The X-Files season 11: Let’s all be nice to robots, or else

A Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song is the key to understanding this X-Files episode about modern technology and our terrifying robot progeny.

Not that we should always distill every piece of media into a moral, but it seemed as if “Rm9sbG93ZXJz” was moving in that direction. Actually, the “lesson” of this episode of The X-Files is arguably twofold.

The first: be nice to robots. Or artificial intelligence. Automatons? I’m sure that, at some point, they will gain enough sentience to tell us which term they prefer. At any rate, it may soon be worthwhile to think about the feelings of our synthetic fellows.

Mulder, alas, may end up looking like your stodgy uncle. At first, he refuses to tip the sushi-making robots who serve him a blobfish. That’s fair enough, honestly. But it seems that Mulder thinks the robots are machines and nothing more. However, it appears that the technology in question has become at least marginally self-aware. Otherwise, there is one devious programmer somewhere out there.

This isn’t to let the swarm of robots off the hook, however. Sure, they got stiffed at the sushi restaurant, but tracking down the two humans involved is a bit much. Certainly, trying to explode the innocent Dana Scully was a step too far. Neither did she deserve the terrifying automated car ride home. The robots definitely need to learn restraint.

Beyond that, there also appeared to be a distinct wariness around our embrace of technology. In the first scene, between the lure of their phones and the computerized menu, Mulder and Scully don’t even need to talk. In fact, there is very little dialogue throughout most of the episode.

THE X-FILES: L-R: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson in the “Rm9sbG93ZXJz” episode of THE X-FILES airing Wednesday, Feb. 28 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2018 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Shane Harvey/FOX

Don’t get too nostalgic

We could go full concerned parent here and start complaining about, say, kids these days and their texting. But it’s too easy to simply say that technology is bad and that we should step back into a pre-modern Arcadia that has never existed. Nostalgia is a trap like any other.

Perhaps that is why the episode won’t commit to a total condemnation. Technology, be it in the form of a smartphone or a sushi-making automaton, is an integral part of our society. Scully has definitely gone all-in with this concept, looking at her fully connected home.

That said, she could use a little more caution when it comes to accepting unexpected packages from drones. At least that automated car lurking outside of her home should have been a red flag. Scully, it seems, has gotten surprisingly complacent. Does she just not worry about the constant presence of machines monitoring her purchases and making assumptions about her eating habits?

This all seems a little strange for uber-skeptic Dr. Dana Scully. Then again, maybe Mulder went on one too many rants about federal agents in your computer, and she felt like she had to prove something. Or, the plot simply dictated that she live in a home a tech company billionaire would envy.

However, even our favorite paranoiac, Fox Mulder, can’t escape the reach of the machines. He’s got a smartphone, too, even if it doesn’t want to cooperate with him. The same goes for his computer, his car, and what is probably an Internet-connected television in his living room. His seemingly pared down home is, on closer inspection, packed to the brim with technology. The fact that a swarm of drones descends upon his rustic farmhouse isn’t that surprising.

Just tip your robot chefs

So, it’s not entirely feasible to draw completely away from technology. I think “Rm9sbG93ZXJz” recognizes this, given that Mulder capitulates and tips the robot sushi chefs. Rather, it’s more about living in an increasingly technology-dependent world and the emerging relationships it creates.

And, yes, the robots are plenty menacing. They also overreact to the nth degree. When was the last time a server stalked you to your home because you didn’t tip them enough? But, even here, the onus is on us. “We learn from you,” says the cheery message that follows Mulder’s begrudging tip. Savvy listeners might also catch the song played by Mulder’s uncooperative car stereo — CSNY’s “Teach Your Children”. That same song also reappears when Scully is battling her own home.

“We have to be better teachers,” Mulder mumbles unenthusiastically, but he’s right. Even in the near-future of “Rm9sbG93ZXJz,” machines are still ostensibly created by humans. They are, in a strange way, our collective children. Maybe, instead of constantly dismissing those survey-style questions on her phone, Scully could do her civic duty and help the bots learn.

It’s ultimately on us to design them well and, in some cases, be better role models for them, though we could stand to just never develop a bullet printing machine like the one seen in the factory towards the end of the episode. At the very least, we could stand to put it somewhere other than the company break room.

Next: The X-Files season 11 episode 7 recap and review: Rm9sbG93ZXJz

Next week is “Familiar”, directed by Holly Dale and written by Benjamin Van Allen. It looks to be a return to more traditional scares for The X-Files, with some maybe-demons parading around in very creepy masks. Until then, “Rm9sbG93ZXJz” leaves us with some more everyday terrors to contemplate.

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