Movie Review - Artificial Intelligence:AI (2001)

I found myself interested in what caused the extinction of the human race, which isn't covered in the movie, but only suggested. The main themes are well concluded, but the things I discuss here are what left me wanting to watch the movie again and again.

There is one thing I think of when A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Steven Spielberg's movie, comes to mind - It makes me speculate on how the human race becomes extinct. It could have been climate change, which is the primary suggestion in the movie, but I focus on the other more subtle hints.

There is one scene where there are boxes of "Davids" ready to ship and the David we are following in the movie kills the first other David he meets. The ideas presented here provide several other speculations that come to mind. The robots become as sophisticated as David or more and kill off the humans out of this type of jealousy. I don't like this speculation because I think the robot creators would have fixed this flaw. A more likely speculation is based on human laziness.

It is more likely that when we lose our motivation to perpetuate our species that our population becomes so small that we eventually fade away. At the time David was invented, there were apparently many sexual toys like Joe available to satisfy this want. There was a scene where Joe was framed for murder because the husband was jealous of Joe giving his wife what she wanted. She was taken away from her human husband (family) for what she considered a better relationship, which was totally based on sex. In this case, it was easier for the woman to just be with Joe at her convenience rather than dealing with her family. Laziness prevailed.

Also, when comparing David to his real counterpart, David was the better son. His love was pure, and although he made some mistakes, I am sure David's creators would have fixed these making a robot child much more wanted than a real child. For family motivated individuals, the robot children would relieve the want for a perfect offspring, which a real child couldn't do. I like to think that when our wants are gratified so completely, our motivation for self preservation through interbreeding would be lost and this is what could cause our extinction.

This is all speculation from me on areas that this science fiction movie didn't go into, but it is what makes me watch the movie more than once and what makes me want to watch it again. Any lesson we can learn on how to preserve ourselves and continue our species is worth our attention.

Here is a review that focuses on the movie's idea that all things shall pass (movie review). Victor Tan Chen focuses on the obvious here, but to keep myself from being redundant, he covers some thoughts that I had, so check it out. I think his perspective is a little snobby, but you may get something out of it. In my review above, I focus on "how" all things passed as it relates to the movie, but I like to keep faith that they don't have to.

Victor's statement that sun is the only source of energy in the universe is ridiculous and has been proven wrong for many decades by the scientific community. Energy can be generated from any matter, not just burning suns, and even when the suns burn out, there will be matter throughout the universe. Also, this is just what we know now. There is much scientific proof that energy resides in empty space too, and can be tapped.

I like to think that space goes on forever and what we are and have done could exist forever is some way. When faith meets science and if we somehow maintain a motivation for self preservation as a species, our existence has purpose forever too.

Click Here for IMDB Information about the move.