「サンサ」 (Sansa)
“Sansa”

And we’re back! After taking a break for a recap episode, Seikai Suru Kado is on the move again, and immediately Google decides to take over. And I must say: about time. If the world of Kado is anything like ours, all the world leaders bickering about what to do with Japan and its Wam were basically stalling until some tech megacorporation takes initiative. We can be sure for a fact that there’s no such thing as the Illuminati or the New World Order because we know the world’s already owned by Google. Seriously, what are you going to use if not Google? Bing? What’s Bing? Exactly.

Generic Silicon Valley CEO has a point, though. We actually know very little about Za as a person, and the public even less so, and somebody really needs to find out more. Otherwise, how is anyone going to be comfortable with any of the wacky technologies that Za offers? Take this newfangled Sansa thing, for example. Surely, we should be at least slightly hesitant about letting a levitating sea cucumber send us tripping without some clue as to what it does and how it works. So… let’s us sense our other selves that exist in higher dimensions. Wah? Do we have an organ for that? Or is it built into our brain functions? And how exactly do we cheat sleep with it? Are the cross-sections of ourselves in higher dimensions part of us, or are they separate? If they’re separate, do we have to, I don’t know, trade places to make the time share work? If they’re not separate, when they sleep so we don’t have to, are we aware that they are sleeping? Would we be conscious of the subconscious rearrangement of memory that our alternate sleeping selves are going through? Is that going to drive us insane? And more questions upon endless questions, but before we’ve even asked them we’re supposed to accept the Sansa based only on Satou’s, ‘I think it’s fine,’ because he feels okay.

But here’s the thing: no matter how much we study the Sansa, the guy with all the knowledge is already Za. And, for the most part, we have to take his word for it. He says that the Wam are an infinite source of clean energy. He says that the Sansa is a harmless device that helps humans reach enlightenment. And sure, there’s not much choice than to believe him, but it’d be nice if we had more to work with. It’s a problem we’ve been talking about throughout this entire series: we know nothing of Za, his motivations, and his greater plan. And so, before we achieve worldwide acceptance of the Wam and the Sansa, we really do need acceptance of Za, right? As Kado explicitly says, all we can basically do is trust him, and to do that properly we actually need information on him. That’s what the journalists were there for, right? To get a story about Za on behalf of their corporate overlord? But, nope, Za whips out another fancy device, everyone is easily distracted, and the whole interview is forgotten. Guys! You had one job!

I suppose Za is at least doing his reading, experiencing Earth (read: Japanese) culture, and generally becoming ‘more human’, which makes it easier to relate to him. It does seem, though, that the order is backwards here. Surely, it would have been best for him to have understood the humans before coming up with whatever master plan he had for advancing our peoples. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure how much I’d trust a guy who only recently learnt how to smile to have the ‘right answer’ about anything to do with our messy species.

…Unless, of course, Za’s not in charge, and there’s an even greater power behind the scenes. I’m not sure if I should be happy about that possibility.

 

Preview

15 Comments

  1. Google taken over the World? Well the only point i could see this point is the Internet. Because Google have so many DNS Servers around the world and Clouds. If an DNS entry are on their Blacklist, then no one knows it. So do not get on their bad side

    So, in terms of Internet World. Yes Google is on top

    Worldwidedepp
  2. I’m glad I finally joined into this series. I wouldn’t say it is AMAZING but it’s certainly providing me something I didn’t know I wanted. Happy to have more political, adult-theme anime like this.

    tanz
    1. Yes, I like very much that, seikai suru kado gets a lot of human motivations right. Its grate how the show builds conflicts with mainly good willing protagonists only.

      Enan84
  3. Very Good point Za is doing his massive changes without a full understanding of humanity. Although he has gotten some political things right already.
    The fight over what extra hours are usable by work and what is personal will be intense I question if the body can get physical rest for physical work though if actually active.
    It is very interesting that humans are already more than 3D beings already we just lack the scenes to feel all of us. In the flat lander examples, we now have cubes that think they are flat and can only feel and see the 2D part but 3D beings see them as cubes.
    Asking ZA to go away is premature. Asking Za to take a few years and learn and then start dumping more out not a bad idea.
    Those thinking what if Wham start working are right in worry, have to tax and maintain old infrastructure just in case for awhile. Maintaining old infrastructure though still would cost less than extracting and burning. The fun part is people reassigned going back to old jobs. But as anyone can make a Wham no choice in moving to Wham use in free societies at least.
    I love how this show makes you think.

    RedRocket
  4. I’m not sure what it says about me that one of my first thoughts about Sansa was ‘Does this mean that people’s work days are going to extend another 8 hours?’
    I also wondered, if the me in another dimension is sleeping all the time so that I don’t have to, could I be exposing myself to a new danger somehow? What else is in that other dimension that my other self isn’t interacting with properly anymore?

    AvatarOfHope
  5. You don’t need to sleep, and you have infinite amount of energy.
    What are you then? A robot?
    Or may be that’s THE point! 😀
    Thanks Za for advancing human into “something robotic”….

    Or wait…..don’t need to sleep + infinite amount of energy could translate into something else…..right?:D

    metronome
  6. @Passerby
    Why do you always insist on being so skeptical of everything Za does? There’s a shitton of SF with negativity surrounding alien encounters, why not have one where the alien doesn’t have a hidden agenda? I sincerely hope this won’t all get turned on its head as an evil master plan is revealed. I don’t have a big problem accepting that an extremely advanced alien being might actually know better than us humans. Human exceptionality is a load of self-congratulatory bs anyway. I think if Za wanted to screw humanity over, he’d surely have more direct ways at his disposal to accomplish that, given his immense technological superiority. And regarding Sansa: we are given a groundbreaking opportunity to experience multidimensionality and what we worry about is losing sleep and whether we’d have to work more hours per day? How very pedestrian of us.

    Sansa
    1. I suppose I can turn the question back to you; why are you not sceptical of everything Za does? Sure, one should not look a gift horse in the mouth, but one should also beware of Greeks bearing gifts. On my part, I’m sceptical partly because Seikai Suru Kado invites me to be sceptical when it specifically tells the audience to always question. It’s not a question of malice either. Yes, sci-fi has plenty of evil aliens, but I don’t particularly care for arbitrarily morally superior aliens either. I actually think humanity gets a pretty raw deal sometimes; it’s pretty easy to dismiss our species with a ‘humans are terrible’ moral, but that’s not useful to anyone. If human nature is human nature, then we must look to the system of incentives that creates certain patterns of behaviour.

      The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and we should be turning a critical eye to everything. Za may not be malicious, but he certainly would have his own agenda. And whatever his intentions, he can certainly just be wrong. One of the easiest ways to be wrong is to act without sufficient information, and it does seem to be what is going on at times.

Leave a Reply to RedRocket Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *