Buddhas and robots: what's the difference?

Reflections on The Beast

Note: I am still sorting out the paid subscription issues. Please be patient.

Substack is very slow to respond!

When science fiction movies imagine the future for us, they tend to be either post-apocalyptic or hyper-technological. Bertrand Bonello wanted to do something different. In his new film The Beast he presents a future world that is almost familiar; it’s just like the world as we know it except that a few details have changed. He admits: “It’s the future, but it’s also the present. It’s tomorrow.”

I find this idea really intriguing. There is no immense hiatus between present and future. Instead, it’s about a future that is sufficiently like the present to feel real and utterly believable and yet a few key ideas and behaviours have changed. People still dance in night clubs and live in cities and yet human life has new forms of stress. There is 67% unemployment and 20% are in tedious, meaningless mechanical jobs. The interesting jobs that require intelligence and responsibility are taken by robots.

Robots are preferred over human beings because they have no cognitive distortion. The problem with humans is that their emotions and biases get in the way of clear thinking and balanced decision-making, and robots have no such problem at all. So if a human being like the heroine Gabrielle Monier (played exquisitely by Lea Seydoux) and her love interest Louis (George MacKay) want a useful job they have to go through an AI-controlled technical procedure that ‘cleans’ their DNA of past life karma, memories, associations and habitual patterns so they can function as well as a robot can. And that is precisely what they decide to do.

In the film we hear that by 2044 science will have proved the validity of all key principles of Buddhist thought. For instance, it has become part of mainstream thinking to acknowledge past lives and the karmic patterns that we bring over from the past into our current life which spoil the way we respond to the present. And the point of the Buddhist path, which is to eliminate the afflictions that get in the way of seeing reality as it is, has been replicated by science in the DNA cleansing operation. At one point Gabrielle mulls the choice between becoming a Buddhist and becoming a robot, and she doesn’t want either because she wants to retain her ability to feel. Although the movie does not elaborate on Buddhism in any detail, the implication is that Buddhist practice takes one to the same ‘place’, to the same mental state, as DNA cleansing. Enlightenment is freedom from the afflictions, and so is the outcome of this new scientific process called ‘purification’.

All of this means that by 2044 scientists will have found a much quicker way to get us to enlightenment. What it takes is a small number of sessions immersed in a chemical bath in which one recalls past lives. And the process is concluded with an injection of liquid through the ear into the brain which wipes the karmic slate clean.  No more years of effort and hardship; no need to meditate every day or do good deeds. In a matter of weeks one can become a purified human being and a viable candidate in the job market. I guess this is another version of the brave new world.

As you would expect with any good story, there is a catch. One of the effects of DNA purification is that without emotions humans can no longer experience love. Thus are sown the seeds of tragedy. But for me this point is very important because it implies that enlightenment in Buddhism is similarly a state without feelings and without love. The idea is that emotions are an integral part of what it means to experience love.

This is a misunderstanding that needs to be corrected before more films are made on the subject and before the authorities in our countries set about generalizing DNA purification of the masses. It’s conceivable, after all, that they could see it as a way of vaccinating people against addictions and violence and extremist views. They need to be aware that this is not the real thing. The image of enlightenment as a flat and boring state is an unfortunate caricature which bears no resemblance to reality.

A genuinely enlightened mind naturally expresses unlimited love and boundless wisdom. Heart and head come together in a single complete way of being. In fact, emotions are nothing other than the compassionate energy of the enlightened mind distorted by karma and habits. So enlightened beings are full of heart, in fact if you have ever met a great spiritual master you will know that they radiate love in all directions. It’s really important for everyone to know that a buddha – and a genuine Buddhist – is nothing like a robot or a luckless human whose inner life has been castrated. Purifying the afflictions through Buddhist practice does not impoverish us and suck out our juice; it lays bare the brightly shining mind so it is free to bring joy and healing.

Buddhism is a true alternative. The quick and easy technological fix doesn’t work. If only our heroes had known, Buddhism offers a much more meaningful option that frees not only from the afflictions but from the limitations of the physical dimension, too. Maybe it will take longer than 2044 for science to recognize that the physicalist understanding of mind is mistaken. That is the fundamental sticking point.

In the meantime this is a haunting and impressive film that lingers long after one has left the cinema. It is loosely based on a novella by Henry James and combines period romance, thriller and science fiction. It takes us to the sumptuous salons of Paris in 1910, to Los Angeles in 2014 and to 2044 when a stoic, emotionless and colourless world is run by machines. Each time the lead couple are drawn together again through their mutual bond of love and fear. We see how past life connections play out and how patterns repeat from one life to another. But interestingly the beast of the title is not a machine. If there is a monster lurking in the shadows of these three linked stories, it’s the paralysing fear of love that prevents each version of Gabrielle and Louis from accepting and living their truth.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_beast_2023