oliver assignment2

7/24/2019 Oliver Assignment2

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Nick OliverAssignment 2

Planet Earth has no life anymore; it was abandoned by its occupants of

who are now inhibiting space and left WallE to bo!ing up garbage" Postman

makes the statement of how #we are currently surrounded by throngs of

$ealous %heuths& 'people( who see only what new technologies can do") %he

technologies in WallE are e!amples of what the negative outcomes of

advanced technology brings" %here is a burden with any new advances as in

the movie*s case; civili$ation is stuck in a world where everything is brought

to us without putting in any e+ort and damaging our development as people"

As noted in class& Arti,cial -ntelligence .A"-"/ has become more prevalent in

society and we as consumers of A"- must be aware of the negative e+ects it

can bring" Even in all its glory& A"- technology in WallE becomes an

antagonist with taking away any meaning of democracy and also ,ghting

against the people wanting to return back to Earth"

Another point Postman goes on to make is how there are winners and

losers to new technologies" WallE seemed to be a winner of this technology

initially with his own technological aspects but faced a shift to a loser& as Eve

became the new and more improved system" WallE was faced with di0culty

of understanding Eve as she was e1uipped with a higher intelligence and

more powerful" We could even take this lesson as large as Earth itself in the

movie" -n the sense of technology& Earth was left deserted and barren among

its inhabitants" %he technology not only deteriorated Earth to the point it

became a smog invested dirt land but that same technology .in the sense of


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how advance it is/ was able to give humans the ability to leave Earth" aking

Earth a loser of technological advance"

One cannot watch WallE without recogni$ing the homogenous culture

humans live under" %o 3arber*s support about the concept of cWorld&

everything is universal& from the food& clothing& lifestyles and health" %he

#3uy 4 5arge) brand changed the way society conducts itself" %here is no

more diversity in styles; it is a monopoly on a global scale" %he norms and

behaviors of each individual seem to be induced by the #3uy 4 5arge)

globali$ation all around them and giving no hope to identity or sovereignty" -

believe this movie is on the far end of the spectrum& being cWorld" As

3arber puts it& 6ihad is the #cultures& not countries) motive and the ,lm

underlines this with WallE and Eve*s attempt to disrupt the current

homogenous culture" Another situation in the movie of this 6ihad concept was

towards the end with human*s reali$ing their severe cWorld e!istence"

cWorld and 6ihad are intertwined in the sense how WallE and Eve .6ihad/

interact with the globali$ed culture of space ship .cWorld/" %he two

characters and the ship had e1ual& but opposite strengths with one trying to

e!plain Earth*s new found plantation& threatening democracy& against the

rebellious technological system in place that did not want to e!pose it" %his

con7ict provided had the workings of one party working to split away from

technological control and transition to a democratic society on Earth" -t is a

parado! of breaking apart to again 8oin another as e!plained by 9ardin"


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oving on to 9ardin*s view of Earth being ,nite is supported

throughout WallE and plays an emphasi$ing narrative of 8ust that" %here is

no Earth anymore and the people who once lived there are now in space

.even though is a movie& goes against 9ardin*s #*space* is not escape)/" 3ut -

feel the important word in 9ardin*s piece is #coercion") %his term was utili$ed

dominantly at the end of the ,lm where the captain was able to break the

uniform lifestyle and come to reali$ation that persuading those on the ship to

change their belief in the current system through the force of a societal

change" %his change is e!periencing the new opportunity of going back to

Earth" And for coercion to work in this instance& it had to be a collective e+ort

on behalf of the not only the captain& but the people of the ship too .along

with the help of WallE and Eve/" %his in turn made it a mutual decision of the

masses"

Another aspect in 9ardin*s& The Tragedy of the Commonsis the

e!planation of the positive and negatives to adding one more animal"

%ransferring this to WallE& - see the robots acting as the animals in this

analogy" :or the sake of the humans& what is adding one more robot to their

technology %he positive .obots were at

the forefront of taking action and making decisions" 9ere lies the tragedy


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when robots were being made& without limits& to the point where the system

back,red by going against the human population in space"

9ardin brings up pollution as another player in the tragedy of the

commons" 9e makes the point how air and water cannot be fenced and #the

pollution problem is a conse1uence of population") %he population became

dependent on their lifestyle in WallE& which was not sustainable for Earth"

%he rise of technological advances throughout Earth become a problem for

the commons and in the end #foul'ed( our own nest") One can even connect

this to 9ardin*s take on temperance" ?ociety in WallE was automated to the

point where humanity couldn*t control it and during that time it wasn*t a

morality issue" As 9ardin puts it& that*s how the system conducted itself at

that point in time" %he people on Earth conducted themselves to a society

where ultimately made Earth uninhabitable" -t was the Quis custodiet

e!ample used in action" ?ociety became dependent on its technology to lead

them& with no one to #watch the watchers themselves")

%he Ehrlich*s answered yes to the 1uestion whether a collapse of global

civili$ation can be avoided and in WallE was demonstrated by the need for

rapid social and political change" @iven the circumstances in the ,lm& the

social change was hinging on this e!act dilemma of can a collapse be

avoided WallE being the kickstarter in this change and with the help of

Eve& were able to convince the captain to #break this ancient mould) which

would bring civili$ation back to Earth" -n whole& society was able to deal with

longterm threats"


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Another aspect to this piece that - see important to note is why all this

happens" %he environment in both the movie and Ehrlich*s article both are

the leading cause to a global epidemic .as a result from technology/" WallE

lived in a trash ,lled Earth with no species e!cept a single bug and much

land degradation" %he movie depicts 8ust how we can be caught up in our

current society and come to reali$e it is a little too late to save Earth; thus

the need to ,nd alternative solutions such as space" 5astly& the Ehrlich*s

raise a good point on the ethical situation of some business and how they

can loose sense of environmental sustainability" With how big and powerful

#3uy 4 5arge) was the company 8ust might have gotten caught up in

#pro,table activities) meanwhile losing focus on how they were disrupting

the climate"

?ources ./

Postman B %hamus

6ihad vs" cWorld B 3en8amin 3arber

%he %ragedy of the Commons B @arrett 9ardin

Can a Collapse of @lobal Civili$ation be avoided B Paul and Anne Ehrlich

WallE B Andrew ?tanton& Pete Doctor

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