4 ms·

I watched the movie on an airplane many years ago. I vaguely remember Matt Damon working in a robot factory and having a robot parole officer. I think robot bod

I watched the movie on an airplane many years ago. I vaguely remember Matt Damon working in a robot factory and having a robot parole officer. I think robot bodyguards also protected Willem Dafoe. I don't recall robots preventing people from starting farms or providing medical care to the sick children, and that's missing from the wikipedia summary of the movie. Why would they do that? How would it benefit the space station to prevent earthers from building a functioning society?

maxerickson 10y ago
Yeah, I haven't watched it recently either. But the social control is certainly implied (and the script was messy enough without spending 1/2 hour really spelling it out).
- yummyfajitas 10y ago
  The social control might be present in the movie, but in reality it mostly doesn't exist. In reality we generally just ignore our low productivity areas, and perhaps make sure the folks from there can't cause problems elsewhere. The NYC and SF elites occasionally try to feel good by pointless throwing $100M at local problems that money can't fix [1], but mostly they ignore Newark. The Mumbai elite don't impose social control on the rural hinterlands, they just don't go there. [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerbergs-failed-100-million-donation-to-newark-public-schools-2015-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerbergs-failed-100-m...
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    perhaps make sure the folks from there can't cause problems elsewhere This is wandering dangerously close to the definition of social control. It might be efficient, disinterested social control, but it's control nonetheless.
    - yummyfajitas 10y ago
      It's social control to ensure that people from Newark act according to NYC behavioral standards when they take the PATH in? In any case, this is very different from what you postulated happened: Why didn't the people on [Newark] start their own farms? Because the [NYPD] came and killed them if they tried.
      - maxerickson 10y ago
        NYPD doesn't have cheap robots yet, so it's hard to say what New York elites would do given the chance (and some time to convince themselves that what they were doing was just). But I agree, your scenario doesn't match up well with my interpretation of the movie.

maxerickson 10y ago

Yeah, I haven't watched it recently either. But the social control is certainly implied (and the script was messy enough without spending 1/2 hour really spelling it out).

yummyfajitas 10y ago
The social control might be present in the movie, but in reality it mostly doesn't exist. In reality we generally just ignore our low productivity areas, and perhaps make sure the folks from there can't cause problems elsewhere. The NYC and SF elites occasionally try to feel good by pointless throwing $100M at local problems that money can't fix [1], but mostly they ignore Newark. The Mumbai elite don't impose social control on the rural hinterlands, they just don't go there. [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerbergs-failed-100-million-donation-to-newark-public-schools-2015-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerbergs-failed-100-m...
- maxerickson 10y ago
  perhaps make sure the folks from there can't cause problems elsewhere This is wandering dangerously close to the definition of social control. It might be efficient, disinterested social control, but it's control nonetheless.
  - yummyfajitas 10y ago
    It's social control to ensure that people from Newark act according to NYC behavioral standards when they take the PATH in? In any case, this is very different from what you postulated happened: Why didn't the people on [Newark] start their own farms? Because the [NYPD] came and killed them if they tried.
    - maxerickson 10y ago
      NYPD doesn't have cheap robots yet, so it's hard to say what New York elites would do given the chance (and some time to convince themselves that what they were doing was just). But I agree, your scenario doesn't match up well with my interpretation of the movie.