Health for all?

X: The Man with Xray Eyes (1963)
Director: Roger Corman

Ray Milland, who first came to my knowledge through Hitchcock's 'Dial M for Murder', had a successful acting career. He was seen as early as 1929 and went through to the 1960s. The pinnacle of his career was winning an Oscar for Best Actor in 1945, 'The Lost Weekend'. This particular movie is a B-grade science pulp, but a rather interesting one at that.

I remember the umpteen comics I used to read at the barbershop during my childhood. All the comics had classified advertisements at the back, selling X-ray glasses, which were an adolescent boy's dream present. A pair of special vision glasses that could see through garments was something to get excited about. The only hurdle was postage, as the given PO box was in the USA. If only they had Lazada or Shopee, then...

The film effectively portrays how society treats members of the medical profession. Individuals enter the medical field with the desire to serve humanity and alleviate suffering. Unfortunately, things are not straightforward. Resources are finite, and healthcare is getting more expensive. Health workers and patients are at the mercy of those who control finance.

The business people have the money but not the compassion. What they see are dollars and cents as well as return on investments. Everything and anything can be done but at a cost. There is no place for charity. In fact, health providers are dangled with a carrot so enticing that they fall prey to material lures. They are given the illusion that they are serving the needy, but the selected target only serves to fatten the coffers of the financiers. No businessman is altruistic.

The film goes on to narrate the story of Dr Xavier, who discovers an eyedrop that extends the range of what the eyes can see beyond the usual spectrum of wavelength. He sees vast potential in his discovery, but the medical community is wary of its potential dangers. They want more research to understand its downside. Xavier has no patience for that. He wants to spread its usage as soon as possible. The concoction obviously has its side effects, making Xavier so impulsive; the effect of the ointment is so unpredictable.

In a tussle with his superior, he accidentally knocks him over a window, and he dies. Dr Xavier is now a fugitive. 

He tries to make good use of his discovery by practising as a faith healer, only to realise that he is being used by his host as a cash cow. Dr Xavier then tries to use his X-ray vision to win at the casino to win lots of money to fund and expand his ointment. The casino is not going to give him money lying down. They bring in the might of the police to hunt him down...

Hence came a tragic end to what could been a novel desire to indeed improve people's health and to bring technology to where it mattered most. Instead, like today, the greatest expertise is used to treat trivial and inconsequential ailments that may be self-limiting. The counterargument against this is that it frees the burden of public healthcare. Personalised treatment can be focused on seriously ill patients. The fact of the matter is it also helps the high-heeled to jump the queue and be uppity about sharing the same facility as the plebians.

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2025/01/11/can-private-hospitals-be-efficient-compassionate-and-profitable/

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Life can be overwhelming!

All the troubles of the world 
Short Story: Issac Asimov (1958)

Thanks, MS, for the introduction to this prolific writer. All this while I have been watching many films based on the writings, sadly without my knowledge. The movies 'I-Robot' and 'Bicentennial Man' are two such examples.

'All the troubles of the world' first appeared as a short story in a 1958 pulp magazine named 'Super Science Fiction'. Since then, it has come out in a Children's Book and even a 20-minute short film. 

Within a span of 18 pages, Asimov brought us into a dystopian future where the desire of Man to keep the running of the world squeaky clean crime-wise has brought them a supercomputer that can prevent crimes before it is done. In this world, all kinds of information and thinking processes are recorded by Multivac. Multivac, in essence, is a God-like giant computer that helps in Earth's economy, sciences and most of all, security. By constantly updating Earthlings' train of thought data, the machine can predict Man's every following thought process.

After 50 years of serving mankind, dealing with much of their problems, Multivac finally decides to call it quits. In an elaborately penned plan, Multivac devises a scheme to self-destruct itself. It wants to die.

This is a conundrum that constantly plagues mankind. By developing more and more complex programmes like artificial intelligence (AI) learn and design algorithms, is it not just a matter of time that they build emotions and consciousness? Unlike automatons that are pure work-horses designed to serve, AI of the future may dictate terms with us. 

Just look at the transformation of Man. How a simpleton is satisfied with life when his primal needs, i.e. food, sleep and mate, are met. Slowly as his situation improves, as affluence and comfortable seeps in, his wants become progressively become insatiable. Despite having all the comforts at his feet, he is still a hollow man.

If Vishnu's avatars can be looked upon as the evolution of life on Earth, one can notice that the avatars have to deal with increasingly more complicated issues. That is the curse of intelligence. We become increasingly aware of possible risks in executing every task that living becomes progressively more complex and challenging. We are simply bogged with too many 'what if's and 'why not's. Sometimes it is just too overwhelming that we want to end it all.

Life is easy for the simpleton.

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A future full of happy morons?

Idiocracy (2006)

This science-fiction film is no masterpiece, but it portrays a pretty close prediction to what Nietzsche predicted the future would be like. He envisaged a dystopian tomorrow where mediocrity is held in high esteem. Emphasis is on triviality and popularism. Evidence of this already gaining traction. Just look around us. People are frequently numbed by visual gratifications. Nobody thinks anymore. Intellectual discourse is just too energy-consuming; blind acceptance is becoming the norm. Astronomical science is centuries old, but many still swear the Earth is flat. Sowing wild oats without a care about the offspring that springs out of such an unholy union is defended as one's right to empowerment. 

