I remember seeing WALL-E thirteen years ago as a small kid. I still think this is one of the best (animated) movies ever made. It is also becoming more relevant by the day. In WALL-E, mankind lives in spaceships circling the earth, where a little robot is cleaning the mess that was left behind all on its own. Plants and animals are extinct and the earth was in unlivable conditions for any life. Even though you could feel a sense of morality and hidden lessons behind the kid-friendly layer, three things about WALL-E seemed very unrealistic at the time: the technology, the state of the earth and the hyperconsumerism.
Oh, how much has changed in these years. Reading the other blogposts, hyperconsumerism and the growing ease of consumption are popular items. Startups like Gorillas are delivering your groceries. If you’re not willing to cook, Uber Eats delivers your dinner. Capitalist giants like Amazon deliver packages within a day and Social Media are loaded with hidden ads. It is scary how close reality is getting to WALL-E[1], where all passengers of the ships are in floating chairs all day, with everything available at the touch of a button. Technology that made this possible isn’t so unrealistic anymore[2].
This year, commercial space flights made headlines. Three of the richest men on earth are in the middle of a space race, developing livable spaceships with passengers that are not qualified but just paid the price[3]. Also, robots are being trained to be self-aware and to perform parkouring tasks[4] . If you have seen the Black Mirror episode Metalhead, things like this don’t get you excited anymore. They worry you. Where do we draw the line? These efforts all seem to align well with the reality of WALL-E and makes us question the intentions of these billionaires, among others. Are they escaping the problems? We are drowning in our own waste. Remember the burning tire graveyard in Kuwait[5]? Are we also going to need water adaptations of WALL-E to clean the ocean[6]?
Just like in WALL-E, we are making our own world unlivable, but for some reason, our main focus is still technology. Is technology actually the solution for restoring and maintaining the health of the earth or is it only suitable for containment of the problem? In the case of WALL-E, mankind seemed to be too late anyway.
[1] https://aquila.usm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1101&context=coastlines
[2] https://www.sciencealert.com/9-similarities-between-today-s-society-and-the-one-that-filled-the-planet-with-garbage-in-wall-e
[3] https://science.thewire.in/spaceflight/the-billionaire-race-has-perverted-what-space-exploration-should-really-be-about/
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF4DML7FIWk
[5] https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15778161/worlds-biggest-graveyard-fire-smoke-space/
[6] https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/
Funny to read your article, I also loved watching Wall-E as a young kid. I used to wonder, is this what our future will be like? I also ponder on the thought whether we are actually becoming more and more like the characters in Wall-E. However, I want to propose a more optimistic perspective here.
While we are investing more in technology that make it easy for us to perform our day-to-day tasks, isn’t that what humanity has always been doing? We develop tools that make our lives easier so that we can move on to more urgent tasks- in our case, climate change. While there is a side of commerce/entrepreneurs that is dealing with tasks that make our lives easier, there are also those who are fighting for the planet and using technology in ways that can make living on Earth more sustainable. From water filtration initiatives, to sustainable energy providers, they are using technology to elevate our ways of living.
Global population is skyrocketing, so we better focus on solutions before it’s too late, and there are more and more businesses popping up every day that are trying to do so. Check out trendwatching.com to see new innovations, companies and initiatives that are brining genuine changes. This is why I am perhaps a bit more optimistic that we, as a species, will not end up in a Wall-E like world!