Before we begin, I guess 26 weeks means I’ve been doing this for half a year now. This is something to celebrate, right? (imagine a confetti cannon going off from both your right and left. They shower you in colorful pieces of paper that you pray, even in your imagination, that you do not have to clean…)
While I’m pretty sure not a single other person has read this blog other than me, with that comes a simplicity and comfort that I cherish. If you’re reading this blog, you are from the future. What is it like then? Now is okay.
I do not know what the goals are long-term for this blog but here’s to at least another six months!
This is a special occasion, but I do not have much planned for this week…
I want to talk about sending my first letter. Wait, wait! Do not leave! Please.
I have been focused on hyper productivity and specialty. That was new and “cool” to me when I wrote it. I still believe in what I said, but I have more or less moved on. No need to think so much about the work. Nike puts it best…
This week I have taken a moment to appreciate the little things i.e. I mailed my first letter. The postal service is really a gift from the past. An incredible system but just like my productivity, it is not new or cool to anyone. In addition to mailing a letter, I participated in the first meeting of a program I am a part of. It is called the “Youth Community Studies (YCS) Fellows Program” Every week, the program supervisor, Dr. Hernandez, begins with a quick 1-2 minute meditation session. Taking the time to appreciate our body is powerful. Close your eyes, focus on your breath, and then starting from your head, appreciate every part of your body. Take just one minute to live in the present moment. There is something to the woo.
Now, I think this is kind of a cop-out, but I am sharing with you a quick movie response that I wrote for class this week. I do not like to cross streams, but I figured for this week it was best to take out this bird too because I am very stressed already and I do not have many more stones for the week. Maybe it will be productive to reference an academic work… or something like that…
Enjoy my writing! This has been Tristan from HQ. It always will be Tristan. Bye!
My Response to Moon with a focus on dystopia and utopia:
Moon Viewing Response
Moon takes place on a moon base with a single inhabitant…
The film moon has a list of amazing utopian elements. To begin with, the advancements in “clean” fusion energy technology that provides most of the world’s energy. There exist AI and robots that can perform high levels of cognition and marvelous machines assembled on the Moon. Additionally, toward the end, we learn that this society has the technology to create and preserve clones. From a technological lens, it is demonstrated that this society is considerably more advanced than our own. With the focus on “global” clean energy, the movie appears to emphasize a world peace at least comparable, if not an improvement, to our modern climate.
Now, I will move on toward the more dystopian elements. As the story unravels, it is revealed to Sam, and the audience, that there is a great central moral conflict: Sam is a clone. Not only is he a clone, but he is a clone that has been manipulated and lied to. Referencing the scene where Sam2 discovers live communications between Gerty and mission control, it can be inferred that to the individuals that lead this operation, Sam is little more than a tool. He is treated as something subhuman, created to be used and discarded. A society that accepts the use of clones as slaves is a dystopian one, but we only get two brief observations from the daily world outside of Lunar Technologies. The first is the interaction between Sam1 and the daughter, and the second is the audio news report at the end. From these two interactions, it appears that the lack of moral regard is not a societal commonality but simply corporate corruption and greed. Regardless, it must be acknowledged that a company supplying most of the world’s energy being desensitized to these practices likely signifies greater political and social degradation overall.
Ignoring the obvious conflicts created by manipulation and deception, cloning technology presents a very complex moral and ethical situation. As Sam2 is preparing to leave the station he responds to Gerty’s comment about programming the next clone: “Gerty, we are not programmed, we are people. This film blurs the lines between technology, biology, morals, and machines. Through their interactions, humans, a semi-sentient AI, and immoral corporate men are contrasted. I would caution against describing any of the three as “human.” Each has aspects of what we would define as human, but none of the three are complete. Sam is biological and expresses deep emotion but is also a manufactured clone; Gerty expresses morals and a personality but is inorganic; and the men on Earth are human but lack a trait of empathy that defines human expression.
Moon’s depiction of the nightmare, dystopian synthesis of Sam Bell by Lunar Industries makes at least two very relevant comments on our culture. The first is the message about corporate greed and fraudulence. The motivation behind exploiting clones can only be inferred but is most likely a representation of corporate greed and apathy toward the little guy. The second is the comment on society’s expectation around work culture. How different is a 3 year contract from a 30 year retirement plan? Most people work their whole lives in hopes that one day they will be free. Moon represents a bleak reality where the earnest, hard-working man is deceived and used, only to be rewarded with death.
From this film, I reflect on the dystopian reality that is presented within the industrial-complex because it relates to the injustice I find in my personal experience. However, from this film, I am also reminded about our current scientific revolutions and encouraged by humanity’s persistent opposing good. This is where I keep my faith.
Citation
Fenegan, Stuart, et al. Moon. Sony Pictures Classics, 2009.