Investing a wealth of time in something as ludicrous as catching 'Pokemon Go' is a legitimately approved pastime for a modern full-grown adult. Intellectual achievement is un-cool (and is becoming increasingly expensive for the average Joe). The people who least can afford to finance to provide for their children are the very people who have more than they can care for. Instead of using effective contraception to keep the aftermath of their carnal desires in check, they merely embrace their handiwork as a 'gift from God'.

Gluttony is hailed. Gulping tonnes of junk food is accepted as a lawful sport. Society is deep into consumerism without care about how the bill is going to be paid tomorrow. Living on credit is the modern way of living. Being prudent or thrifty is so yesterday. Speaking and writing well is vilified as queer. They lace their speech with profanity and hail it as a creative licence. The audience thinks it is a comedy when one spews obscenity in his conversation. Comedians get standing ovation when they curse or denigrate own's religious belief. 

The film imagines what the world would be like in 2505, and it does not look pretty. Earth is one big rubbish dump. Upkeep of high rise erections and structures is neglected as people are no longer interested in science. The world has lost its lustre in inventing and discovering. Corporations are bending over backwards to keep clients (i.e. everybody) happy, rewarding them with meaningless pleasures. People are lazy, indulging in purposeless cybergames consuming gallons of soda. It seems water is impure and is only helpful for sanitation. For all intents and purposes, it is Gatorade. The people of the future even water their crops with Gatorade with disastrous outcomes.

Everyone is required by the law to have a bar-code tattooed on their arm for identification, tracking and ease of business transactions. Society has become much dumber to indiscriminate breeding. Everyone is a happy moron craving for carnal pleasure and fantasy lacking in agency. Thinking is done by the powers that be.

The protagonist, an average Joe US Army Corporal, is transported five centuries into the future in a failed Army suspended animation experiment. The fellow subject in the experiment is a prostitute who was running away from her boyfriend pimp. Our subjects land in a lot of trouble with the law, but being the most intelligent person of the time, he is picked out by the POTUS office. Together, he tries to start crop planting, and he eventually takes over the post of President!

Not quite the wacky movie that it portrays, but it makes one think. Interestingly, after making the whole movie, the producers decided not to have the film release on a big scale to fear upsetting the multinational companies supporting Hollywood. Quite openly, the movie had condemned 2505 Starbucks and McDonald for stooping so low as to pander its crass customer desires.

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What is life all about?

Star Trek: Picard (2020)
Miniseries, Season 1, E1-10.

I did not grow up appreciating the original Star Trek TV series. Hence, I do not qualify to identify myself as a Trekkie. I, however, managed to catch up Star Trek: The Next Generation when it made its way to the terrestrial TV channels. I remember the series not as much of an action-packed series but more of a cerebral one discussing life issues. I never did follow the ensuing Trek series or the silver screen productions. So, to me, Picard is only Starfleet Captain that I know.

More than a decade after his last mission and his unceremonious departure from USS Enterprise, Admiral Picard has to go to back to space. He does this clandestinely against the orders of the authorities, with a ragtag assembly of crew and space ship. In his previous mission, Data had caused the destruction of Mars. Because of that, androids, or synthetics as they were known in 2399, were banned. Picard had resigned in protest.

Enjoying his retirement in his chateau, Picard comes to know of a girl who may be the 'daughter' of Data as she was developed from Data's positronic brain. She is, unfortunately, assassinated. There is a vast conspiracy, from the Romulans mainly, as they had to bear the bunt of USS Enterprise's destruction of Mars earlier, to wipe out all synthetics. Picard's mission is to find Data's other twin daughter and save all synthetics from annihilation. 

Keeping with the characters who are all senior citizens trying to save the Universe, the series progresses slowly with a lot of dialogue and intellectual discourse.

The last two episodes are the most exciting part of the season for an occasional Star Trek fan like me. Perhaps at that time, earthlings have eradicated poverty and abated their fixation for material wealth, their discussions seem to focus more philosophical issues. People still try to create schisms and have pre-conceived ideas about 'the other' even though he never had the chance to meet or interact with them. They fail to realise that all these animosities will eventually cause self-destruction. Is it necessary for species to kill each other to survive? Is sacrifice the highest form of deed one can offer to a fellow kind? Is there logic in sacrifice or is life too precious to be wasted?

Picard, Riker and Troi (after retirement)

The finale discusses death and purpose of life. The past is already written. The future is for us to pen. How is the narration going to be? It is fear and suspicion of the unknown, which is the destroyer. Is believing that openness may allay these problems naive? To say that we do not have the choice is indicative of our lack of imagination. We are beyond all these. Our collective intellectual should be able to overcome adversities.

Being alive is not a licence to indulge. It is not a choice, but it comes with specific responsibilities. It is the price we have to pay for building consciousness. It expects us to think for the future. Mortality gives meaning to our time on Earth. Developing peace, friendship and love help us to appreciate the gift of life. At the end of our lifetime, we are left with only memories.

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