In this blog post, we examine how close the technology-dependent society shown in Surrogates has actually become to our daily lives, and explore the threat to humanity lurking behind the convenience.
I don’t watch a lot of movies in general, but I do make a point to catch sci-fi films. I’ve seen quite a few robot or AI-related movies, especially Terminator and I, Robot. Most robot or AI films center on conflict with humans. However, this ‘Surrogates’ film features robots, yet there is no conflict between humans and robots; the robots appear strictly as tools. The film focuses on how the changes brought about by the emergence of Surrogates affect humans. ‘Surrogate’ means a substitute, and it’s also the name of the robots in the film. It seems the term was used because they are used to live in place of humans.
The film begins with the explanation that in the near future, Surrogates—machines that replace humans—are invented using technology that detects brainwaves to execute commands. Surrogates are machines that look exactly like humans. These machines can be controlled by receiving human brainwaves. Since they can be controlled remotely, humans leave a device that transmits their brainwaves at home, lie down there, and control the machine with their brainwaves, living their lives through the machine. Surrogates rapidly spread worldwide due to advantages like convenience, safety from crime, and beauty. Their greatest benefit was user safety. However, chaos ensues when the son of the Surrogates inventor dies alongside his Surrogate during an attack, leading police to investigate. The protagonist, pursuing a criminal armed with a weapon that destroys Surrogates while melting the user’s brain, chases the target into a district where Surrogate opponents gather. There, the Surrogate is destroyed, and the weapon falls into the hands of the opposition group’s leader.
Continuing his investigation without a Surrogate, the protagonist discovers that VSI, the Surrogate development company, and the military had invented a weapon that kills both Surrogate and user. Though deemed too dangerous and scrapped, one unit remains unaccounted for. He discovers his superior is behind the murders and successfully extracts information from his computer by force, only to have it stolen by the Surrogates inventor, who is controlling the Surrogates of his deceased partner. It turns out the inventor created Surrogates for the disabled, but opposed their global use, calling it an addiction. In fact, the leader of the anti-Surrogate movement was also the inventor’s Surrogate. The inventor uses the obtained data to attempt to wipe out all users worldwide along with their Surrogates, but the protagonist successfully stops him. However, while the users themselves survive, the command causing the Surrogates to malfunction is not removed, leaving it active and causing all Surrogates worldwide to break down.
This movie was shown to me by my high school science teacher, and I remember it vividly because the concept of Surrogates was so creative and fascinating. That’s why I decided to revisit it now. Unlike the futuristic technology in other sci-fi films, the Surrogates in this movie felt relatively achievable in the near future. This realism sparked my imagination about what life might be like if Surrogates actually existed, making the film more immersive. In the film’s opening scene, a monkey uses brainwaves to control a robotic arm and eat food. This experiment has actually been successfully conducted in reality. Unlike other robots, the control mechanism is essentially ready; only the hardware needs development, making it more feasible than other robotic concepts.
Furthermore, if Surrogates were actually invented, they would bring many benefits to humans, as introduced in the film’s opening. Using Surrogates allows people to live young even in old age, and people with disabilities can live like ordinary people as long as their nerves aren’t damaged. People can live with the face, body, race, and gender they desire, and even if a Surrogate is destroyed, it causes no harm to the user, eliminating worries about crime or accidents. Their physical capabilities far surpass those of human bodies, making daily life more convenient. They seem almost too perfect, with so many advantages it’s hard to imagine any drawbacks. While the film begins by introducing these benefits, that wasn’t its true focus.
First, it shows and criticizes the dehumanization that has become widespread in society due to the invention and commercialization of Surrogates. Watching this film, I realized how meticulously the filmmakers embedded their intended message throughout. In a seemingly minor scene of the protagonist walking down the street, his Surrogate malfunctions, forcing him to conduct his first investigation in the flesh. Surrogates bumping into him without a reaction or apology on the street vividly illustrates this dehumanization. When the protagonist enters a military base to seek investigative help, a scene shows soldiers using Surrogates for war training. It depicts the soldiers training as if playing a game. While the destruction caused by the Surrogates during training is limited to the Surrogates themselves, the film raises concerns that in actual warfare, soldiers might treat Surrogates used by enemy forces or even civilians in the same casual, game-like manner.
On a personal level, this is shown through the relationship between the protagonist and his wife. After their son’s death, the protagonist struggles to communicate effectively with his wife, who has fallen into depression. She remains confined to her room, engaging only in superficial communication through Surrogates. Whenever he attempts genuine connection, she disconnects the Surrogates, severing contact – a scene repeated multiple times. This warns that while technological advancement brings convenience, it can also undermine humanity.
The film also warns that when new technology is invented and commercialized, it can lead to new crimes or human rights violations. Just as the inventor killed the protagonist’s partner and manipulated Surrogates to deceive others while intercepting data the protagonist obtained from his boss—the mastermind behind the murder—hijacking someone else’s Surrogate for criminal purposes would be extremely difficult to detect or prevent. Just as the protagonist bypassed security by using a Surrogate disconnected from his boss to obtain data, employing this criminal method would render all security systems utilizing Surrogates completely useless. Furthermore, in the film, a police-affiliated programmer has developed and operates a system capable of monitoring all Surrogates and forcibly shutting down those engaged in criminal activity. This constitutes a violation of global privacy. It is highly dangerous, as it could be misused for other criminal activities, much like when the inventor attempted to destroy all Surrogates and their users. Furthermore, scenes showed devices used with Surrogates producing effects akin to drugs, suggesting the potential emergence of entirely new crimes that didn’t exist before their invention.
In the film, a murder occurs at the company that became the world’s largest through Surrogates, raising doubts about their safety, yet the company ignores it. Worse, it was this Surrogates company that collaborated with the military to create that dangerous weapon. It shows how they used science and technology to profit from new inventions while neglecting the problems those inventions caused. Furthermore, the film shows how convenient inventions lead to communication breakdown within a family and the disappearance of human qualities in society. When new science and technology emerge, it is inevitable that new inventions utilizing them will follow. While it is true that these increase convenience, it is necessary to consider whether they are causing human qualities to gradually disappear from society.
In modern society too, as technologies like smartphones advance, the ways people communicate are changing. As convenient tools multiply, people increasingly engage in indirect and superficial communication rather than direct interaction. This makes us mindful of the dehumanization hidden behind the convenience brought by technological progress. This film effectively conveys these issues through the sci-fi genre, delivering a message that makes us ponder the flip side of technological advancement.
In conclusion, ‘Surrogates’ is not merely a science fiction film, but a work that deeply explores the relationship between humanity and technological advancement. It offers profound insights into how technology transforms our lives and how humanity is affected within that transformation. Through this film, we gain an opportunity to reflect once more on the important values we might lose while enjoying the conveniences technology provides.
