Wall-E. A bit Woody Allen, yes. Terribly earnest. Friendly with roaches. Diligent in his work. And a participant in one of the greatest screen kisses I've ever seen. Over on noahbrier.com, a nice bit about how we can only accept unadulterated joy in a dystopian future universe in which the beings that find and experience true love are, well, robots.That is the role of sci-fi, though - to let us explore things under the comforting guise of a world we pretend is not like our own. Dad used to teach an ethics course using sci-fi paperbacks. I was able to learn about bigotry, genocide, environmental destruction, genetically modified food, and lord knows what else all by reading Buy Jupiter, and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov one summer as a kid. Interracial couples could kiss on the deck of the Enterprise, and Russians could be trusted. Blonde girls can experience the loneliness of leadership and strength in Sunnydale. How to balance liberty and safety, and how not to, can be demonstrated onboard a Battleship.
It's about allegory. I work in a business that could stand to use more allegory to explain its ideas. This makes me want to go play with some allegories. Be back later.
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