Headscratchers
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Universal voluntary downsizing
- Apparently the long term goal of the scientists who created the downsizing process is to have all of humanity voluntarily shrink. How do they plan to have everyone agree to that? Humans can barely agree where to go to lunch half the time. All it takes is for one nation to not go along with it and they’re giants on a planet of Lilliputians, which I’m sure most governments realize.
- Given how it didn't even cross a single person's mind that oppressive governments would weaponize this tech, it is not unfair to say that they were incredibly naive.
- Why in the world would anybody think that having all human beings at the bottom of the food chain would be a good thing???
Income inequality
- Why did the poor laborers agree to be downsized? You would think that, since middle-class people become rich, the poor people who downsized would be told that they'd at least become middle-class. But why were they still poor?
- It's an explicit and repeatedly-stated point that people — especially victims of oppressive regimes and refugees — are being downsized against their will.
- Why would we think that the poor people would be told that? Poor people are usually at a disadvantage in affording or acquiring information, such as through education or access to information resources like the Internet. Those who are more aware and better informed of income inequality are usually the ones who make the most income. It actually makes perfect sense that poor laborers would be more agreeable in getting downsized than the rich or middle-class.
- Also if nothing else, their tiny amounts of money they have are going to go a lot further when shrunk, not to mention the tax break stated in the movie.
Smart Cars
- If a regular downsizer could afford a mansion, why were the ride sharing tiny Smart Cars? Why couldn't they be luxury vehicles?
- It comports with the theme of conservation, which is the point of downsizing.
- We later learn that the downsized don't really make huge comfortable incomes, so they can't afford luxury cars.
Big people can hear small people?
- How is it that people's voices haven't been lowered in volume when they have been downsized? Even if they were to shout out on the top of their lungs, us normal-sized people would have difficulty hearing them.
- Not just volume would be an issue: tiny vocal folds would produce very high-pitched sounds, probably too high for unshrunken humans to detect even with amplification. And tiny cochleas probably couldn't hear normal-sized human voices, either.
- The entire movie is basically taking artistic license on the entire shrinking process and its results.
