The future presented in Surrogates paints a bleak picture for our technologically obsessed culture, especially with our ever increasing focus on social media. Christian Clifton doesn’t want to live in that future.
A few years back the movie Surrogates saw a limited release and only moderate approval from critics and viewers alike. While it’s true that the movie was not the very best scifi or action movie in the last decade there are some philosophical and social ideas it explored that are very applicable to our culture today. I agree with Roger Ebert’s statement that the movie “descends into action scenes too quickly”, and by doing so it loses the momentum it had in having a meaningful discussion on how technology and human interaction will evolve together.
The basic plot follows FBI agent Tom Greer, played by Bruce Willis, as he tries to uncover the motives and persons responsible for various murders. Most individuals in the movie live their lives through surrogates, remotely controlled androids, and never leave home themselves. What grabs the attention of the FBI is that the people murdered where killed through their surrogates, the killer had devised a way to kill people remotely via their connections to surrogates. There is the obligatory radical anti technology group that is so common in any speculative future movie that is placed as the primary suspects.
The plot is pretty standard, nothing amazing done there, but what really stands out is a commentary on how technology changes how we view ourselves and interact with one another. It brings up some hard questions about what we accept as meaningful contact with other people.
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A real conversation and audible words of affirmation from a friend are certainly more valuable than a thousand likes on Facebook.
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I teach high school math and since that is everyone’s favorite subject I often have opportunities to remind students to put their phones away and get off social media, something that has absorbed the lives of so many. Listening to students during a free period, when they are allowed to use phones, is a little shocking as the majority of conversations revolve around the latest Tweet or Instagram post. To these kids the number of likes and followers is directly tied to self worth and social worth.This is not a phenomenon that only affects teenagers, it is the reality for many of us as we live in a world of social media that is always finding another moment of our days to fill.
I fall into this trap all the time, especially now that I am trying to get myself into the world of writing. Having the means to quantify the value of a post can lead to a serious internal struggle between accomplishment and self deprecation. After all, if my writing is any good that should be reflected in the number of shares and likes, right? At times it is easy to become upset that something I have done is not going viral or only gets a few hundred views, turning these numbers into a direct valuation of my own worth.
There is an inherent problem in chasing internet fame, it is the same thing found in all types of fame; there is never enough of it. I doubt I am alone when I find myself looking at a post of mine that got two thousand page views and thinking “If only it had gotten three thousand”, instead of feeling accomplished. Some of it comes from my desire to grow as a writer, but some of it also comes from a realization on how I value these numbers.
There is a relationship here that shows why there is never enough; the value we put on that notoriety is directly proportional to the effort it takes to give. One like or share is worth almost nothing, whether we realize it or not, because it takes almost no effort. The book Convert Anything to Calories figures that the average mouse click burns just over one calorie, a quantifiable definition for just how little effort these social media interactions require. I know it is incredibly easy to press that little blue button on the screen, I do it all the time without serious thought, and so I know it is just as easy for someone else to do the same.
On the other side, think about how meaningful a phone call feels these days, let alone a face to face conversation; they feel wonderful and revitalizing in ways that numbers on a screen cannot. These require real effort; planning to meet, actually formulating thoughts and vocalizing them, and perhaps a physical gesture like a handshake or hug. All of these can be difficult, and become more so as we further delve into showing appreciation through a mouse click. When these things do happen they seem almost foreign but are something to be treasured because they are so outside the new norm for interactions.
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I don’t want social media to rule my life or my self esteem, I want to value myself intrinsically and not because someone shared something of mine.
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In the movie Bruce Willis loses his surrogate and is forced to interact with the world on a real level, eventually seeing how much better the world is when not seen through a pair of electronic eyes. I have to remind myself of this regularly to keep my sanity. A real conversation and audible words of affirmation from a friend are certainly more valuable than a thousand likes on Facebook. I say this now in a moment of lucidity, but upon seeing how many views this piece gets I might still get caught up into the “I need more likes” trap.
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Obviously the movie has taken this idea to the extreme, or has it? As we crave more and more from our technological interactions with one another it is not impossible to dream of a world where our computers turn into robot sentries we send out into the world for us. I am a human and so I always want more of something that stimulates me, and this trend of striving for more could one day lead to a world very similar to that of Surrogates.
Sure there is the argument to be made in line with Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” (wherein Plato asks if we are experiencing anything real because we are a brain that receives impulses second hand)that if technology can perfectly mimic our current body’s ability to sense then there is no difference. This ignores the problem that brought us to such a point; the issue that constantly finding our value in social interactions on a screen in front of us is no replacement for the real flesh and blood thing.
I don’t want social media to rule my life or my self esteem, I want to value myself intrinsically and not because someone shared something of mine. I am guilty of doing it way too often but I don’t want my world to become one of empty connections and interactions passed through wires and screens. I want my life to be full of meaningful relationships and conversations, handshakes and hugs, and drinks shared with loved ones face to face. Though the occasional like and share is nice.
—Photo: Jordi Bernabeu/flickr