Yesterday I went out for dinner and a movie, with an old friend who is lonely.
He is a father. And a divorcee. His own father passed recently.
The movie was called Lucy.
I found it thought provoking. And on further reflection, disturbing.
In a penultimate scene, Lucy has just disappeared, at the very instant of reaching “100%”, and, just as the bad guy protagonist empties a pistol into her head. A policeman asks, “Where is she?”
A text message immediately appears on his mobile phone.
“I AM EVERYWHERE”.
This movie presents a message.
An aspiration.
An ideal.
That if only we could access 20%, 30%, 40%, or 100% of the capacity of our brains, we could become as gods.
All knowledgeable.
All powerful.
Immortal.
But in becoming as gods*, we lose our humanity.
When I consider the violence, oppression, pain, suffering, destruction, torment, devastation, deceit, and mass murder we have wrought in the world over the past century — throughout our much-lauded, Panglossian age of scientific discovery, of technology, of Information, and of ever-growing Knowledge … but not, it seems, of Wisdom — I wonder.
Why do we not make movies that present a very different message.
Imagine a world where we all would access 100% of the capacity of our hearts.
* Johansson’s character becomes cold, violent, murderous, inconsiderate, demanding, manipulative, self-obsessed. Heartless. One wonders what kind of “god” it is the film writers are presenting as an aspirational ideal.