The Pod Generation + Introduction
Science fiction comedy about a future in which women can use detachable artificial wombs so that pregnancy no longer gets in the way of their careers.
A New York couple, Rachel and Alvy, live in a not-so-distant future where technology provides ever-more convenient living. A rising tech company executive, Rachel lands a coveted spot at the Womb Center, which offers couples a convenient and shareable maternity by way of detachable artificial wombs, or pods. But Alvy, a botanist with an affection for nature, prefers a natural pregnancy. And yet, as Rachel’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) therapist puts it, why is that ‘natural’? So begins the tech-paved path to parenthood.
A social satire of detachment parenting, THE POD GENERATION delves into the fraught, comedically tantalizing relationship between technology, nature, and society. In Sophie Barthes’ imaginative world, AIs make coffee, print toast, track productivity, and measure people’s ‘bliss index.’ But at what cost? (source: Sundance Film Festival)
What if the body and pregnancy can be disconnected? How does this affect our relationship to pregnancy and the future child? Is it ethical (not) to gestate fetuses in artificial wombs? Philosopher Seppe Segers - assistant professor of Biomedical Ethics at Maastricht University - will introduce the film by discussing such questions.
Time schedule:
19.15 - Doors open
19.30 - Start introduction
19.50 - Start film
21.40 - End