This article was taken from the March 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
José Padilha's vision of a Robocop remake came to him quickly.
The big difference is that this time half-dead cop Alex Murphy is still conscious when he's put in the suit, all thoughts, feelings and memories intact. "We're moving towards the automation of violence, both in war and law enforcement," Padilha says, thinking of drones. "Once you replace soldiers with robots, wars could be endless." In his Robocop, set in 2028, a multinational behemoth is manufacturing machines everywhere except America, which forbids robots to pull triggers. Solution: stick a man in one, to give it a conscience.
Without an immune system, Murphy is imprisoned in his shell, docking into a medical station each night. "It's a nightmare to be Robocop," says Padilha. "We wanted to discuss what it means to be a man. Is it defined by cognition? When he engages in battle, everything is automatic. But, as the machine fights, it feeds info into his brain, making him believe he's doing what the machine is doing," says Padilha. Robocop was released on 7 February.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
