History Headscratchers / Surrogates

** The filmmakers' answers to the car/cellphone/biometric scanner questions (according to the DVDCommentary) is that [[ViewersAreMorons they were worried that the plot would be too complicated to follow]].

* Wouldn't a simple electronic jamming system put a good chunk of the military out of use? And why is all of the technology except surrogates still the same despite the ability to build [[RuleOfCool walking cars or mecha]]? GhostInTheShell had a more well thought out cyberpunk set up.

** Because that isn't the criticism. The criticism isn't that the surrogates aren't well made enough to experience reality, it's that people use them to escape reality and life a fantasy life. That people are forsaking actual life for a virtual one.

* Okay I've looked around and as far as I can see no one's touched on this biggest problem I have with this film. HOW in the Name of the Almighty does putting people in freaking robots with near total anonymity end all crime/sexism/racism/all the -isms? Wouldn't it make everything worse? I mean it would be like putting everyone in a real life internet. Have you been on the internet? It's about the most racist, sexist, generally bigoted place in the universe.

** So, the technology that was - as stated in text - primarily invented to help amputees, the paralyzed, people with degenerative conditions, and other conditions that prevent full mobility and interaction with the world has to be shut down permanently because everyone else is too much of an asshole to use it right. And this is a happy ending.

** Who says they ''haven't'' developed all the things you've listed? Those military guys might've tackled dozens of simulated VR scenarios before switching to actual surrogates for a live-fire training run. We just don't see that aspect of society, because Greer is hardly going to be investigating virtual crimes.

** It's 2017, they've seen ''Film/TheMatrix''.

**** Surrogates have also effectively doubled the world population, if 98 percent (or whatever) of people use one. Sure, half the population is lying motionless in a stim chair and the other half don't have to eat, but....

* It was alluded to earlier on the page but after pondering the issue I have been struck by a burning question. Where the hell is the VR? The pod for controlling a surrogate is a full sensory immersion virtual reality system. It's main use may be for controlling a humanoid robot for telepresence but there's no reason given why you can't cut the surrogate out of the equation and use it for a VR system. Even leaving aside the pure geeky potential, there's a still a lot of potential applications. Architects and engineers creating and refining new buildings. Town planning simulations that would give a much better idea of how things would operate than a scale model. Training for pilots without the need for huge, expensive simulators. Military training exercises so combat surrogates are only used in actual combat, saving on wear and tear. The list goes on and you're telling my ''no one'' has thought of this?

** There's plenty of people who build robots today for exactly that purpose. Plus, even taking physicality out of the equation, there's still strategy and skill to consider, see which team can use their surries better. And, we real life humans watch plenty of movies full of violent physicality, and never worry about the fact that the battles and injuries are faked. I think a better question would be, who ''wouldn't'' want to watch a bunch of robots play football?

* How did anyone know that Agent Peters surrogate was "rogue", which would lead to the need to send the equivalent of a SWAT team to the movie's version of [[{{Serenity}} Mr Universe]]? Seems that as long as a person's surrogate is functioning and the person themselves doesn't notify others of a bodyjacking, nobody really notices who controls whose surrogate because they're assumed to be secure. You could say one of the watchers in the hall of monitors noticed, but surely if they're monitoring by proxy (i.e. a simple surrogate being controlled by an off-site human) they would have noticed long before the Canter hijacked Agent Peters broke in and cuffed the Mr Universe character, plugged in the super-weapon (not sure how that would work either; it's a projectile, how can it also be a virus?!) and generally started tearing things asunder.

* There's a poster at a bus stop in one scene that strongly implies surrogates are being used in professional sports. WTF would be the point of watching a bunch of surries play football? There's no physical challenge for the actual players, just a contest to see which team's engineers slapped together a better robot.

* How did anyone know that Agent Peters surrogate was "rogue", which would lead to the need to send the equivalent of a SWAT team to the movie's version of [[{{Serenity}} Mr Universe]]? Seems that as long as a person's surrogate is functioning and the person themselves doesn't notify others of a bodyjacking, nobody really notices who controls whose surrogate because they're assumed to be secure. You could say one of the watchers in the hall of monitors noticed, but surely if they're monitoring by proxy (i.e. a simple surrogate being controlled by an off-site human) they would have noticed long before the Canter hijacked Agent Peters broke in and cuffed the Mr Universe character, plugged in the super-weapon (not sure how that would work either; it's a projectile, how can it also be a virus?!) and generally started tearing things asunder.

**** He damaged a surrie who the techie can attest was a murderer, in the course of investigating a murder. Why would Canter have cameras in his own room, especially when it had the surries for The Prophet in there and there doesn't seem to have been anyone else going in in years? Even if there were cameras, Greer can still make up some plausible excuse, like a glitch, and all they'd show is him sitting in a chair.

*** That's nice, except Greer said he was Greer just before he was about to hit the button, he damaged an FBI's surrogate in order to carry out his plan, while on camera and out of any surrogate, I imagine there would be some cameras in Canter's room in the first place...

** Not quite. As explained above, nobody can convict him of anything, because nobody can testify with certainty that he wilfully caused the surrogates to be destroyed. For all the techie knew he just thought a bit too long and was about to hit Y, like every good citizen would, when he was shot by the cop. And the cop himself, of course, didn't know the surrogate was now moved by Greer, so he had no fault either. The blame would, most likely, go to Canter - who, of course, can't be arrested, what with being dead and all.