Surrogates

Synopsis

In the future all humans have their own surrogate (think avatar) that can be controlled from the comfort of their own home and still allow them all the pleasures and business of the world around them. Until recently, the surrogates have also allowed a level of protection, keeping humans away from the dangers of the outside world. But a new weapon has been developed that can cause death to a surrogate operator with only access to the surrogate. Detective Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) is forced to venture out into the world without his surrogate to figure out what's going on.

Entertainment Value - B

A good sci-fi/action flick, reminiscent of I, Robot (even with James Cromwell playing the same role as inventor of these new robots/surrogates). I liked I, Robot better; it was definitely deeper and more action packed. Maybe this is Bruce Willis's beginning to tone down the action flicks he stars in.

Moral Value - Failure to Communicate? - 4

This film accurately depicted how constantly seeking thrills, and trying to escape reality, damages real-life relationships. It made me think a lot about David A. Bednar's CES fireside on May 3, 2009, entitled "Things as They Really Are." The following are excerpts that relate particularly well to the film:

If the adversary cannot entice us to misuse our physical bodies, then one of his most potent tactics is to beguile you and me as embodied spirits to disconnect gradually and physically from things as they really are. In essence, he encourages us to think and act as if we were in our premortal, unembodied state. And, if we let him, he can cunningly employ some aspects of modern technology to accomplish his purposes. Please be careful of becoming so immersed and engrossed in pixels, texting, ear buds, twittering, online social networking, and potentially addictive uses of media and the Internet that you fail to recognize the importance of your physical body and miss the richness of person‐to‐person communication. Beware of digital displays and data in many forms of computer‐mediated interaction that can displace the full range of physical capacity and experience....

I am raising a warning voice that we should not squander and damage authentic relationships by obsessing over contrived ones. 'Nearly 40% of men and 53% of women who play online games said their virtual friends were equal to or better than their real‐life friends, according to a survey of 30,000 gamers conducted by … a recent Ph.D. graduate from Stanford University. More than a quarter of gamers [who responded indicated that] the emotional highlight of the past week occurred in a computer world.