Editors note:
TGC reviews media that is not suitable for everyone. To help readers make wise viewing decisions, we recommend reading Should I Watch This? and checking out a content guide.
You can tell a lot about the anxieties of an age by the common themes that show up in its narratives. Art tends to channel cultural preoccupations. In recent years, one theme has shown up again and again in movies and television: technology. From Black Mirror to Bo Burnhams Inside, from The Social Network to The Social Dilemma, theres no shortage of thought-provoking reflections on the moral dimensions and ethical questions arising in a world where technological development often outpaces the cultivation of wisdom. Its not just limited to the science-fiction genre, either. These days, comedies, dramas, and even martial art action films (see below) are also wrestling with technology-related themes.
Theres no shortage of thought-provoking reflections on the moral dimensions and ethical questions arising in a world where technological development often outpaces the cultivation of wisdom.
Christians should be leading the charge in thinking wisely about technology. There are several new books out there to facilitate these discussions: Tony Reinkes God, Technology, and the Christian Life, Felicia Wu Songs Restless Devices, Jason Thackers The Age of AI, Chris Martins Terms of Service, my own book on wisdom in the digital age, and more. If Hollywoods recent output is any indication, our society is conflicted and uncertain about technology. Even secular artists sense the moral complexity of technologys onward march. Consider picking up one of these books to be better equipped to bring Christian wisdom to the sorts of questions being asked in pop culturelike those in the five narratives below.
Kogonadas sublime family drama is the quietest and subtlest film on this list, yet it still raises big questions about the nature of being human. The story follows a family of four, in which each member comes from a different background and the son (Yang) just so happens to be a robot. After Yang malfunctions at the end of the (highly memorable) opening dance scene, the film goes on to explore familial grief as if a human child and brother had been lost. Whats the meaning of human connection when one part of that connection isnt human? Can a nonhuman being help humans rediscover the weird wonder and texture of lifefrom butterflies to tea to Chinese fun facts? If a nonhuman like Yang can experience friendship and love, work and leisure, happiness and pain, and social membership in a family and culture, what about the human experience does it lack? The film asks more questions than it answers, which is the type of science-fiction drama I like. Watch on Showtime. Rated PG.
As its very apt title suggests, theres a ton going on in this multiverse-hopping, maximalist martial arts film starring the brilliant Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan. Directed by the filmmaking duo Daniels (Swiss Army Man), EEAAO is rife with philosophical ideas and theological implications. While the films ideas are all over the map and ultimately land in a rather vacuous place (We can do whatever we want, nothing mattersbut be kind to one another anyway), its the form of the gonzo experience that rings true to life in the internet age. The film is more or less a microcosm of your average day onlinescrolling through feeds of random information, seeing context-less fragments of peoples lives, and generally feeling overwhelmed by the limitless drama unfolding at any given time, all over the world. The films three-part structure (I. Everything, II. Everywhere, III. All at Once) also captures the overwhelming chaos of perceptual life in the smartphone agewhere we literally have access to everything, everywhere, all at once. The internet has overcome the old constraints of space, time, and geographyrendering to humans the closest approximation of god-like powers (omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence) theyve yet experienced. Its no wonder the films protagonist is a nod to Eve (Evelyn). Her choice is the same one Eve faced in Eden and the same one we face any time we open Google: Do we take the bait of infinite knowledge and timeline-shifting, we can do whatever we want metaverse fantasy? Or do we rest content in our limitations, happy that we can know some things, be somewhere, and live in some time, even if we cant do it all? Now in theaters. Rated R.
Steven Soderberghs KIMI is a taut, brisk-paced thriller that essentially reworks Hitchcocks Rear Window for the age of Alexa and COVID-19. Zo Kravitz shines as a (rightly, it turns out) techno-paranoid data analyst for a tech company whose home assistant (Kimi, basically Siri or Google Home) doubles as a surveillance juggernaut. Anyone leery of Big Techs data-mining capabilities should probably avoid this film, which frighteningly plays out the implications of a world where the tech in your home (or hand) records your every movement and decision. Yet the film also ponders the potentially good implications of technology that makes sin and injustice harder to hide. Are the trade-offs worth it? If surveillance technology can expose crime and lead perpetrators to justice, are we willing to let go of our privacy? And is the truth-telling nature of objective technology really reliable when its owned by profit-motivated, often morally compromised corporations? The filma good supplement to reading Shoshana Zuboffs The Age of Surveillance Capitalismleaves us unsettled about these questions. Watch on HBO Max. Rated R.
