Ender's Game

Just saw it today. I had not read the novels though so came to it fresh. Without giving away too much I hope it was quite interesting. It depicts youth being trained for war, and how they are programmed to hate the enemy without really knowing anything about them other than what they are fed. Which is rather ironic, since the movie opens with a quote, I don't remember by whom: "In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him."


Another interesting element is that a hero is required, "the one" to save the day. Same for the enemy, they have a Queen who controls the whole deal. All still very egoic-rational, this top-down leader bullshit. Not at all with the P2P wave of distributed leadership and followership. There has to be this special One like Neo in the Matrix, another holdover from a bygone era. It may as well be Christ the savior.

Still another element is a statement on video war games, how while kids learn practical skills they get removed from the real-life consequences of violence. No one dies in Ender's simulations. Sure they get 'killed' or inactivated during games but then they're alive and well at the end. So all the 3-D video game preparation allows for them to be programmed to dissociate from consequences and just focus on strategy and tactics. Without spoiling the end Ender comes to see the repercussions of this gaming.