'Project Hail Mary' as a Sign of the Times
In an era when hit movies at the box office often require an asterisk, Project Hail Mary is clearly a massive, legitimate hit. At the highest level, the appeal is simple: it’s good and it’s the type of movie that demands to be seen in theaters — preferably on an IMAX screen. Such a combination isn’t rocket science, except that here, it is, quite literally.1 But having now seen the movie twice, I also wonder if there’s something else at play. It’s more delicate, but perhaps just as potent.
We’re currently living in a world where technology increasingly is being seen as the bogeyman. As such, the future is looked at with almost a sense of dread. Part of it is understandable — already a large number of job losses are being blamed on AI. And every headline you read hammers the point home: this is coming for everyone. Buckle up, because what’s coming is going to suck.
It’s depressing as fuck.
But what if instead, technology and the future plays out similarly to how it has played out in the past? That is, there’s a period of disruption as the world digests change and then… the world is better for it? Perhaps not universally, of course. But for the most part. We used to call this progress, but now we call it a problem.
It’s not just AI. Part of this is undoubtedly related to the fact that the Big Tech companies are now by far the largest businesses in the world, increasingly with their tentacles in every facet of life. Here's where I'll point out that the studio behind Project Hail Mary was... Amazon MGM. And now AI threatens to cement that status and create a world where technology overtakes pretty much everything about humanity.
Again, that’s the basic sense you get from everything you read — and also see. While I get that it’s very “tech bro” to complain about critical coverage, I’m also a part of this – and I've been writing about this general idea for well over a decade. While there has always been the lure of the dystopian future as a narrative, increasingly, it does seem like the only acceptable framing of the future. A happy 2050? Come on, no one will buy that! And perhaps no one will buy a ticket to that.
But Project Hail Mary hits the right mix, I think. The world of the future — which honestly doesn’t even seem like much of the future, but apparently is set in the 2030s or 2040s in the book — is in trouble. But it’s not technology that causes it — it’s technology that fixes it.
I won’t give too much away, but essentially, it echoes the themes of Andy Weir's previous book adapted to a movie, The Martian. Humanity is able to “science the shit” out of the problem. And it’s technology that enables the science (and vice versa). It’s a story as old as time in a way, humanity prevails. But now with the help of an alien. Which is only possible because of a ton of technology.
No one in this world is sitting around complaining about tech — and the alien is even gifted a “portable Earth thinking machine” at one point to much excitement! — they’re leveraging it. Figuring out how to make it work for them to solve the problem at hand.
This strikes me as far more in line with the way the actual arc of technology has played out over time. Yes, there’s initial fear, probably from the wheel on down, then we adapt and leverage the new capabilities to push the world forward. Why do we think AI or any other new technology will be different?
Perhaps because we always think it will be different.
I will obviously acknowledge that there is a chance this time is different. That the AI shift is so profound that it plays out in ways that are both unforeseen and potentially problematic. But again, that’s always the case with new technology. I choose to believe that we’ll figure out the best ways to leverage it. Because technology itself is not inherently good nor evil, it’s how you use it. And unlike with nuclear weapons — the insanely preferred comparison for AI — there are real and obvious upsides to AI (beyond ending a war).
Anyway, my point is simply that I think part of the reason why Project Hail Mary is resonating with audiences is because it’s actually hopeful about the future of humanity using technology. And I feel like the reaction to the Artemis mission this past week speaks directly to that as well. People want to be excited again about a future in which we leverage the technology we’ve created to do truly amazing feats.2
Perhaps the best scene in the movie is entirely unexpected and decidedly Earthbound. On an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean as they prepare for the ‘Hail Mary’ mission, Sandra Hüller’s Eva Stratt, the team lead, breaks free from her icy exterior for a moment to do a bit of karaoke. Her song of choice? Harry Styles’ decade-old “Sign of the Times”.3 It’s completely unexpected but also fitting in so many ways. And it feels like a perfect encapsulation of Project Hail Mary itself being released right now: “Just stop your crying, it’s a sign of the times.”
1 For the record, I just knew it would be good. It had all the right vibes... ↩
2 At the same time, I do believe there is a real messenger problem with those trying to deliver this technology to the masses... ↩
3 The completely last-minute use of the song itself is a fun backstory ↩.