This acclaimed new workplace drama on AppleTV+ has a fascinating premise. Mysterious corporation Lumon Industries pioneers a medical procedure called severance in which select employees can opt to sever their work and nonwork memories, such that they functionally live two lives with two perceptual realities. For severed employees, their innie (workplace self) only knows life within Lumonthey literally never get to sleep or leave, only toil (the parallel to hell is doubtless intentional). Meanwhile, their outie self has no idea what their innie does in the workplace, and most dont seem to care. The concept displays in exaggerated relief aspects of our lives we already experience: digital technology that allows us to fragment and compartmentalize multiple selves (e.g., our projected Instagram self vs. our real self, our Zoom self vs. our camera-off self); the struggle of increasingly fluid work-life boundaries (who wouldnt want a cleaner break between the two?); the temptation to escape stress and other unpleasantries, like death, if technology allows (A life at Lumon is protected from such things). The showjust renewed for a second seasonis incredibly thought-provoking on the nature of consciousness and the dangers of the dis-integrated self. We need to be thinking through these questions as Web3, the metaverse, and virtual reality grow in prominence. Watch on AppleTV+. Rated TV-MA.
Mahershala Ali shines in this 2021 sci-fi drama, which plays like a more tender episode of Black Mirror. Directed by Benjamin Cleary, the film (set in the near future) centers on an ethical dilemma posed by technology that allows a terminally ill human to secretly undergo a procedure where a clone version of themselves is created, complete with all their memories and personality, yet without the sickness. Would your loved ones know any different if one day a healthy replicant version of their husband or father was subbed in, while the old one went away to die in secret convalescence? Is sparing people trauma and grief always a worthwhile goal for technology, regardless of the cost? This seems like a key question in technological ethics. If a technology helps us avoid pain, does that automatically make it worth it? What about technology that creates a semblance of immortality, where some version of you is reproduced in perpetuity (the goal of transhumanism)? Or is humanitys beauty irrevocably tied to its contingency and potential for real loss and suffering? Swan Song helps us think through these questions in a moving, life-affirming way. Watch on AppleTV+. Rated R.
Link:
5 Screen Narratives Reckoning with Technology - The Gospel Coalition
- Green Goblin, the Hasty Transhumanist - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Your Favorites Radio | All your favorite songs and artists - iHeartRadio - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Can't Miss Indie Press Speculative Fiction for November and ... - tor.com - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- What is posthumanism? And should you worry about it? - Aleteia - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- Ray Kurzweil Predicts: The Singularity by 2045 - Discovery Institute - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- A Conversation About God | Dr. John Lennox - The Daily Wire - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- 'Billions' of megalomaniacal humanoids could, one day, ambush the ... - Robotics and Automation News - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- 3rd Annual ELTS Graduate Student Conference: Speculative ... - UCLA International Institute - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- Donna Haraway's Children: Meet the Dynamic Young Artists Who ... - Cultured Magazine - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- Scary Movies for Anarchists to Watch at the End of the World - CounterPunch - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- Data Summit 2023: shaping the future of AI and Data - Scottish Business News - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- Ghost Work and the Enduring Necessity of Human Labor - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- Alien TV series: Plot, cast, release date and everything we know - Yahoo Lifestyle UK - July 27th, 2023 [July 27th, 2023]
- Traditional Perspectives on Philosophy - pt. 1: Voluntarism - OnePeterFive - July 27th, 2023 [July 27th, 2023]
- Accusations of a Government Cover-Up Dominate Congressional UFO Hearing - Decrypt - July 27th, 2023 [July 27th, 2023]
- Elon Musk Appoints Dan Hendrycks as Advisor to xAI Startup - Fagen wasanni - July 27th, 2023 [July 27th, 2023]
- Anton Vidokle on the Cinema of the Stars - Ocula Magazine - July 27th, 2023 [July 27th, 2023]
- The day the bubble burst: Akira and Japan's economic 'miracle' - Canadian Dimension - July 27th, 2023 [July 27th, 2023]
- Ex-Google engineer says humans will achieve immortality in 7 years; here's how netizens reacted - Business Today - April 6th, 2023 [April 6th, 2023]
- Super-intelligence and eternal life: transhumanism's faithful follow it ... - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- Pioneering Transhumanism: a conversation with Natasha Vita-More - February 5th, 2023 [February 5th, 2023]
- 4 Problems with Transhumanism - Human Life International - February 2nd, 2023 [February 2nd, 2023]
- Transhumanism: Examining the risks, benefits, and ethical implications ... - January 25th, 2023 [January 25th, 2023]
- Noted Transhumanist Now Targeting Our Children: Whats inside Yuval ... - January 10th, 2023 [January 10th, 2023]
- Humans Will Never Colonize Mars - Gizmodo - January 10th, 2023 [January 10th, 2023]
- Ghost in the Shell (1995) - IMDb - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
- The Transhumanist Agenda Behind Bidens Executive Order on Advancing ... - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
- The Missing Plan for Alien First Contact to Pro-and-Anti-UFO Factions in U.S. Government (Planet Earth Report) - The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries... - November 8th, 2022 [November 8th, 2022]
- Biden Signs Executive Order Designed to Unleash "Transhumanist Hell" on ... - November 7th, 2022 [November 7th, 2022]
