Downsizing

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1

Yeah, you okay?

We have it.

Andreas, we have it.

It works.

Jorgen.

It gives me great pleasure

to welcome

the director of the institute

and my old friend,

Dr. Andreas Jacobsen.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Pereira.

Seventy-five years ago,

Mrs. Nellie Edvardsen,

overcome with guilt

by the fortune

her late husband's

family had amassed

producing mustard gas

during World War I,

founded our institute

so that the wonders of science

could instead be used

to help mankind.

In the 1950s,

the institute identified

over-population

as mankind's single

greatest long-term threat,

the cause of all the catastrophes

we are seeing today--

extreme climate and

weather events,

and the devastating impact

on food and water security.

Among the many solutions we

conceived so many years ago,

one...

which seemed then

so ambitious, so

out of our grasp

has finally borne fruit.

And today we are proud to unveil

what we fervently believe

to be the only practical,

humane and inclusive remedy

to humanity's greatest problem.

My colleague,

Dr. Jorgen Asbjornsen

will now present his findings.

Are you ready, doctor?

Yes, I'm ready.

Please take your seats.

Please sit down, ladies

and gentlemen, please.

Please take your seats,

ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

Dr. Pereira, esteemed colleagues.

Five years ago,

building on the research of our

predecessors at the institute,

my team and I

discovered a process

by which all organic

material can be reduced

at the cellular level

by a ratio of approximately

2,744 to one.

Such a process converts

a man of 1.8 meters

to just 12.9 centimeters.

A wide array of flora and fauna

were subjected in this process

and with the exception

of some fish and shellfish,

absolutely no side effects

were detected.

Please, lights.

Once the safety of the

procedure was confirmed,

thirty-six brave volunteers

joined my wife

Anne-Helene and me

as the very first humans

to undergo cellular reduction.

The process is short

and painless,

with only the mild

discomfort of removal

and replacement of dental

and other prosthetics.

The subjects are placed

under light sedation,

and after a brief rest,

fully recover within

an hour or two.

Once completed,

our little village,

just seven meters

by eleven meters,

was place inside

a gas-permeable enclosure

designed to protect us

from the hazards of weather,

animals and insects.

Thus we set about

to live together

in the world's

very first self-sustaining

community of the small.

I hold here in my hand

all of the uncompostable waste

produced by 36 people

over four years.

In this afternoon's session,

we will outline our proposal for a

two to three-hundred year transition

for the world to transform

from big into small.

But for now,

I'd like you all to meet

some very special people.

Bravo!

Yes!

Bravo!

And look,

there is little Ronnie Nesthritt,

the first small baby ever born.

And his new little

sister Ulrikke.

of the Edvardsen Institute,

himself now only ten centimeters

tall and weighing just 18 grams,

explained the rationale

behind the invention.

Wow! That is wild, isn't it?

Just wild.

Say, Holly,

you can go ahead and put

the take-out order in, thanks.

-Is that you?

-Yeah.

You hungry?

I ate about an hour ago.

I didn't know when

you were coming.

You knew I was bringing food.

I called you and

asked you specifically.

-I just had sesame chicken.

-And then you go and eat.

I'm still hungry.

screams premeditation.

Yet relatively few people

knew about his new book.

Did you see the news today?

About the little Swedish man?

Norwegian.

Yeah, Helen called to

tell me to turn on the TV.

What won't they think of next.

Unbelievable. Biggest thing since

landing on the moon. Bigger.

Mm.

I don't get it.

Why would anybody want

to do that to himself?

They can shrink people down,

fly to mars,

and they can't cure

my fibromyalgia?

And all this fuss

about the environment

though the world's gonna

end tomorrow.

I'm in pain.

I can't breathe.

Doesn't that matter?

Lots of people are in pain, Mom.

In all sorts of ways.

Hola Carmen.

Are you ready?

Strong, strong.

Is it usually or more like...

tingling?

-More like tingling.

-Tingling. Okay.

This downsizing thing is simply

runaway train technology

that's having a

devastating impact

on our world economy.

We're losing billions of dollars

in consumer spending already.

It's hurting us

in construction,

automobile, housing,

and defense.

And then of course,

when we get to politics,

-Israelis shrinking Palestinians,

-Ron...

African dictators

-shrinking rival ethnic groups.

-Ron. Look, Ron.

In any major transformation

of society,

are there serious growing pains?

Sure.

But at current mass and volume,

human life on Earth

is unsustainable.

You know, that one guy

makes a good point.

This family on my block

just moved away to get small,

now their house

is just sittin' there.

Makin' everybody's values take

a dive is what they're doin'.

Just when I'm tryin'

to refinance.

Marlene thinks I should

do it just to lose the weight.

You and me both, buddy.

Hey, Dee, is that take-out

order about ready?

Hey, honey, I brought food.

I'm not hungry.

What's wrong?

I have a splitting headache.

The store was

super busy and

Carla was a total

b*tch on wheels.

I feel like I'm gonna throw up.

Here, wait, let me

do the neck thing.

Yeah, do the little neck thing.

Mm.

Just relax, honey.

Let me take all the weight.

Okay, here's the beautiful

formal living room

with the wonderful fireplace.

And come around here,

we have

a nice big breakfast

area for the kitchen.

Big eating area.

And this kitchen

is just a complete wow.

No, it's awesome. Just...

maybe we should look again

at that place in Benson.

Come on, let's just

check out the rest.

This is great in here,

double oven,

six burner gas stove.

It's got this wonderful

butler's pantry over here.

-Oh, hey, Sean.

-Oh, hey, Paul, how you doin'?

Good.

Do I look fat?

No, you look very handsome.

Anesthesiology, huh?

My wife says I put people to sleep

even without the drugs, so.

Surprised you're still awake.

He uses that joke

like twice a week.

What's your field, Paul?

Uh, occupational therapy.

Okay.

Oh, like-like career counseling?

Uh, no, it's just like

physical therapy

but focused on workplace

injuries and rehab,

repetitive stress, lower back,

that sort of thing.

A lot of shoulder problems.

I-I'm in-house over

at Omaha Steaks.

-He does a lot of paperwork.

-Yeah, well...

I get a little carpal tunnel

of my own from time to time.

Tell me about it.

Medicine these days is

all about covering your ass.

But weren't you pre-med

down in Lincoln?

Good memory, yeah.

I put in two years

uh, then my mom got real sick

so I moved back to Omaha

to take care of her.

I wanted to be

a surgeon, actually.

You know, we might've ended

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