Ever walked out of a movie theater thinking, “Man, if that technology actually existed, the world would never be the same”?
That’s how I felt after watching the block screening of Predator Badlands in SM Lanang with the Davao Bloggers Society.
The film doesn’t just give us alien monsters and battle-worn soldiers — it teases something deeper: the idea of synths.
Synthetic lifeforms.
Human enough to make us care, machine enough to scare us.
And it got me thinking — if synths truly existed, how would that look in the real world?
What would we gain?
What would we lose?
Because if you think about it, we’re already halfway there.
The Sound of the Synthetic
Let’s start with the word synth.
In music, a synth is short for synthesizer — a machine that generates sound electronically, creating everything from dreamy pads to guttural basslines. It imitates real instruments but also creates sounds that don’t exist anywhere else.
That’s exactly what a synthetic human is: something designed to imitate us, but capable of going far beyond what’s naturally possible.
Yamaha — the same company that gave us motorcycles, keyboards, and guitars — is already deep in this game.
Their robotics arm has been experimenting with humanoid designs that can play instruments and respond to motion.
You’ve probably seen videos of robots playing the drums or violin flawlessly. It’s eerie, sure, but it’s also breathtaking. There’s precision in the motion, rhythm in the logic.
Like watching math fall in love with music.
Now, imagine pushing that further — machines not just making sounds, but feeling them. Robots not just performing tasks, but interpreting them.
That’s the line between artificial intelligence and synthetic life.
Companies like Honda with ASIMO, SoftBank with Pepper, and Boston Dynamics with their Spot robots have been testing the limits of machine learning and movement.
These aren’t just mechanical toys — they’re research platforms.
They learn.
They adjust.
And they evolve.
We’ve already given machines the ability to see, hear, and speak.
The next frontier is empathy — or at least a programmed simulation of it.
Because once a robot can understand your emotions and respond appropriately, that’s no longer just a tool.
That’s a presence.
And that’s what synths represent: a fusion of logic and life.
What Synths Could Be Good For
Let’s set the sci-fi aside for a moment and talk about what this technology could actually do for us in the real world.
1. Medicine and Rehabilitation
Imagine synthetic limbs that not only replace what’s lost but enhance what remains. We already have bionic arms that can sense pressure and exoskeleton suits that help paraplegics walk. With synth technology, we could take that further — building hybrid human-machine systems that regenerate tissue or adjust to the body automatically.
2. Dangerous and Dirty Work
Mining. Deep-sea repair. Space exploration. Nuclear cleanup. Synths could handle all of it. Machines that think and move like humans, but don’t need air, food, or rest. That’s not science fiction — that’s pure practicality.
3. Companionship and Care
One of the gentlest uses of synth tech would be caregiving. Japan already has companion robots that talk to elderly people and help them remember things. The emotional bond might be artificial, but the comfort it provides is very real. For someone who lives alone, that might be the difference between despair and dignity.
4. Art and Creation
This is where it gets poetic. A synth that can paint, write music, or act — not because it’s programmed to, but because it understands patterns of expression — could redefine what creativity means.
Would art made by a synth still be art?
I’d say yes.
Because if something moves you, who cares what made it?
The Pros and Cons of Living with Synths
Every great innovation comes with an equal dose of anxiety. The idea of living with synths brings out both wonder and unease.
Pros:
- Safety in dangerous environments
- Perfect efficiency in production
- Medical miracles
- Limitless creativity
Cons:
- Job displacement — machines don’t need salaries
- Privacy risks — synths could collect everything you say or do
- Emotional confusion — can humans love machines without losing something?
- Ethical gray zones — at what point does “property” become “person”?
The biggest fear isn’t that synths will rebel. It’s that we might forget how to be human while chasing mechanical perfection.
Elle Fanning as THIA and Tessa
I first watched Elle Fanning onscreen through the movie We Bought a Zoo where she was one of the zookeepers of the rundown estate. She had that exuberant attitude that just shone through in that movie.
While the adults were depicted as troubled, sad, and always worried about how to keep the place running, she was all smiles and just going about her duties without a care in the world.
I just thought she had a very nice face and that she had some potential to be a star.
I didn’t think much of her after that and didn’t see her again until Predator Badlands. Sheesh. She’d grown much but still had that fresh-looking face that was perfect for depicting a synth.
I mean without the scars, she would look like a doll. Any sensible designer would use her face because it is very non-threatening and very pleasant to look at.
Even with the battle scars.
So yeah, I think the movie producers hit it on the head with casting her as THIA and Tessa because she really nailed it.
She was bubbly and gregarious as THIA and sombre and menacing as Tessa. That shows great range for such a young actress.
If Synths Truly Existed…
If synths ever walk among us, I think they’d force us to redefine what it means to be alive.
They wouldn’t age. They wouldn’t sleep. They’d just exist — perfectly balanced between efficiency and emotion. And that would make us question everything: purpose, mortality, identity.
Would they envy our flaws? Our capacity to dream, to feel pain, to fail and still keep trying? Maybe that’s the one advantage humans would always have — the ability to want.
But imagine a world where synths could join our workforce, teach our children, care for our elderly, and create with us instead of for us. That’s not dystopia. That’s evolution.
If we build them right — with empathy, ethics, and humility — synths could help us become more human, not less.
The beauty of Predator Badlands lies in how it mirrors our reality. Behind the monsters and explosions, there’s a quiet question humming underneath: what happens when the line between man and machine disappears?
Maybe one day we’ll find out.
