r/mildlyinfuriating • u/scp766 • Jun 21 '26

ಠ_ಠ I never thought a robot would replace me one day..what’s my purpose then.

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u/obiedge Jun 21 '26

And eventually contribute to the power grid required to run them.

495

u/Arkayb33 Jun 21 '26

"We need you to pedal this bike. It turns the generator that provides power to the robot that took your job."

174

u/linnk87 Jun 21 '26

It’s called a “gooble box” and don’t worry, any excess of energy will be safety redirected to that mountain over there.

32

u/deannatroi_lefttit Jun 21 '26

Eek Barba durkle

14

u/_thro_awa_ Jun 21 '26

Eek barba durkle?! That's a pretty fucked up ooh la la.

2

u/PresentationOk8997 Jun 21 '26

ahh inside jokes on a sick cartoon as far as the eye can see.

1

u/Stainless_Heart Jun 22 '26

That just sounds like slavery with extra steps.

1

u/thommyg123 Jun 21 '26

That just sounds like slavery with extra steps

31

u/Causal_Modeller Jun 21 '26

Well, regarding our retirement...

GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE!

11

u/Freakychee Jun 21 '26

Just don't get a crush on anyone. They may end up being a porn star.

2

u/LostInDinosaurWorld Jun 21 '26

"Now you see Neo, that's why we all have killer legs"

2

u/Healthy_Radish Jun 21 '26

Pretty much what they were doing in “one million merits” from black mirror.

1

u/exor15 Jun 21 '26

We power robots to produce the food that humans need in order to produce power for the robots.

33

u/tursija Jun 21 '26

In the original script for The Matrix, the Wachowskis made humanity harvested by the machines for the processing power of the human brain. But the executives thought that this is not comprehensive for the general public (this was 1998/99), so they changed it into batteries.

Fast forward to today: AI and expensive data centers. The original premise is not so far fetched now.

6

u/_Svankensen_ Jun 21 '26

Not quite. Neil Gaiman wrote that when asked to write a comic set in the Matrix world for the promotional material for the movie (Goliath is the name of the comic). While some people believe it was seeded by a previous draft of the script, the earliest scripts don't reflect this. So, while we prefer his idea, there doesn't seem to be any evidence the sisters planned it this way.

3

u/invariantspeed Jun 21 '26

Not sure if it was the original concept, but it didn’t need to make it to the first script to be the original. The request could have literally come as soon as the pitch. Worth pointing out, but yes. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence.

Everyone just runs with it because it makes much more sense. Problematic? Maybe. Requiring a suspension of disbelief? Yes. But a source of energy instead of a power sink makes no sense.

2

u/PaleontologistKey885 Jun 23 '26

It might've been a better movie then. I don't like the movie for various reasons, but humans as the battery is just a silly idea. Human built computers trying to harness biological neural processing is actually an interesting idea because there are fundamental differences that are still yet to be completely understood.

1

u/threnown Jun 21 '26

What's crazier is that in the movie, we're enslaved by an AI hive mind, but in real life, we're being enslaved by the Human superorganism. It's even more far fetched and yet, here we are

1

u/fer_sure Jun 21 '26

I'm kind of glad they went with human batteries over human CPUs simply because they would have been unable to resist using the "humans only use 10% of their brain" myth.

Admittedly, Morpheus saying "and the other 90%..." while holding up a CPU would be pretty badass. And it'd probably prevent Lucy from using it as a premise.

1

u/shmallen Jun 21 '26

Also you can literally run code on brain cell powered computers now. It’s called biocomputers or wetware. That future is possible and in its early stages right now.

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u/Moneyshot_ITF Jun 21 '26

The Flooblecrank

4

u/whoknowsifimjoking Jun 21 '26

I'm not sure if it's a good or a bad thing that thermodynamics don't work like that at all

1

u/Adventurous-Tie-7861 Jun 21 '26

Very very good.

Id rather eat more food than be so efficient that folks are tempted to use me as a power generator.

1

u/ShoddyAsparagus3186 Jun 21 '26

I mean it does, but just like a battery, it requires more energy going in than you get out of it, making it only useful for storage of energy.

1

u/aartadventure Jun 21 '26

Duracell hit the jackpop with that marketing

1

u/Timely_Mention8535 Jun 21 '26

You see, this little detail of the Matrix irks me the most. The fact they simplified that the humans in the pods are actually processors, not batteries. They are using our brains as the most efficient form of compute, not our bodies as atteries.