With an IMDb rating of 6.3 and 37% score from Rotten Tomatoes, I doubt most of us have even watched the 2009 movie "Surrogates" let alone remember it. However, ever since this pandemic began and we have been forced to be stuck between four walls to avoid the imminent threat outdoors, I cannot stop thinking about this movie.
For reader's convenience, allow me to give a brief description of the plot of this movie. It is set in the future with advanced tech where the people are always in the safety of their homes while controlling their robotic surrogates (which look like the best version of themselves) remotely with the help of a special simulator of some sort. These surrogates roam around the city running errands, doing jobs (Bruce Willis's surrogate is an FBI Agent!) and carrying on the everyday life outdoors for them. You can lie down on your couch, eat all day and get fat but the outside world will not find out because your surrogate does not age, neither does it gain weight. So the whole story begins when an actual murder takes place after ages and so on. But, we are not bothered with the story here.
With globalization bringing the world to the palm of your hands (quite literally, smartphones!), everything is now spreading faster than ever. Disease, hatred, terrorism (Good things too but, irrelevant.), everything. An epidemic which would previously not reach all continents now have thousands of flight transporting it to new destinations everyday.
As of 1st July 2020, Coronavirus crisis hasn't shown any sign to slow down or peter out (science!) anytime. Scientists somehow, have found a new virus similar to the swine flu with pandemic potential in China. So with all the viruses swarming around, the risks of traffic accidents and various crimes; the outdoors do not seem like a safe place anymore. At least, not for a while.
This got me thinking, what if we actually are headed towards a future where we will only go out using a robotic surrogate of ourselves while spending the rest of our lives indoors (we're certainly getting used to it!).
Safe from the existing viruses and any other viruses they discover in China. Be able to hug our best friend's surrogate with ours, shake (surrogate) hands in business meetings, maintain a perfect physique to the outside world no matter what we eat. Road accident? armed robbery? No problem! This surrogate future would have tonnes of benefits for sure.
In reality, this quarantine has taught me exactly how important human interaction is in order for us to function properly. The first two months of this pandemic I had spend isolated in my weekend home with no other houses to it's 150-200 meter radius. I had not gone out once, had not met any other person let alone talk with anyone face to face other than my family members at home.
Two months later, I went out for groceries. When I asked the shopkeeper if they have a bigger size of bread, I felt it. I felt the significance of face to face human interaction that we often take for granted. I spoke to three shopkeepers that day (masked and distanced of course), and it felt special. It was only then that I realized I had been going insane the last two months with no face to face human interaction and it felt like a privilege.
When we were kids, we learnt from our textbooks that "Humans, are social animals". And this quarantine made me realize it. Hence, I now understand that Surrogates can never work!
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