CSB #4: TRON: Legacy

Light Jet as shown in TRON: Legacy

Light Cycle and Path as shown in TRON: Legacy

Definitions
The Grid: a virtual world created by Kevin Flynn, "The Creator"
Light Baton: a baton that, when broken in half, forms a light cycle or jet under the owner
Light Cycle: a motorcycle that leaves behind a light path (walls of solidified light), used in the light cycle matches (usable only in the Game Arena)
Light Jet: a jet with similar characteristics to a light cycle (not restricted to the Game Arena)
User: the name for a human while in his/her digital form when transported into the Grid
ISO (isomorphic algorithm): programs that formed by themselves in the Grid, which Kevin Flynn believed had great potential to change the world if transferred to the real world.
Light Identity Disk: a disk which carries information about the identity of the owner, and can be used as a pseudo-boomerang and close combat weapon
Light Cycle Match: a match between users/programs to try making the enemy crash into light paths


Summary
In TRON: Legacy, Kevin Flynn, CEO of ENCOM disappears, leaving his son Sam alone with his grandparents. Twenty years later, Kevin's friend Alan visits Sam and tells him that he was paged by Kevin's old arcade. While investigating, Sam finds a hidden laboratory and a laser transports him into the Grid. In the Grid, he is forced to play in the Game Arena by Clu, a digital copy of his father. In one of these games Sam snaps a light baton in half and tries surviving in a light cycle match. Sam is saved by Quorra, his father's apprentice, and she takes him to Kevin's hideout in the mountains. Quorra tells Sam to seek out a man named Zuse who can apparently bring him safely to the portal. However, Zuse betrays them and while protecting Sam, Quorra loses her arm and Kevin loses his disk, the key to the portal. Sam, Quorra, and Kevin plan to make it to the Portal which leads to the real world so they can destroy Clu from the Grid using the computer. On a transport ship, Kevin takes Quorra's identity disk and plucks out the "damage coding" from her digital DNA, causing her arm to recreate itself. Clu arrives with a warship with thousands of soldiers, but does not notice the group's presence. While Kevin hijacks a light jet, Sam and Quorra help retrieve his disk. They depart for the Portal with Clu and his underlings following them. Sam, Quorra, and Kevin finally make it to the Portal after fighting them off, only to find Clu waiting for them. Because Clu was created by Kevin using his reflection, Kevin was able to integrate with Clu, destroying them both and ensuring Sam and Quorra's escape.


Discussion
I believe TRON has some creative ideas. The idea of creating an actual virtual world where a user literally gets digitized into it is extremely innovative, although this is highly unlikely. Also, the light baton is improbable as it would probably require the whole motorcycle or jet to be condensed into a small stick-sized object. Even if possible, it would be almost useless as the stick would weigh as much as a vehicle. Also, the idea of a disk containing all physical defects with the possibility of curing them by simply removing the coding errors would effectively replace all medicine. Although almost all of the technologies portrayed in TRON: Legacy are most likely impossible and therefore science fiction, they still jog the viewer's imagination


Questions
1. Could an actual digital world (not a simulation) be created? If so, how?
2. How could a program possibly spontaneously self-create in a digital world (like the ISOs)?


Sources

TRON: Legacy. Dir. Joseph Kosinski. Walt Disney Pictures, 2010. Film.
Picture of Light Jet: http://images.wikia.com/tron/images/4/4d/1292542854.jpg
Picture of Light Cycle: http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090801013960/tron/images/9/99/Tron_legacy_cycle.jpg