Thinking about what Tron’s life and work could have been like inside the Encom-system, post-1982.
We know he’s a security program, designed to monitor the System’s connections to other systems and stop anything harmful passing between. He might also be able to take on security roles within the system; we see the Flynn’s Grid version of him doing some of that prior to the coup.
Now, this job definitely has the potential to become very corrupt (see, border security and IRL cops in general)
But even in an ideal world that could abolish the carceral system and policing as we know it, there would still be a need for security in some form
Now I like to imagine that Tron is more like what would replace cops, in this sort of ideal rehabilitative-justice-focused world.
Because I imagine that what passes for a “justice system,” inside a well-functioning computer, is much more rehabilitative and preventative than punitive.
I mean, ideally you set up conditions in your computer so that they don’t lead to any of your software causing problems. Meaning the programs all have access to what they need (sufficient power and memory, sufficient downtime to rest, whatever maintenance is necessary).
This is somewhat analogous to how a better human society could prevent a lot of crime just by giving people a better life. But of course it can’t prevent all of it; some people will still want to cause harm for whatever reason.
And if a program does start making trouble, the ideal solution is to troubleshoot until the problem is fixed– which sorta equates to rehabilitation of criminals.
Carceral state would be just keeping the program inactive and never using it, I guess. Death penalty would be uninstalling and deleting.
The MCP’s approach was to lock up programs who wouldn’t obey him, and force them to do things for him. Regardless of their original function, they’d become half-zombified office workers like Yori, or gladiators fighting battles like Tron (which is implied to be work that helps keep the Arcades running and bringing in profit for Encom).
Programs clearly don’t like being made to do jobs other than the one they’re designed for. My own impression of the Encom system is that the programs there are self-motivated to fulfill their intended function, at least as much as humans are motivated by money. The right job is its own reward. The wrong job would feel like forced unpaid labor.
So, the MCP’s system was basically the prison industrial complex. (Including the high risk of death at work.)
Tron helped abolish that.
And what would be set up in its place… Well, that depends on the Users, under the new direction of Flynn (who’d presumably want to at least try for something more considerate of the rights of programs, now that he sees them as people).
I don’t think it should be Tron’s choice, because I think Tron does have an inherent violent side. The way we see him fighting, when pitted against multiple red warriors, makes me think he is very capable of turning off any thoughts like “this program is also a victim of the MCP in a way, he wasn’t really given any better choices; why don’t we try and rehabilitate him?”
Tron was focused on his own survival, and he knew when fighting to the death was the only option. Charitable thoughts couldn’t be acted on at the time and would only get in the way. So he just became a ruthless killer in those moments.
And I don’t totally trust that his anger against those red warriors would go away after the MCP was defeated. I wouldn’t trust Tron himself to choose rehabilitative justice.
But luckily, he listens to his User. And I think Alan would rather turn a misbehaving program to the good side than destroy it. (The “Klaatu Barada Nikto” quotation on his cubicle wall was basically a command to a violent AI to stop causing harm and to help instead. I even have a sort of half-headcanon that this is what he actually did for the MCP.)
If Alan got the chance to guide Tron into becoming the System’s regular security, I think he’d make sure to include directives for rehabilitation as much as possible.
There are of course a lot of questions about just how this would apply to programs, and whether it would even be possible to introduce anything like what would be an ethical system for humans. (What does he do with viruses and malware? If their programmed purpose is to harm the system, would rehabilitating them into helpful work be as traumatic for them as what the MCP did? Is the death penalty sometimes the most merciful option for programs? These may be deeper questions than I want to get into.)
But I think the best thing for Tron would be to act as part of a well-paired suite of security software.
And this may include the Guards we see under MCP’s control, if they can be rehabilitated enough. But I also think Tron would benefit from some advisors he is personally close to.
It already makes sense to include Yori in his team, because while Tron’s main purpose is to monitor what comes into the system, Yori (as the software for the digitizing laser) is in charge of perhaps the most concerning route by which things can enter the system. She’ll have insights he would not think of.
And so will Ram– the guy who was made to do actuarial work for an insurance company, but who clearly cares too much about helping people for that to be a really good fit, once his naive idealism about insurance companies inevitably falls apart.
He can’t change his purpose. But his purpose is versatile – actuaries calculate probabilities, and that’s good for a lot of stuff. I think he’d be a perfect security advisor for Tron. Risk assessment, but with a lot of compassion mixed in.
After the events of Legacy, in “The Next Day,” Alan asked Roy to act as Encom’s “moral compass.” I like to imagine that the rerezzed Encom version of Ram had been doing that for a long time already.