DISTANT FUTURE MONTH #8: World of Tomorrow, by Don Hertzfeldt (2015)

Type of Media: Animation

With the current explosion of cyberpunk media, transhumanism is definitely a topic that is in vogue right now. You have Deus Ex looking at the possibility of cyborg discrimination, Transcendence showing a human-derived AI running amok, and Black Mirror postulating a digital heaven. To some extent, even when showing a gritty future, transhumanist stories revel in how inherently awesome the idea of man-machine melding is through cool visual design or positive consequences. It’s this that sets World of Tomorrow apart, as it takes a look at cyberpunk and transhumanism and shows us a side that’s sad, alienating, and a bit silly.

World of Tomorrow concerns little girl Emily and her grown-up clone from over 200 years in the future, also named Emily. Clone Emily contacts Emily Prime and whisks her into the future. Using the Outernet, an internet people can inhabit, Clone Emily shows Emily Prime what her life has been like so far, as well as how life and technology in the future has changed. The biggest innovations are in cloning, memory extraction, and robotics, which let people extend their lifespans by putting their minds in fresh clones or machines as well as watch the memories of others.

Like most of Don Hertzfeldt’s work, World of Tomorrow contains themes of melancholy, memory, and dysfunctional love presented with a streak of dark humor. In its look at the future, World of Tomorrow’s focus is on how humans try to use new technology to prevent sadness, especially the sadness of loss, and how these efforts ultimately fail. Clone Emily keeps a cube with her grandfather’s consciousness stored in it that can print out letters, but all of the letters are just his mind reeling at the concept of being transhuman. The cloning process can keep people alive for hundreds of years, but after several generations the clones degrade so people still eventually die.

It’s a future where people seem less and less willing to accept loss. You can download people’s memories, or keep sentient relics of your dead loved ones around, or lose yourself in the Outernet, all to avoid the pain of truly losing something forever. Even still, it doesn’t seem to be enough and people crave connection more than ever. The world stands in stark contrast to Emily Prime, who’s just happy that she can change the color of the Outernet and draw shapes in the air. Before they depart, Clone Emily tells Emily Prime to savor the present, saying “now is the envy of all of the dead.”

If you like sad, thoughtful stories or dark comedies and you haven’t seen any of Don Hertzfeldt’s work, you should absolutely take 17 minutes out of your day to watch World of Tomorrow, which is currently streaming on Netflix. And if you like it, Hertzfeldt also has a feature-length animation called It’s Such a Beautiful Day, which is just as great as World of Tomorrow.