Science Fiction Nonsense

Never let it be said that Hollywood has any reservations about ignoring scientific facts at the expense of the storyline. In Netflix's "Atlas", a rogue AI humanoid robot flees Earth for ... wait for it ... a planet in the Andromeda galaxy. Now this galaxy is the closest major one to Earth but it is still about 2.5 million light years away. If the AI terrorist, as he's described, had fled to a moon of Jupiter or Saturn then there might be a degree of plausibility.

Instead a mission is launched from Earth to capture the robot and it reaches its faraway destination seemingly instantaneously. From then on it's a case of good AI versus bad AI. Interestingly the rogue AI envisages a future where most of humanity is wiped out and the few humans that remain will live in harmony with the natural world while their AI overlords look on benevolently.

This is precisely the plan of the global elite who aim to use AI, humanoid robots, killer drones and whatever to cull the human race and then rule benevolently over the humans that are left. The slaughterbots and killer drones will first replace the human police and military who might have qualms about culling their fellow humans. After that the cull will begin. 

The cull might be gradual and take the form of mandatory sterilisation or it might be quick and achieved via a bioengineered pathogen. Sooner or later however, the population of the planet will be reduced to around 500 million people, a manageable number especially with an enforced digital ID, smart city surveillance, social credit scores and non-human police to quash any malcontents.

What's also laughable in the movie is that the protagonist, Atlas (played by Jennifer Lopez), is playing chess with an AI in her home at the start of the movie. As she walks out the door, she finishes the game by announcing checkmate. Anyone who know anything about chess knows that the current computer chess engines easily crush the strongest human players in the world. Subsequently, the black queen chess piece plays an important role in the movie. Is this some sort of homage to the recent, famous movie titled "The Queen's Gambit".

Anyway, Jennifer Lopez who will shortly be turning 55, looks amazingly youthful but that doesn't do much to help the movie. It's inevitable that science fiction movies will focus on the use and misuse of AI but it can be done in a way that offers some credibility in the science department. Apart from AI, the other theme at the moment in science fiction movies is the multiverse which is also being done to death. There seems to be a decided lack of imagination and creativity when it comes to science fiction.