Chapter 3 - Networked Communications

Unfortunately for our analysis, Real Steel (2011) suffers from a lack of in-depth technical descriptions of the futuristic technology it portrays. Additionally, the movie as a whole seems to illustrate a society that has remained largely technologically stagnant, with the notable exception of boxing robots. This is reflected in the movie's approach, or lack thereof, to exploring networked communications. Just like the modern day, mobile phones and laptops feature heavily throughout the movie as the main forms of communication. Multiple characters are seen making phone calls, which in no way differ from a modern-day phone conversation. In the opening scene, for example, we can see the main character, Charlie, receiving both a phone call and an email, indicating the relevance of these familiar communication methods. Additionally, while these phone calls take place on phones that are certainly made to look futuristic, there is no indication throughout the movie that they actually function any differently to a modern day phone. Television, similarly, is portrayed as being identical to what we experience in real life, with broadcast TV being a major form of entertainment in society as a whole. There exists a hint, however, that networked communications may have vastly improved within the universe of Real Steel. The boxing robots utilize very advanced AI models, which collect data from the ongoing fight and control the robot's movements accordingly, filling in the gaps between human operators' inputs. An artificial intelligence of this caliber may not be able to be housed entirely locally within these robots, given their size. Modern AI systems require massive servers, pointing to the possibility that these robots are livestreaming huge amounts of data to and from remote servers that house their fighting AI. This would require extremely fast data streaming speeds, which may point to improvements in streaming speeds within the world of Real Steel.