Love Machina (dir. Peter Sillen)

By: Adam Freed

To what lengths must humanity go to preserve what is left of itself?  It feels like with each step deeper into the technological forests of the 21st Century, the trail of breadcrumbs leading back to where mankind used to be grows increasingly thinner.  Part of what society has long fought to preserve are the memories of those that have been loved and lost.  For futurists Martin and Bina Rothblatt, a longtime married couple living at the tip of the edge regarding invention and scientific breakthrough, the idea of chasing immortality has become a reality.  Martin, the billionaire inventor of Serious Satellite Radio technology has turned their infatuation with time into a full time job.  Not only cementing time in permanence, but in reversing the flow of time’s inevitable cruelty.  Love Machina, a fascinating tech documentary from Director Peter Sillen, follows the couple’s daunting quest to transfer Bina’s consciousness into digital form via an artificially intelligent animatronic humanoid bust named Bina48.  

As disconcerting and unnecessary as Martin Rothblatt’s quest to preserve their partner in perpetuity may seem, the brilliant inventor comes across the idea in the most romantic of ways.  Conceptually, loving someone so much that wanting to live an eternity with them, albeit a digitally minded artificial eternity, is something that Love Machina takes its time to explore.  Martin likens the current phase of permanent consciousness’ pursuit to that of the early test flights at Kitty Hawk.  Peter Sillen (I Am Secretly and Important Man) is cautious within his documentary not to assign judgement to the creation and testing of Bina48, but certainly doesn’t shy away from the controversy surrounding its existence.  The most shocking aspect to a documentary investigating the invention of perpetual consciousness, is how deeply human the portrayal of Martin and Bina (flesh and blood edition) are.  The care and concern that the long married couple are, regarding leaving the world in a better position in which they found it is quite apparent.  Evidence of this optimistic form of exploration through technology is the time that Love Machina dedicates to dig into Martin’s successful quest to eradicate Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, a once fatal childhood illness that impacted one of their children.  By wielding the combination of genius and unthinkable wealth, what was once a death sentence for children facing its diagnosis, is now a treatable illness.  The same can be said for the invention of a breed of synthetic pig being used to harvest organs for the purpose of human transplant.  Eye opening discoveries at the hands of a couple that could’ve simply taken their billions and sat on an island.

In terms of the progress of Bina48, the project, as documented in Love Machina, has a long way to go before resembling anything physically human.  At present interaction with the android is akin to a very intuitive conversation with one of the former presidents at Walt Disney World’s “Hall of Presidents”. Bina48 is hyper intelligent, and has captured the essence of its human inspiration, but is nowhere near resembling the functionality of one of Ridley Scott’s replicants of Blade Runner (1982) fame.  While a future that involves human interaction with AI-powered animatronic beings is growing increasingly possible, one day Love Machina will likely be early documentation of the initial phases of this harrowing transition.

Target Score 7/10 - Love Machina works best as an ode to human love, the passion and desire to spend eternity with one’s soulmate.  The jaw dropping and frightening backside to this pursuit explored in Peter Sillen's fascinating documentary is technology’s rapid ascent towards providing digital consciousness to actually become reality.