#flcl haruko

FLCL is a cult classic. A messy, unorthodox, expressive piece of art. And that's what makes it great. But as I was reading the news today I noticed something that I can't stop thinking about now: these AI data centers really remind me of something... they remind me of the Medical Mechanica facility from FLCL.

Placed into an unassuming small town by a shady corporation with unknown motives, is the massive, clothing iron shaped facility from Medical Mechanica, a company who makes, well, it's unclear, really. People think they make robots in there or something. We won't know for sure as there are no entrances or exits, no windows, no transparency really.

Every day it lets out clouds of steam that cover the town in a thick haze, obscuring everything. A sort of visual polution, instead of more invisible kinds that creep into the water, air, and local ecosystem and are not always noticeable at first glance, and which corporations put great effort into obscuring from the public.

We find out later its true purpose is to smooth out all the wrinkles. Including the ones in your brain so you can't even think for yourself anymore. And yet, people rarely ask "What is it? And what's it doing here? And what's it even for?" Perhaps the smoothening has already started, or perhaps the system of capital we're indoctrinated with teaches us not to ask such critical questions, we simply accept this facility being in our town because that's the way the world works. Perhaps the system of capital started the process of smoothening the brain long before Medical Mechanica showed up, and this is just the next evolution of keeping the population's brains nice and smooth so that no critical thought ever enters those minds. Thoughts critical of the corporation, of the system of capital, of those who rule the world. An uneducated population is easier to control after all. But hey, at least it'll bring jobs to the community, right? ... Right? Except... the Medical Mechanica facility doesn't really need that many people to keep it running... In fact, it seems to need more people to keep others out than people to keep the place going, as the only employees we ever see are the security guards... guarding this monstrosity... for what purpose again?

Shady corporations with shady motives A factory that makes robots or something, with the real purpose of smoothing out your brain wrinkles A facility that floods the town with polution and obscures vision, the truth even, obscuring the real harm being done. A facility that's seemingly not actually providing anything to the community at all... just, draining it of its resources, its land, its life, and its future.

FLCL is a masterpiece and perhaps it makes a little more sense than people think.

Obviously Medical Mechanica can be applied as a metaphor for corporations polluting in any era of modern human history from the industrial revolution to today, but the resemblance is one I wanted to explore further since I couldn't get it out of my head, and I think the way that the Medical Mechanica facility is quite literally meant to smooth everyone's brains out is very relevant to how AI is being used today. I could keep going I'm sure, but I'll need another rewatch of FLCL first.

Anyway, all that to say: go make Haruko proud and keep fighting against the big corporations that wanna smooth out all our brains and turn the world into a technofeudalist dystopia. Keep raging against the machine, literally.