Chapter 6 - Privacy and the Government

The relationship between the government and computing technology within the world of Real Steel points to a world in which technological crimes are repeatedly overlooked, despite evidence of strict regulation on technology also being present. In the movie, there are multiple depictions of black-market robot fights, complete with large-scale illegal gambling operations. For example, in the one fight that Charlie uses Noisy Boy (a robot he bought on the black market, despite the fact it was a well-known fighter), the match takes place in a massive underground arena, complete with a large gambling operation. The arena is depicted as extremely loud & busy, drawing hundreds of people & thousands of dollars in bets. Despite this, there is no indication anyone is even remotely worried about law enforcement intervention. Similarly, Atom's first fight was in an illegal fighting ring, this one being outside, with little to no security. Additionally, illegal bets were placed on the fight between Atom and Zeus at the end of the movie, despite the fact that it is a legally sanctioned fight. The characters present during all of these occurrences notably lacked any sort of concern for being caught, despite the obviousness of their actions at times. This points to a lack of government oversight in the realm of robot fighting. Perhaps, given the threat of a violent response to law enforcement from the robots, the government finds it less damaging to avoid responding to black-market robot fighting rings, to avoid an altercation.

The world of Real Steel also presents a world in which robotic technology has likely been heavily regulated by the government. Fighting is the only industry that we see robots take part in within the movie. There are no robots shown in service industries, law enforcement, security, transportation, or any other profession. There could be many reasons for this, but given how advanced the robots we do see in the movie are, it is highly unlikely that other industries would not have adopted them unless they were specifically not allowed to do so. Companies that fail to adopt robots as their competitors do significantly decrease their brand value [1], so it is not in a company's interest to avoid adopting automation unless something stops them from doing so. This points to a world in which the government has implemented regulations against automation, likely for the purposes of protecting jobs. Robots entering an industry threatens jobs, as shown by a 3.2% decrease in jobs for every 20% increase in robots within an industry [1]. If the government has taken action against automation in the form of legislation to avoid this issue, it would explain the distinct lack of robots in other industries. It would also further explain the apparent lack of enforcement surrounding robot fighting, as it would put law enforcement at a distinct technological disadvantage.

[1] Acemoglu, Daron, et al. “Competing with Robots: Firm-Level Evidence from France.” AEA Papers and Proceedings, vol. 110, 2020, pp. 383–88. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27042584. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.