Continuum and the Consequences of Decisions
The moral case for taking the consequences of your decisions seriously through the TV show 'Continuum'.
Actions have consequences.
It's a simple idea that so many people learn growing up. What you do and how it impacts people is one of the most important things you learn. Kids learn it in the most direct way through things like touching a stove when it's on and getting burned. It teaches you that you can't just do whatever you want or whenever you want and not think about how it changes you and other people. As you grow up, the actions you take and the consequences of it become more and more complex and can impact more people in more powerful ways.
Being able to understand and feel the weight of that often makes people try to avoid making consequential decisions. The less important your decisions become, the less impact you have on other people. On the other hand, many people do their best to have their decisions and the consequences have the most impact possible. People go into things like politics and science and religion to try and make the world a better place. What would happen if you became the most consequential person in the world however? How do you come to terms with that? Would you be able to handle making decisions under such circumstances?
Continuum is all about living with the consequences of being that type of person. Beyond even the idea that you could be a powerful politician or religious leader or the head of a massive corporation, Continuum is about how your decisions change the world. It is about the consequences of affecting time itself in so many ways. Keira Cameron, as played brilliantly by Rachel Nichols, is an accidental time traveller from the year 2077 who lives in an entirely different world from ours. As a result of the time travel, she ends up in the year 2012, more than 60 years before the time she knows and understands.
In being so far from the place she knows, she grapples with the fact that the actions she takes to get home could radically alter the future she wants to return to. Add to that the reality that she's not alone in her travels. She has to contend with the fact that the others she travelled with, who didn't do so accidentally, are actually trying to change the future they come from. They want to make the decisions which will impact the world in profound and powerful ways.
So taking no action or limiting the consequences of your actions could have far more destructive consequences then taking bold, sweeping and powerful actions. But the more actions you take, the more likely what you do will change what you have to go back to. This makes what you do and how you act so powerful that could hurt not only you but millions of people who haven't even been born yet. Or perhaps people who have been born but won't be impacted by your choices for decades.
It's a powerful position to be in and can be a terrible weight to carry. What's great about Continuum is that it doesn't shy away from the weight of it all. The writers and the actors don't give the story any easy ways out. They live with the consequences in the actions they take. Even the revolutionary forces who want to change the future have to learn that they might not get what they want.
If you want to grapple with it in a fascinating and thoughtful way, I highly recommend it. Check it out on Amazon Prime.
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