Short Film: I’m Not a Robot
Director: Victoria Warmerdam (Catholic boys probably had a field day with your last name, Victoria. Let me apologize on behalf of all of them.)
Starring: Ellen Parren, Henry van Loon, Thekla Reuten
Dear Human Beings,
Oh, how I love being a human!
Do you love being a human, too?
Then there are a few of us!
Don’t tell! They’ll advertise,
you know.
Or banish us.
Or they’ll try to get us to vote for some political party
and obfuscate the news and real information
with propaganda and smear campaigns!
It’s okay! What we can do is—
breathe!
And breathe some more.
And contemplate free will.
And not just contemplate it—
activate it, consciously.
Whew! Is that
too big a job
to do?
Nah.
Start today.
(The above poem modified slightly—or more than slightly—from Emily Dickinson’s poem, “I’m nobody, who are you?”)
(Emily Dickinson wrote a lot of poems but didn’t try to get her poems published or become famous because she preferred peace and quiet.)
(Still, Ms. Dickinson is one of the most groundbreaking and influential American poets that ever lived and she was quirky and original.)
“I’m Not a Robot” is a short film out of the Netherlands, from Oak Motion Pictures. It won the 2025 Academy Award for Best Short Film.
What is the difference between a bot and a person? Can you tell the difference?
Discernment and free will is key to being a human, but many people who spend their lives ingesting social media and scrolling on metal devices lose their inner, God-given guidance system. What we are given innately as human beings is better than a GPS if you know how to follow it and listen to it. Many people do not—they become the pontiff, the rabble-rouser, the avatar they see on a screen. They mimic and imitate, become victim to habitual patterns and systemic manipulation.
The shit that is happening in our world right now is scary. I studied a lot fo sci-fi and speculative fiction in grad school in the early aughts, and the writers were all imagining this future world where the images we see through technology were taking precedence over pure, genuine, human interaction and connection.
And now it is 2025, and people are dropping like flies to be worshippers of The Robot System.
I had a conversation in a car last year with a man, and he brought up a Bot with dark hair who appears to have a lot of influence in the United States.
(By the way, the drama unfolding is so Shakespearean, isn’t it? The shadowy figure giving guidance to a king, but maybe the shadowy figure isn’t to be heeded cause he’s got his own agenda?)
So this guy in the car seemed to think that a Brown-haired Bot-Boy was important because he had a lot of money, and I said that I wouldn’t trust a guy who looked like a robot. Period. I don’t care how much money someone has. Second, the character of a person matters. Can a person be bought and sold? Would a person think buying another person is appropriate? And even if you can buy something, should you?
These are questions we need to consider and “I’m Not a Robot” asks us to question them. What is free will, what is destiny, what is fate, and how well do we know ourselves?
Do you have control over your future, or is it predetermined?
Can you trust life itself, or do you only trust your visions, ideas, goals, and dreams?
The masterful film “I’m Not a Robot” examines what in life is actually ours. What do we possess, and what can we possess? Whose game are we in? Are we our own?
Personhood is something to be deeply valued these days. And when we give up investing in the fight that is raging everywhere, we start to understand that being a person in this robotic nuevo mundo is about the biggest, boldest, most powerful thing you can be. It doesn’t require a college education, a trust fund, a mom and a dad, a bunch of “followers,” or anything like that. Also, allowing another person to be, to trust in the inherent dignity and freedom of other persons regardless of difference, is crucial.
But what if we can’t tell the difference between avatars and real people?
So, while we have this moment here, breathe. Trust you have your own inner knowing, and you can make choices in life from that place.
Who’s fake in your world?
Who’s real?
Who do you trust? Who do you listen to?
As Krishna says in The Bhagavad Gita, “Even a little effort toward spiritual awareness will protect you from the greatest fear.”
Wanna live life?
Or wanna die trying?
Watch “I’m Not a Robot” here and talk about it with people.
Namaste,
Ms. Wonderful
Oh, oh, oh! Read below for Saturday Vinyl.
The Ides of March Saturday Vinyl Playlist
