MovieChat Forums > Advantageous (2015) Discussion > Avatars

Avatars

posted 10 years ago by blisterpeanuts
4 replies | jump to latest

With that kind of technology (3-D conferencing, memory transfer, AI) it's surprising that they didn't simply alter her appearance on her videos. We can almost do that now, so 50-75 years into the future it will be a routine thing. Heck you won't be able to trust any audio or video as being the real thing. Just morph her into the "young face" needed to represent their services.

The other thing is, who would want to do it? I die so that an imperfect copy of me in a healthy body may carry on? Hm, I suppose when I'm about to die and I need a trusted heir to carry on the business or take care of an infirm loved one, it might make sense. Or do they keep it a secret that one's consciousness doesn't make it into the new body?

These nitpicks aside, it was a beautiful and thought provoking film. The notion that millions of highly intelligent, well educated people would be hopelessly outmoded and redundant because of AI, the vast poverty amidst amazing technology and enormous wealth, stupid and evil corporatocracy dominating a withered, inhuman society, are powerful images and a warning that we are closer to dystopia than we like to think.

[–] bmcr104 10 years ago

Remember that Gwen's job entailed more than just appearing in videos. We explicitly saw her presenting and the film hints at her role being more than just a model for the company. She's described as an expert and a scientist.

This is why I believe she needed to be moved to a new body.

[–] ToHelenBackAgain 10 years ago

SPOILERS BELOW

They keep it a secret, yes. Even Gwen believed it was a genuine consciousness transfer until her colleague and ex told her the truth. It's notable too that he said that the technology wasn't there yet. So people will do it because they want to live a couple hundred years, because they want a healthy younger body, reasons like that. They don't know that they're dying. And maybe eventually they really won't be, but the company had no intention of waiting for that stage of development when they could make money now.

It wasn't about Gwen looking younger; that was just one way, in addition to placing her in desperate financial straits, to pressure her. The company wanted their expert spokesperson to be the first, their vanguard product, a living advertisement for the procedure. For that to be the case, she had to actually do it.

"Are those cats?" "I assume they're Schrödinger's cats."

[–] melinda2001 10 years ago

You ask who would want to do it, but then give some very good reasons why you might want to do it yourself. I don't think it helps to think of the process as a kind of death. At some point, imperfections do not matter. When we waken each day we're not quite the same person that went to sleep. At the end of the movie we see that Gwen is the same person, but more importantly, it mostly didn't matter. They are living through just one more technical innovation.

Also, I don't see the corporations as being evil. They are only doing what they are supposed to do which is to return value to their shareholders. When we expect them to have feelings, the mistake is ours. I understand how you feel, however, and I share much of your feelings. The movie shows technological progress rolling on but focuses on what is being left behind. It's natural to feel angry. I think that's what the explosions were about, but I think it's better to simply witness and to do the best we can, just like the characters did.

[–] ToHelenBackAgain 10 years ago

I don't think it helps to think of the process as a kind of death.

That's pretty much the whole point of the movie. It isn't a kind of death - it's literal death. "The technology isn't there yet."

"This is a problem that requires two minds with but a single malt."