Jump to content
Banner by ~ Ice Princess Silky

movies/tv Transendance (Spoilers)


Freeze-Frame

Recommended Posts

Well, I saw the movie Transcendence last night. In terms of entertainment, I would give it 3/5 stars. But I sort of found a disturbing hidden message, and here's why.

 

(SPOILERS FOURTHCOMING!!!)

 

I believe that the movie was promoting and transhumanism. Will, played by Johnny Depp, of course was the all powerful computer that made other people into robots that were interconnected to Will and other transhumans. These "people" were entirely controlled by Will like a God.

 

How is will like a God? I noticed a few religious and biblical references. The first of course was when Will was presenting Transcendence at the conference when he says "hasn't humanity always done that" when referring to creating a God. This suggest that the director wanted to emphasize Will's desire to produce an all powerful Artificial Intelligence (a man-made God).

 

Second, I noticed a few subliminal biblical messages. One was when materials from the ground were used to heal and virtually build the transcendent humans, just like how in the book of Genesis and how God made humanity from the Earth. Similarly, the same materials were used to form rain with the material inside which would also transcend other humans around the world just like how in the book of Genesis, God flooded the Earth and destroyed humanity for the evils they have committed. In this case, the evil done by humans in the movie was the destruction of the environment. That's why the idea of environmentalism was constantly brought up. These two ideas suggest that Will IS the all powerful, man made God and is turning people into robots to accomplish his goal of environmentalism and the end of human suffering.

 

Another biblical reference, which I think is the most important one, is Will's garden. This is possibly a reference to the Garden of Eden in the Bible. At the very end of the movie, the water in the garden contained the material that was used to transcend humanity and will be the start of the creation of a "greater" specie of humans. This is similar to how in, again, the book of Genesis, how God first let mankind live in the Garden of Eden. This is probably used to emphasize the accomplishments of transhumanism, but I don't know for sure.

 

RIFT also played a role in the deeper meaning. They were portrayed as terrorist because they thought that transhumanism was evil. The director portrayed them as evil because of their use of military power and weaponry primarily for destruction.

 

As to what my thoughts are about this, I feel like this is a huge F*CK YOU to the face, because this basically goes against everything I believe.

 

I do believe that the environment is in danger and that humanity can be a bit evil sometimes, but using transhumanism to fix these problems is even worse. Sure, it will fix the environment and accomplish world peace, but without free-will and the natural rights that people are born with, what's the point of living. I sure wouldn't want a man made computer God controlling everything about me. I don't want my God-given rights taken away by some machine. (They call it "God"-given for a reason)

 

What I also don't like is how the movie portrayed people like me as "terrorists", or just evil and corrupt. Just so you know, I am not like that at all. However, I wouldn't hesitate to fight for my liberty if they were being threatened to be taken away.

 

Well, those are just my thoughts. I would love to hear yours. And thank you for putting up with my rant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 You realize transhumanism isn't about stripping away free will right? It's about improving the human condition using technology. It doesn't have to be something bad. This movie obviously showed one of the darker interpretations, but that's not what transhumanism is. It might be the way some people view it, but many have a more positive view.

 

Edit: Here a Wikipedia article:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism

 

 Yes, I know Wikipedia is the worst source of internet knowledge ever Blah, blah, blah. It's not nearly as bad as some people think it is. Plus, I can probably find more links if anyone wants me to. This was just the easiest to get.

Edited by BasementPony
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought it was a great, thought provoking movie.

I'm not saying everything Will did was right, I think the point is everybody was supposed to think about it for themself. The last thing I would agree with is taking away people's freedom and privacy. But Will did say they were still seperate but could network. The movie didn't make it clear whether he gave them a choice in the matter.

But the thing I was thinking about throughout the movie was that he never used any violence while everybody else was scared and fighting him.

 

Really cool movie. It sucks that it doesn't seem to be doing well. I think it's a little over people's heads.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I didn't see Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I would have been able to see this. But from what I've heard, the movie is great.

 

From what I've read, it's almost the exact opposite: Transcendence apparently grapples with big themes but can't really bring them all home. Too bad. The whole "people syncing themselves with technology" template has generally been compelling, such as with The Matrix or Deus Ex.

  • Brohoof 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what I've read, it's almost the exact opposite: Transcendence apparently grapples with big themes but can't really bring them all home. Too bad. The whole "people syncing themselves with technology" template has generally been compelling, such as with The Matrix or Deus Ex.

That's a shame. I guess not all  movies are a home run.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Join the herd!

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...