Last night I watched the latest episode of Star Wars and I won’t divulge any of the plot, mostly because the plot has a lot of unanswered questions, but instead I’m going to write about what impressed me the most and that would be BB-8. He/it is a new droid character that is irresistibly cute. Of all the new characters, BB-8 was my favorite.
There’s a lot of things technology has brought to us in the past decade. We’re more connected than ever through social media. Well, I guess that could be debated but there’s no doubt I’m able to communicate more with a much larger group of people than I would without social media or blogs. It could also be debated whether that’s a good thing or not but it is what it is. There’s also no doubt that most of us are attached to our smartphones and reliant on them to navigate us, Google random questions, communicate with others, or simply just entertain us when we’re bored. They’re also a great therapy tool for anxiety. In many ways, they are our droids but there’s still a lot left to be desired in a true companion that an iPhone just can’t deliver and that’s where BB-8 steps in. It’s a personal sidekick, a best buddy.
A Star Wars-like droid is everything I want in a best friend: loyal, intelligent, funny, quirky, caring, thoughtful, but with a little sarcasm thrown in to make it interesting. Nobody wants a mindless, always agreeable marshmallow for a friend. That would get old quick. Human friends just don’t cut it, not for me anyway. They’re too…human.
People can be flaky, unreliable, moody, boring, thoughtless, judgmental, selfish, uncaring, and cruel. Humans are deeply flawed. We’re just not that good and that’s why most of us prefer the company of dogs and cats. I can’t even stand myself half the time. Oh, sure once in a while we need other people around but only in a limited manner. People are just too energy draining. We need something better than any human can give. We all need a BB-8 to roll along with us, as we traverse life’s highways.
I’d love to have a best buddy at my side when I’m out on field studies. It’s a little unnerving walking my favorite trail and meeting that creepy guy who always carries a baseball bat. A droid with the ability to identify plants and birds, shoot the breeze with, as well as shoot out laser beams to robbers and rapists would sure come in handy! But until then, a dog will have to do. Nature knew we needed a non-human best buddy too.
Photo Credit: Aldo van Zeeland
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