Wall-E Was Wrong
2008: The IPhone 3G is released. Barack Obama is elected 44th president of the United States. Wall-E is released theatrically. Individually world altering events. Taken together an admittedly strange recipe for a blog post that came together as I drove through a particularly rough patch of I-35 (if you’re unfamiliar with Dallas roads imagine the road you spend more time on than you want and is constantly under construction).
When Wall-E came out there were any number of people decrying that we were on our way to becoming “those people.” I have no argument with the notion that we are heading towards an unlivable planet. The cause is simply global climate change rather than an overwhelming volume of refuse.
It is my firm belief, however, that humanity won’t reach the levels of technological reliance or apathetic lethargy the Axiom’s inhabitants exhibit. Technology isn’t advanced enough, it’s cost prohibitive to develop it to a point of viability, and it would require a level of consensus heretofore unseen on a national, let alone an international, scale.
With the exception of medical technology, we have historically outsourced voluntary tasks to emerging technologies freeing up mental bandwidth to use on other tasks. As presented, the Axiom’s residents are completely reliant on their chairs. Nutritional requirements are seen to by the chair. Transportation is handled by the chair. Healthcare, medical and mental, are tended to by the chairs which can, simultaneously and flawlessly, track, diagnose, and treat any and all issues that may come arise (a feat human doctors are far from achieving, even with the assistance of technology). The chairs even take care of reproduction. So, either someone thought to program the chairs for that, or they developed a consciousness of their own and internalized the biological urge to procreate. I’m not sure which is more disturbing.
Technology is generally supplemental to an experience, at times additive. Particularly with respect to fitness. Doing laps around the living room to reach a step goal has never been so popular. Most trackers have some kind of celebratory notification when you reach a goal. If you’ve been idle for too long and they’ll gently remind you to get up and move. On top of that Fitbit, CrossFit, OrangeTheory, and a plethora of others have intensified the gamification of– and enhanced the social value of exercise and fitness. Generations of isolated, sedentary passivism creates so many health issues which as noted above human doctors cannot perfectly diagnose or treat.
I think the most likely roadblock is the simplest: cost. Public spending doesn’t get much love. It doesn’t have the razzle dazzle of the defense budget, and it’s not nearly as contentious as healthcare. As presented, the Axiom is home to what remains of the human population. Pre-launch expenses include construction and improvements incumbent on what are only emerging technologies at this point. In-flight those expenses shift to upkeep. Maintenance on the ship-wide transportation system, public spending. Utilities, public spending. Food production, public spending. Waste management, public spending. The last two being particularly important since the Axiom isn’t docking at any spaceports to take on new supplies.
Wall-E definitely got the funding source right; if anything of this kind is going to happen it will certainly come from a megacorporation. As with commercial space flight, one’s ability to participate will be directly tied to their purchasing power. Whatever company commercializes, they will argue that they are not prejudiced, everyone had an equal chance to buy a ticket. Yet for all but the uber-wealthy the price will be, if you’ll excuse the cliché, astronomical.
Wall-E isn’t purely an indictment of humanity’s refusal to take responsibility for our immeasurable and irrevocable impact on global climate change. It’s an updated if bleak interpretation of Castaway set roughly 1,000 years in the future. Wall-E is our Tom Hanks, and a cockroach is Wilson. It is self-aware and responds to the issues of the day as any good piece of media should.
While I may disagree with the particulars, Wall-E is immensely entertaining. I give Wall-E 4 stars.