Gary doesn't doom humanity! He's the only thing that saves it!

You do realize that if the aliens hadn't

left, they would have killed and replaced everyone, right? THIS was the good ending! The one where we
have a technological setback, but at least retain our freedom. I'm really surprised you didn't bring it up,
but I noticed in the film that it pulls a double subversion. The movie starts off with Gary as a lovable
scamp, and slowly we come to realize that he's a prick. But I think we're also meant to realize something
else: Gary is the only one of the group still alive at the beginning. The others have ALREADY BEEN
ASSIMILATED. And I don't mean literally, I mean they accepted the Program before they even knew what
was happening. They willingly joined the pod people in spirit before their bodies were claimed. Look at
the color palette in their opening scenes; their identical outfits; their identical personalities at first; the
repetition of objects and patterns in backgrounds; the constant motif of cell phones! What's happened
in Newton Haven has already spread elsewhere. The four friends are living dull, identical, joyless, safe
lives. Gary is a prick, but he's also the only one who's retained any identity as an individual. And have
you noticed that by the end of the film, the others survive depending on whether they can become more
like him? Gary may have deep problems and is stuck firmly in past glories, but he knows fully who he is
and what he wants. Notice, when he admits to his suicide attempt, that he tells Andy, "They told me
when to go to bed!" as if that is a torture beyond tolerance. A torture so bad he wanted to end it all.
Because, to someone who values independence and freedom above all, it would be. And in the end, that
is exactly what saves him and humanity. His irrational, stubborn, completely human independence.

The aliens don't call him Gary King, of the humans. They call him Gary, King Of The Humans.

Gary is humanity personified. We are hero and villain, insufferable and lovable, fucked-up and noble, all
at the same time. Gary is a manipulative, defensive, deluded, brave, freedom-loving, loyal, loving, wreck.
He is what we are. The Network's attempts to smooth all that over fail, because you cannot change a
thing's essential nature. Gary rides off into his perfect future with his perfect companions, while his
remaining friends are all broken out of their dead lives and forced to become something new and
independent. I happen to be a transhumanist, so I'm usually not fond of movies where the answer is to
destroy all the technology. But in this film, technology isn't representing fear of the unknown, but
comfortable sameness. The homogenizing of individuals just like the Starbuck'd pubs. I believe that this
movie is saying that it is better to be who we are, to accept our faults and make them work for us, than it
is to dull every part of ourselves away until we no longer have either faults or virtues.
Photographer: Issouf Sanogo/AFP via Getty Images

markets

De Beers Has a Clean-Up Plan for Blood Diamonds

By Thomas Biesheuvel

April 19, 2018, 2:54 PM GMT+2

Diamond giant to start artisanal pilot program in Sierra Leone

Such mining has long damaged the reputation of the industry

Diamond mining giant De Beers plans to fix one of the industry’s oldest problems: the reputational stain
of artisanal mining.

The world’s top diamond miner is set to start a pilot program in Sierra Leone that will help trace the
route from mine to consumer for what it calls ethically-sourced artisanal gems. The Anglo American Plc
unit will train miners and provide them with equipment to digitally track their finds, and aims to buy the
first such stones from them this year.

Artisanal mining only accounts for about 20 percent of global diamond production, but carries an ugly
reputation that’s damaged consumer confidence for decades. The issue of blood diamonds took root
during Sierra Leone civil war in the 1990s, but gained widespread recognition after the the 2006
Leonardo DiCaprio movie “Blood Diamond.”

While the vast majority of modern artisanal mining has nothing to do with conflicts, production is often
unregulated and can be dangerous and environmentally damaging. Diggers also regularly struggle to sell
their stones for market prices because formal sales channels don’t exist.

“By providing a secure route to market, offering fair prices and helping to raise standards, we hope to
play a role in enhancing the prospects for those working in the sector,” De Beers said in a statement
Thursday. That may also open up a new source of supply for De Beers over the longer term, it said.
The company said it will work with the Diamond Development Initiative, a non-governmental
organization, on the pilot program called GemFair. De Beers currently has no mines in Sierra Leone, with
its operations in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Canada