The Axiom

Initially, Buy N Large assumed that humans would only live on the Axiom for five years while robots executed “operation clean-up” and restored the earth to a life sustaining state. They designed the ship to provide a literally effortless quality of life, especially in comparison to life on earth. The movie’s setting fast-forwards to the 700^th anniversary of their five-year cruise on day 255,642, long after the failure of “operation clean-up.”

The Axiom strongly resembles a high-tech spaceship version of present-day commercial cruise liners – another technologically “improved” commodity in the movie. Essentially every feature of the present-day cruise ship is present, but “improved upon” with technology in the sense that passengers do not have to employ any physical or mental effort, beyond lifting fingers to press a button, in order to get or do what they want. As humans allowed robots to perform the most basic human tasks (e.g. brushing their teeth), they anthropomorphized the machines and gave up a part of their own humanity in return. But the Axiom went above and beyond fulfilling basic tasks in its design. Each passenger has a hovering reclining chair that transports him or her around the ship on a specified grid. The chair also has a holographic screen in front of it that provides interaction with other passengers via video chat and constant entertainment. Like today’s cruises, the Axiom has a lido deck with several pools, but with a simulated blue sky on the hundreds of screens that comprise the roof of the ship and a constant “balmy” temperature of “72 degrees” (WALL-E).  The pool is supervised by lifeguard robots and surrounded by umbrella robots that come to a passengers’ aid at their request. Likewise, passengers can press a button to request and instantly receive limitless liquid food, a spa treatment, a virtual golf or virtual ping-pong game, and essentially any other customer service request – all of which are responded to with specialized robots.   See the clip below to view the lido deck and several of the services that the ship provides.

In reality, I feel that the Axiom is a dystopia governed by the oppressive programming of the ship’s autopilot feature. The Axiom selectively exposes humans to certain messages and provides an intentionally structured schedule of daily activities. Phrases such as “be happy,” “feel beautiful,” and “EAT” are constantly spoken or flashed by the ship’s computers to influence and even brainwash the passengers of the ship (WALL-E). The messages also constantly plug things related to the Buy N Large Corporation, even beginning with infants learning the alphabet: “A is for Axiom, your home sweet home” (WALL-E).

The variety of anthropomorphized robots performs the common daily tasks that are essential for a human to know in order to care for himself. However, the humans currently aboard the ship have never even heard of earth, so they are unable to imagine possibilities beyond the norms of life on the Axiom. The Axiom’s strict implementation of technology creates the “more efficient” and “better quality of life” that their ancestors desired.

Similar to computer programs seen in The Filter Bubble that are capable of using algorithms to stereotype a person’s interests then dictate ads and search results that correlate, the Axiom also stereotypes its passengers interests. The dependence on technology in WALL-E eventually rids all human passengers of the ability to form opinions because of the lack of choice – the computers decide if it is in their best interest to go to bed at a certain time, to eat, to wear a certain outfit etc. Computers also cradle them through life and don’t allow them to fix or learn from their mistakes. The average adult should be able to take care of himself by adulthood, however if an adult passenger of the Axiom falls off of the hover chair, he will flop around confused like an infant without motor skills depend on a robot to assist him. Begin the clip below at 1:00 to see how helpless humanity becomes after becoming fully dependent on technology. 

Is the Axiom’s strictly enforced and technological-based life ethical? In our class discussions regarding Alone Together we questioned the ethics of letting people remain blissfully ignorant within the safe, reliable bubble of technological services. For example, we elaborated on the idea of Nursebot, a robot “which can help elderly people in their homes, reminding them of their medication schedule and to eat regular meals” and imagined a flawless machine-run nursing home (Turkle 121).  This alternative seemed far better than abandoning our elderly loved ones in a nursing home with unpredictable potentially neglectful human service.  However, despite the ethics of the matter, Turkle argues that the concept of Nursebots have “limitations” (121). The patients of the Nursebots lose the stimulating human interaction such as “solicitous and funny” comments that they would typically receive from a human. Equally, although the Axiom can provide homogenized essential services to all of its passengers, it only caters to the lowest common denominator of what a human is capable of wanting and who a human is capable of being.