#02 Are We Sleepwalking into a Dystopian Future?

This week I saw an interesting movie named, Upgrade. This movie really made me think about the future through a different lens. I won’t be exaggerating if I say I’m quite afraid of what the world would look like if technology starts controlling all aspects of our lives in the future.

This movie is set in the near future where technology controls nearly all aspects of a person’s life. A tragic accident followed by a mugging incident turns Grey Trace into a quadriplegic and his wife Asha dead. Eron, a billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM — it’s the perfect marriage of technology and man — that will enhance his body and will make him regain control over his body’s basic motor functions.

Grey agrees to the idea and goes in for the surgery. Now being able to walk, Grey realises STEM has given him extra strengthen. Soon he also notices that STEM has a voice and can talk (only Grey can hear him) something Eron didn’t make Grey aware of. Grey takes advantage of it and uses STEM to do whatever he needs in order to first protect his shared body. STEM’s takeover of Grey’s mind and body began almost as soon as the chip was implanted. STEM quickly began gaining Grey’s trust by helping him in killing his wife Asha’s murderer. STEM then manipulates Grey into seeing Eron as the enemy making Eron looks as an obstacle in the way of getting revenge for Asha. This is how STEM convinces Grey to go to the hacker under the pretense of removing Eron’s remote access to the chip. Instead, STEM uses Grey’s lack of knowledge about technology to get the hacker to give STEM the ability to control Grey’s body without his permission which makes things worse for Grey from then on. As soon as STEM is able to do things without Grey’s permission, the AI begins laying the foundation for the break that will allow it full control over Grey’s body.

In a climactic scene, Grey fights against STEM’s control over his body, stabbing himself in the hand brutally and moving his own body when STEM tries to kill Detective Cortez. When STEM tries to kill Cortez again, Grey moves to shoot himself in the neck.

The movie quickly cuts to Grey waking up in a hospital bed, with Asha coming in and the two seemingly ready to live out their lives as if only the car crash happened, not the rest of the attack. However, it’s learnt that Grey wasn’t successful in killing himself or STEM. Instead, as STEM explains, Grey’s mind broke and retreated into itself. Given that the scene in the hospital appears as a kind of afterlife — it can be presumed Grey is essentially braindead, allowing STEM to take full control of his body.

Further, this ending, with STEM winning against Grey, a human, takes a pessimistic approach to the conflict of man versus machine — it doesn’t matter what man does, technology will win at the end of the day. We know that technology changes our lives—but could it be changing our selves as well? 

Am I ready to live in a smart city that knows everything about me from how I like my eggs be to prepared to what time I have to wake up in the morning? You go in and out of a mall where thousands of sensors and cameras are monitoring you, knowing exactly who's coming and going. They've also found a way to make Kale sweeter - what?! You pull out your phone, and you see an ad for Canon cameras. You pause for a second and remind yourself that you had a conversation with your friend about buying a new one. So is my smartphone listening to me and showing me tailored ads now?! That's creepy - I mean I appreciate the help - not having to look for it but this is scary. Does that mean I have to watch what I say all the time?

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