Back in 2009, a movie came out starring Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, and Rosamund Pike, called ‘Surrogates’. The basic idea was that everyone had stopped going out in person, preferring to remain in the safety of their homes and experiencing life outside by being hooked into a robotic surrogate—a younger, more attractive version of themselves.
Pure sci-fi, of course.
This year, though—as going outside and mixing with other people seems increasingly risky, and with the virus mutating rapidly—is this the direction in which humans are heading?
In some ways, I can appreciate the attraction. Sitting in your all-encompassing pod, you can see, hear and feel everything that your surrogate feels, without the risk or pain. Plus, of course, everyone you meet is invariably beautiful, healthy, etc.
At the other end of the scale is a story by EM Forster called ‘The Machine Stops’. In this, a civilisation in the far future lives entirely away from the surface of the planet, with their every need tended to by the Machine. They message each other and speak via video conferencing. The only occupation appears to be the communication of what passes for ‘knowledge’.
Does this sound familiar? Does it sound like Facebook, Twitter, Zoom and Skype, all rolled into one?
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| BBC Out of the Unknown drama of The Machine Stops |
‘The Machine Stops’ was first published in 1909, pre-dating any such means of communication in quite a remarkable way. It was published in various anthologies and collections, was voted one of the favourite short stories published up to 1965. The following year, the BBC dramatised the story, under the same title, as part of its Out Of The Unknown series. It was also included in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume II, in 1973, edited by Ben Bova.
In the novella (it was approximately 12,500 words) Forster tells that those who do not agree with the overall control of the Machine are considered ‘unmechanical’ and are threatened with expulsion to the surface—‘Homelessness’.
In many ways, this is the premise of Hugh Howey’s very successful Silo series, where humanity has been forced underground into massive silos, with the threat of being sent outside into the toxic atmosphere for any transgression.
I’ve been thinking about this type of science-fiction quite a bit during this past year, as fears have grown of what lies outside our homes and our borders, and misinformation and conspiracy theories have spread more rapidly than any virus.
Human nature rails against anything that is enforced. It’s lovely to work from home in your pyjamas, it seems, but not if that’s all you’re allowed to do. When we are given time to sit in solitude, to catch up on all those books we feel we should have read, or hear all those pieces of music we feel we ought to have listened to, all we really want to do is chat with our absent friends and mix with strangers.
We are, as ever, a contrary and discontented species. My hope for 2021 is that we learn to appreciate what we have, and work constructively to make it better.
Here’s wishing you Health, Luck, and Happiness for the New Year.
This week’s Word of the Week is pandemic, which is one of the words of the year for 2020, not surprisingly. It comes from the Greek pan meaning all, and demos meaning people. Then the English addition of ‘ic’ onto the end. First came into use in the mid-17th Century. As opposed to an epidemic, which comes from epi meaning upon. The difference between the two words is that an epidemic is an infectious disease that has spread through a community, region or population, whereas a pandemic has spread across countries or continents.
