MovieChat Forums > Surrogates (2009) Discussion > Forget money, no way 98% of people would...

Forget money, no way 98% of people would opt for a surrogate.

posted 11 years ago by audiopinions
11 replies | jump to latest

Like others, I found it hard to believe that the surrogate technology would be affordable for so many people, but the real problem I have is that there's no way that many people would choose such an existence.

On a nice day (AKA every day) here in San Luis Obispo (often called the happiest place in the USA) you see hundreds of people running, biking, skateboarding, having meals on restaurant patios, playing music. They love being active, enjoying the sunshine, and just being out in the community. I find it hard to believe that a majority, let alone 98% of these people I see, would rather spend their days lying in a dark box.

Maybe the experience really feels like you are inside your surrogate, but nothing could replace reality and existing in the real world.

[–] chilone 11 years ago

I think that was the premise. You lived breathed, ate, had sex, etc., etc. through the surrogate which included all of the human sensations and maybe new ones as evidenced by the get together with Greer's wife where they're using that glowing toy(?) on themselves which he (Greer) referred to as "jacking" (how appropriate lol). Most people are not really happy with how God made them and if given the choice, I can see surrogates being the order of the day.

I don't love her.. She kicked me in the face!!

[–] Simon-140 10 years ago

I agree that what you've described is the film's premise, but it would be very difficult to achieve in practice - and probably impossible using only the headsets shown in the film.

Why? A lot of people on this board have been talking about dating and sexual attraction between surrogates, but this depends on many factors apart from appearance and personality. Pheromones and other hormonal factors play a huge role, yet even if the surrogates had built-in equipment to detect such subtleties, how would this information be relayed to the person at home? (Little pheromone synthesisers, that manufactured and squirted smells into your nose?) Worse, the system would have to be two way, so that the surrogate generated pheromones for other surrogates to detect.

For surrogate life to be as good as normal life, the entire human sensorium (including pheromones) would have to be captured by your surrogate, transmitted and reproduced at home; And the sensorium of the version of you at home would also have to be captured, transmitted and recreated in the surrogate for others to sense.

The second step would be a real problem. If the real home-bound person was unhealthy and unfit, then their surrogate would (presumably) generate chemical signals that would make the surrogate less attractive.

I suppose this could be avoided with pheromone editors, or perhaps smells and biochemical pathways could be bypassed completely, with direct brain stimulation, but then the whole surrogate system seems a lot more far-fetched.

[–] chilone 10 years ago

seems a lot more far-fetched.

i.e. - fiction :o)

I don't love her.. She kicked me in the face!!

[–] Simon-140 10 years ago

Cogently put, Sir/Madam :-)

Perhaps I should have just written "This film is even more fictional than many have acknowledged."

[–] twist111 9 years ago

Simon-140
A lot of people on this board have been talking about dating and sexual attraction between surrogates, but this depends on many factors apart from appearance and personality. Pheromones and other hormonal factors play a huge role, yet even if the surrogates had built-in equipment to detect such subtleties, how would this information be relayed to the person at home?

Did you time travel here from the past or something? Like IDK if you've noticed but dating in general, in real life, is becoming more and more disconnected from even seeing the person first let alone the deeper aspects of pheromones. They even made a term for it. "Catfish" when the person you think you've been dating online turns out to be either another gender or simply not them at all. Plus guys and girls get turned on all the time from simple moving images of people they don't even know the real names of. It used to be still images in magazines or the occasional blurry bootleg stream from the cable pay channels. Dating/sexual attraction through attractive looking surrogates is actually an upgrade to how disconnected things are right now in actual reality. Regardless of there being any pheromones in the tech at all it's still an upgrade.

</end post>

[–] tad-32 11 years ago

Many people are not happy with their physicality. Surrogates would give them the ability to be who they see themselves as. I would think a lot of people would fit the bill.

Nothing could replace reality? Are you kidding? Even now, we are making inroads on how the brain works, how it translates real sensory input into electrical impulses that provide your perception of reality (i.e. not the same thing). Surrogate technology would simply take that concept, that model that nature provided us with, and run with it.

[–] mrtron81 10 years ago

A few decades ago, people would have said no way would people walk around talking on little phones all day. A few decades before that people would have said nobody would want to pay to look at naked women on a webcam on their computer. Before that they would have said no way would kids spend hours playing in front of some video game machine.

[–] Viltrumite 10 years ago

If surrogates existed, I'd use mine for work. I'd save energy, not to mention a 4-5 hour commute both ways.

[–] rabksaj 9 years ago

Basically this movie is a message stating the way life is rapidly moving towards downfall of society. All most everyone is spending time on their computers and smartphones and online social, shopping,dating, etc etc is inevitably become and spanning that way. Einstein predicted and quoted he dreads the day that human interaction will be replaced by technology.

[–] BigRich 8 years ago

I found it hard to believe that the surrogate technology would be affordable for so many people, but the real problem I have is that there's no way that many people would choose such an existence.

I remember when computers were used only for business and there was no way that there would be one (or more) in everyone's home. Same for cell phones. Remember when they were called Car Phones? Back in 1994, I paid over $450 for 16 megabytes of RAM (1 SIMM stick, EDO). I also had a 4mb stick that I sold for $100. At that time, I thought there price of 16MB would NEVER go under $100. 32MB was well over $1000. Today, you can by 16GB of ram for less than $100.

Technology will always be affordable for those willing to pay for it.
_
Every person that served can be called a veteran, but not every veteran can be called a Marine.

[–] Lava-Rocks 8 years ago

Yeah, but life is for living, not vegetating.