm to whole of human society than good.
Surrogacy is becoming extremely popular as a way for people to build their families and women to have a source of income. Many people have various reasons for their opposition to it whether it be by comparing it to prostitution or disagreeing with how military wives take advantage of the Tricare insurance. Lorraine Ali states in her article “The Curious Lives of Surrogates” that one of the more popular reasons to oppose surrogacy is that it contradicts, “what we’ve always thought of as an unbreakable bond between mother and child.” However, a woman’s inability to conceive her own children does not determine the absence of a mother to child bond.
For years, authors and philosophers have satirized the “perfect” society to incite change. In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley describes a so-called utopian society in which everyone is happy. This society is a “controlled environment where technology has essentially [expunged] suffering” (“Brave New World”). A member of this society never needs to be inconvenienced by emotion, “And if anything should go wrong, there's soma” (Huxley 220). Citizens spend their lives sleeping with as many people as they please, taking soma to dull any unpleasant thoughts that arise, and happily working in the jobs they were conditioned to want. They are genetically altered and conditioned to be averse to socially destructive things, like nature and families. They are trained to enjoy things that are socially beneficial: “'That is the secret of happiness and virtue – liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny'” (Huxley 16). Citizens operate more like machinery, and less like humans. Humanity is defined as “the quality of being human” (“Humanity”). To some, humanity refers to the aspects that define a human: love, compassion and emotions. Huxley satirizes humanity by dehumanizing the citizens in the Brave New World society.
Antirealism in film transcends and brainstorms the fantasies that never become reality. Even though antirealism is apprehensive with a smaller amount then actual stuff, our observation for an...
Commercial surrogacy commodifies children because by paying the surrogate mother to give up her child, they treat the child as an object of exchange or commodity that can be bought and sold. As any business transaction, the parents give money for the exchange of an object, the child. The parents get their desired child and the mother gets the money, but what about what thee child think about this event? The parents and surrogate mother’s action were done with self-interest. It could be argued that they wanted the best for the child. However, the first priority in the intentional procreation of the child was not the welfare of the child but rather to give it up to the parents in exchange of money. Additionally, women’s labor is commodified because the surrogate mother treats her parental rights as it was a property right not as a trust. In other words, the decisions taken concerning the child are not done primarily for the benefit of the child. The act of the mother relenting her parental rights is done for a monetary price. She disposes of her parental rights, which are to be managed for the welfare of the owner, as if they were property right, which are to be handled for personal
The woman who conceives, carries and gives birth to the child is called the surrogate mother. There are two types of surrogacy: traditional surrogacy and gestational surrogacy. Traditional surrogacy involves the sperm from the intended father (also known as the sperm donor) and the egg of the surrogate mother. Therefore, in this case, the surrogate mother is the genetic mother of the child. The second type is gestational surrogacy. Gestational surrogacy involves the extraction of the egg from the intended mother, and the transfer of the embryo into the surrogate’s uterus. This means that the surrogate mother is not genetically related to the child. Within the two types of surrogacy, there are two types of surrogacy arrangements: altruistic (non-commercial) and commercial. Under the Surrogacy Act 2010 (Qld), a commercial surrogacy arrangement is when a person receives payment, reward, or other material benefit or advantage for entering into the surrogacy arrange...
The issues of transhumanism, is being contrasted with the eugenics movement ,trivialization of human life and the growing gap of socioeconomic groups. Many transhuman advocates say that the current human condition is a work in-progress, a functional, yet incomplete form that we should seek to make better thr...