I haven’t talked about science fiction movies for a long time, and it just so happened that a very imaginative movie came out recently.
The starring role is still our old acquaintance, Emilia Clarke, who plays "Mother of the Dragons" in "Game of Thrones".
Coincidentally, in this new film, she experienced another egg-hatching style of parenting - "Egg Cabin Generation" .
The story is set in New York in the near future.
At this time, artificial intelligence has become a common tool and participates in all aspects of people's social life. The heroine Rachel of
works in a technology giant and is the main source of income for her family. Her husband, Alvi, is a botanist and has always been skeptical of the popularization of artificial intelligence.
Alvey believes that technological development should not go against nature. Nowadays, more and more public areas are replacing real plants with holographic images. Rather than traveling, people are more willing to use something called a natural cabin to experience unseen scenery. In his opinion, these behaviors are unnatural. The phenomenon.
However, Rachel didn't care much about this, because technology did bring great convenience to life. The opening of the
video shows scenes of their daily lives - not only are household chores handled by smart homes, but AI assistants can also be found in aspects such as work, health, and psychological care.
Although this couple has conflicts in some concepts, it does not affect their love for each other and their harmonious formation of a family.
Until, Rachel put her name on the egg cabin application list without telling her husband.
The so-called egg capsule is simply an egg-shaped artificial uterus. Women can use it to carry out pregnancy and childbirth on their own, although the service is very expensive.
Because the two had discussed wanting a child, Rachel did not want childbirth to affect her work, so she quietly signed up.
Recently, she received a promotion. One of the company benefits is paying for egg capsules for female employees in need.
Just like that, she suddenly got a quota, and the two of them could have a fetus using an artificial womb.
But when she told her husband about this, Elvi became furious, angry at her private decision to use such an "unnatural" method of childbirth.
Rachel suggested that the two of them visit the egg cabin center together. Alvey didn't want his relationship to break up. After understanding the working principle of the egg capsule, he reluctantly signed the consent form.
However, this service is more complicated than imagined.
Even the people living in the future in the film were shocked speechless by all the details when they first came into contact with it.
For example, before giving birth, two people can choose the gender of the fetus. If you choose a girl, you only need eggs and the mother’s stem cells to complete the cultivation.
In order to make Alvey more involved, they finally chose a boy.
Thanks to IVF, they can also watch the process on a digital screen like a live broadcast. Alvi shed inexplicable tears of excitement when he saw the swimming sperm implanting into the bed to form a fertilized egg.
This made him think about whether his previous views on nature were too biased.
It can be said that this film has a strong independent temperament and aims to discuss a science fiction concept rather than showing shocking science fiction scenes. The entire film is almost composed of intensive character dialogue and daily life scenes. This pair of pursuit of visual effects Or viewers who are interested in plot may be a little dissuaded.
However, through the encounters and changes in concepts of the protagonists at various stages before and after childbirth, it does touch on a series of issues related to the ethics of childbirth.
The first is the discussion of "nature" and "technology".
When Alvey was hesitating whether to use an egg capsule to give birth, he had a conversation with an AI psychotherapist. Alvey denounced the "over-developed" technological means represented by egg cabins as unnatural, but was asked by AI what nature was.
In Alvey's eyes, flowers, plants and trees are natural, but the flowers, plants and trees in the holographic image are not. They are an imitation and a "fake"; the communication between people is natural, but the communication between people and machines is not. , because the machine has no consciousness and no "soul".
However, when human society develops to a certain period, people choose to create and use machines, making them an increasingly integral part of society. Doesn’t this all happen naturally?
In "The Three-Body Problem", the captain of the "Bronze Age" said something, " The arrival of life from the ocean to land is a milestone in the evolution of earth's organisms, but those fish that came ashore are no longer fish. "
From a certain perspective, life is always evolving forward, and the emergence of egg chambers is a part of the evolution of human reproduction. No matter what the end of this evolution is, it is caused by nature. Technology is not the opposite of nature, it is just the "imaginary enemy" identified by Alvey.
It was precisely because of this realization that his attitude towards the egg cabin changed.
Secondly, there is a discussion on the ownership of reproductive rights and the commodification of life.
The emergence of egg capsules has indeed liberated some women from the harm caused by childbirth, but at the same time, capital has also taken away individual reproductive rights. In the film
, Rachel and Alvy want to accompany the developing fetus and provide early education in their own way. They want to take it home and take care of it, and they want to welcome the due date (the day when the egg capsule is opened) in their own way. But they are not allowed.
The uterus that nurtures the fetus no longer belongs to the mother, but is the asset of the egg capsule company. The fetuses in each egg chamber must be cultivated according to absolutely safe and scientific standards. Even the dreams they dream will be controlled by the program, because they represent the quality of the product.
When the number of egg chambers is in short supply, induction of labor will even be used to shorten the growth cycle of each product.
Although babies born from egg chambers are healthy due to the advancement of technology, this mode of operation can see a naked alienation of people and life.
It is this alienation that makes Rachel feel uncomfortable.
After using the egg capsule, she had many nightmares about giving birth. For example, she dreamed of buying a baby in a supermarket, and the cashier enthusiastically introduced her to the purchase of one fetus today, and get one free.
It is worth mentioning that the film does not evaluate this ethically controversial concept. It does not say that natural birth is more correct, nor does it say that artificial wombs are superior. It just shows a certain picture that technological development may create.
Just like in the film, people's attitudes towards the egg cabin are also divided into two groups, some support and some oppose.
However, the film clearly expresses one point, that is, even if the pain of childbirth can be shared by machines, the pressure of childcare will never disappear. Couples who use egg chambers will still disagree over who spends more time taking care of the fetus, and employers will still Consideration will be given to the impact of childbearing on employee productivity.
The promotion benefits formulated by Rachel's company seem to be in the name of caring for female employees, but in fact they are still concerned about the impact of childbirth on work efficiency. When she took the egg capsule to the company to take care of it, her colleagues reminded her that doing so would leave a bad impression on the human resources department.
Although technology can solve some problems, it cannot solve the contradictions of human nature.
No wonder the Easter egg at the end of the film couldn't help but be darkly humorous. When the CEO of Egg Cabin Company was asked in an interview what other fertility worries he hoped technology could solve in the future, he smiled and replied: "I hope one day children can choose their own parents."
