Shrinking humans like they do in ‘Downsizing’ is actually somewhat possible — and not such a bad idea
Scientists say there are real ways to make humans smaller that could help offset carbon emissions
By Hilary Brueck
No matter what Matt Damon does in the movies, you can’t actually shrink yourself down to 5 inches.
The producers of the new film “Downsizing” admit they had to ignore a lot of science to tell the story of a future where people elect to get much smaller in order to live large. The movement starts when a Norwegian scientist discovers a novel way to miniaturise people, in a move he hopes will save humanity by reducing the amount of waste and pollution humans produce. And the little life is cheaper, too.
In the film’s downsized world, a “conflict free” diamond ring and necklace set costs just US$83, which is about twice the amount a “small” family spends on groceries each month. And the steakhouse chain Tony Roma’s has also been shrunk and imported to the land of the small.
Screenwriter Jim Taylor bluntly put the kibosh on anyone’s dreams of living in a cheap, small world like this after a screening of his movie at the Museum of the Moving Image.
“It’s never going to happen,” Taylor said.