Unicron and the Kurzweil Model of Universal Awakening Part 1

Join me now in exploring a concept combining the brilliant theories of Ray Kurzweil and a line of toys from the 1980's. Booyah!

If you are a child of the 80's you most likely had some transformers toys. For those who were raised under a rock and don't know, transformers are a line of toys created in the 80's by Hasbro. The unique novelty of the toys were that they were cars, trucks and planes that secretly hid robots. The vehicles could be "transformed" by moving panels and compartments to reveal the humanoid robot body within. Hence the use of the famous tag lines "robots in disguise" and "they're more than meets the eye."

The story behind these robots was that they are alien machines that come to earth. Upon arriving these advanced intelligent machines scan local vehicles and take the form of cars, helicopters, animals and other things to hide their true form. The basic Transformers are divided into two groups. The Autobots are the good guys who fight a band of evil robots called the Decepticons. The two sides battle over resources that could help them return home to their mechanical planet of Cybertron.

The Transformers toy line became hugely popular fueled by exciting tv commercials featuring kids playing with the toys and an animated tv show (which was basically a 25 minute toy commercial). It became so popular in fact that a full-length animated feature film was released in August of 1986. Though you may have heard of transformers, maybe even owned some of the toys, it's possible that you never heard of or saw the movie. That is mostly because of its limited release in theaters and the rather poor reception the movie received.

Transformers: The Movie was a bit of a departure from the tv show that made the toys popular. It had a darker tone with brutal battles that led to the deaths of many of the main characters including the Autobot leader Optimus Prime. The style of animation, long stretches of dialogue and a deep story-line left kids under 10 (the franchise's key demographic) a bit bored. In fact, the movie didn't do that well and only raked in a paltry $5 million during its opening weekend. In spite of all this, the movie has quite a cult following. Personally I love it. And I can sum up why I do in a single word. UNICRON!

Let me walk you through it. Unicron is the film's primary villain. He is a spherical, planet-sized transformer who traverses the galaxy literally devouring entire planets and converting their matter into energy to power himself. He also enslaves the surviving populations of these planets to maintain his inner-workings. Like other transformers he can transform into a huge (over 1000 km tall) humanoid robot. But if that wasn't cool enough, the character is voiced in the film by none other than Orson Welles! His dialogue is delivered in slow, deep, breathy tones that strike fear into his enemies. Believe me, you don't want to be a planet and hear, "I....am Unicron." It'd be all over.

In addition to the brilliant voice over by Orson Welles the character of Unicron is made even more memorable by a musical theme that announces his ominous presence. This orchestral masterpiece starts out subtlety with a hint of synthetic chimes that create a mental star-field that is clear, glistening and at peace. Then comes a few base hits. In the distance something is coming toward you. The base cords build into a clockwork rhythm enhanced by the sounds of hissing hydraulic steam bursts and a melody that comes alive with metallic piano and electric guitar. Moody and intense the Unicron theme remains a classic!

Unicron is awesome. Similar to Star Trek's Borg in that he is a mechanized force launched into the galaxy with a singular will; the will to dominate and to consume. As a society of consumers I think we can relate to this on a fundamental level. As a population we long to satiate our desires and fulfill our needs with a huge appetite. As the resources of our planet wane perhaps the galaxy will become our buffet. Like Unicron we will travel from world to world consuming everything until all matter is absorbed.

Or perhaps there is another possibility. One related to theories surrounding the Singularity posed by Ray Kurzweil. Maybe a real-life Unicron's galactic endeavor would be quite different.

Click Here for Part 2 of Unicron and the Kurzweil model of universal awakening.