The whole island was able to function for a weekend without any staff members which highlighted the reliability for automated systems. Miles’ said that the island needed 50 staff members to maintain, but when Mile’s friends and detective Blanc first arrived at the island, Blanc was concerned about the luggage which were left on the beach. However, there was a 4-legged robot that acted as a luggage carrier. The robot dog successfully delivered the luggage correctly to each room as no one’s luggage was seen to be in the wrong place. This shows the reliability of these systems to autonomously perform certain tasks, like delivering guest's luggage on the island.
Furthermore, the reliance on devices is shown with the biorhythm monitor as it acts as the key to each individual’s room. This shows the reliability of computing as the information of the room key can be securely stored in the biorhythm monitor. The biorhythm monitor is also attached onto everyone’s arm which prevents it from being lost, dropped, or stolen, replacing the traditional keys/card keys as each biorhythm monitor is seen to be unique to the person wearing it, thus the biorhythm monitor acts as a reliable device for navigating on the island with multiple functionalities.
The heavy reliance on phones and computing devices of the current generation does not give an edge on knowledge when compared to the past generations. In the beginning of the movie, Miles sends a parcel to each of the "Disruptors" as an invitation to his island. However, the parcel contains various different puzzles in order for the parcel to open. It is seen that the "Disruptors" are struggling to open even the first stage of the parcel, this includes the head scientist Lionel who with all his genius still couldn't solve the first stage of the parcel. However, Duke's mum knew from the beginning that it was a stereogram and solved it. Furthermore, when the music was playing from the box, Birdie's first instinct was to "Shazam" [2] the song which "recognizes music on your phone or playing around you"[2]. This shows a heavy reliance on computing technologies in the current generation as without the ability to "Shazam"[2] the song, the younger generation of the "Disruptors" will never be able to solve the puzzle. However, a cameo done by musician Yo-Yo Ma shows that the older generation does not need to depend on such computing technologies or devices in order to identify a song. Furthermore, when the second layer of puzzles show up, Duke's mum was able to instantly identify that one of the puzzles was a Fibonacci sequence without having to use any sort of computing devices. Oppositely, Duke is seen to have to search up the atomic number for silver and could not recall this information from memory. Even more surprisingly is that the head scientist Lionel had to double check with Duke to ensure that the atomic number for silver is 47 which shows the lack of basic knowledge and complete reliance on the mobile phone's search results. Instead of trusting his own knowledge, Lionel would rather trust Duke's search results.
This is why as seen in this scene in the movie, the older generation is able to memorize and recall so much more information without the need of depending on external help, such as computing technologies and devices. Ultimately, this shows the negative impact that computing devices have on our memory and active recall ability as the younger generation often depend on mobile devices for answers instead of recalling information from their memory.
Johnson, Rian, et al. “Glass Onion: A Knives out Mystery.” IMDb, 23 Dec. 2022, www.imdb.com/title/tt11564570/.
“Shazam.” Shazam, 2019, www.shazam.com/company.