Director Ridley Scott has plans to turn the classic science fiction novel The Forever War into a film. I first encountered this book during a college course on literature inspired by the Vietnam War and it blew me away. It tells the story of William Mandella, a soldier swept up in a long and brutal war between humans and a race of hostile aliens. Mandella is part of an elite combat unit that is dispatched to battles in faraway corners of the galaxy and, because of the time-dilating effects of space travel, he returns home each time to a human civilization that seems increasingly alien to him. The only familiar fixtures in his life are his combat unit and the war itself.
Hollywood has a depressing track record of stripping great genre books of all their nuance and complexity, which results in bloodless film adaptations that leave only the haziest impression on audiences. To prove my point, how many of you can remember even a fragment of a scene from I, Robot? Neither can I. But Scott is a good choice for this project, assuming he can persuade the studio to keep the suits at bay.
The film Title “I, robot” reminds me of a very striking article in Time, 8 october 08, titled “Robotical legs help people walk.”
Technology stands for nothing – and it’s going to be a necessity, at least if it’s true what some British professor says: the next generation will be able to live for hundreds of years thanks to stem cell therapy! I can imagine very old people still walking and working and lifting heavy loads with the help of their hybrid assistive limbs!