- Biden transhumanist executive order: We need to program biology ... - November 7th, 2022 [November 7th, 2022]
- Meaning of life - Wikipedia - November 7th, 2022 [November 7th, 2022]
- Take years off your age: this Israeli expert says its all up to you - Haaretz - November 7th, 2022 [November 7th, 2022]
- Transhumanism: advances in technology could already put evolution into ... - October 30th, 2022 [October 30th, 2022]
- Bidens Executive Order Designed to Release Transhumanist Hell on ... - October 30th, 2022 [October 30th, 2022]
- Biden's Executive Order Advances Biotech-Transhumanist Agenda ... - October 23rd, 2022 [October 23rd, 2022]
- Elon Musks Neuralink allegedly subjected monkeys to extreme suffering - October 23rd, 2022 [October 23rd, 2022]
- Doomsday bunkers, Mars and 'The Mindset': the tech bros trying to outsmart the end of the world - The Conversation Indonesia - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Is the body key to understanding consciousness? - - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Nvidia and the 3D Future of the Internet - TechNewsWorld - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- I have to ask: Did anything happen to you with the 0010110 social media mystery? Are you still with us? - Alan Cross - A Journal of Musical Things - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- If the US is Nineveh, Then Canada is Sodom - The Stream - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- Gaming Adventures You Don't Want To Miss In 2022 - Gamesreviews - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- The theory behind conspiracy - The Spectator Australia - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- What is Creation? | What is Creation? - Patheos - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- Transhumanism Humanity+ - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Become your true self - Freedom of Form Foundation - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Ghosts, Mummies, and Robots in Buddhism - Buddhistdoor Global - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- The Biggest Threat to Humanity? Black Goo - WIRED - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- You Cant Back the Murder of Alexander Dugin Then Whine About Salman Rushdie Or Attacks on American Neocons - The Stream - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Android app deals of the day: Codex of Victory, Scalak, Reminder Pro, more - 9to5Toys - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Whatever happened to transhumanism? - BioEdge - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- Who needs religion when you've got these clowns promoting bad ideas? - Freethought Blogs - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- The Importance of Medical Ethics Highlighted During the 75Th Anniversary of the Nuremberg Code - The Epoch Times - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- History of a hard man: Neil Balme memoir stands out from the pack - Sydney Morning Herald - August 23rd, 2022 [August 23rd, 2022]
- Henry Kyereme: Could advances in technology undermine the future of humans? - Myjoyonline - July 7th, 2022 [July 7th, 2022]
- Iris Van Herpen Explores Life Beyond the Physical Realm for A/W 22 Couture - vmagazine.com - July 7th, 2022 [July 7th, 2022]
- Virtual Beauty, Virtual Freedom, Virtual Love: Is the Metaverse Our Future? - PRESSENZA International News Agency - July 7th, 2022 [July 7th, 2022]
- Network TV Hasn't Been The Same Since This Sci-Fi Drama Left The Air - Looper - July 4th, 2022 [July 4th, 2022]
- The myth of 'artificial intelligence' - spiked - Spiked - July 4th, 2022 [July 4th, 2022]
- Fulton Sheens July 4 Declaration of Dependence - National Catholic Register - July 4th, 2022 [July 4th, 2022]
- All Agents Defect: Espionage in the Films of David Cronenberg - CrimeReads - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- Tune In: The Art of the Videogame Soundtrack - Highbrow Magazine - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- It's been 10 years since Prometheus, what can the reboot teach the Alien TV show? - TechRadar - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Religious Transhumanism 11: What about the body? | cybernetic immortality - Patheos - May 28th, 2022 [May 28th, 2022]
- Elon Musk is promoting transhumanism as part of Agenda 2030. - Logically - May 28th, 2022 [May 28th, 2022]
- PEW and transhumanism: Public has mixed concerns about arriving era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and human enhancement - Genetic Literacy Project - May 28th, 2022 [May 28th, 2022]
- David Cronenberg Gets Back to Basics in Crimes of the Future - Vanity Fair - May 28th, 2022 [May 28th, 2022]
- Painting on Another Plane: Mandy Cao - MutualArt.com - May 28th, 2022 [May 28th, 2022]
- Have Authoritarians Used 1984 as a Handbook? - Verve Times - May 28th, 2022 [May 28th, 2022]
- How to Grow and Forage Without Owning Land - Verve Times - May 28th, 2022 [May 28th, 2022]
- Meet the Human Battery, a New Source of "Green" Energy - Verve Times - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- This Years Venice Biennale is Full of Surrealism and Stark Reminders - Yahoo News - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- Is it possible to transplant heads? - BioEdge - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- The Best Movies Of 2022 So Far - /Film - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- Future of work: the top careers of the next decade - The Age - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Kriya Announces $270 Million Series C Financing to Advance Fully Integrated Gene Therapy Engine - Business Wire - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Five Standout Films Coming To Cannes This Year [Trailers] - 2oceansvibe News - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Cannes 2022: 10 movies to watch out for in this years festival - The Guardian - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- On the Gnostic Ironies of Poets Nathaniel Mackey and Fanny Howe - Literary Hub - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Dismantling the Transhumanist Agenda - The Post & Email - May 6th, 2022 [May 6th, 2022]