Original artwork, not a still
The world isn't run by weapons anymore, or energy, or money. It's run by little ones and zeroes, little bits of data. It's all just electrons.
— Sneakers
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The speech reads as a prediction: in the early 1990s a villain argues that data, not weapons, energy or money, is where power now lives. Cosmo is a villain, but he gets the film's sharpest idea, which is why it keeps being quoted by people who write about security and technology. It sits in the same breath as the later 'war out there' line, and the pair are the film's unofficial thesis.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for SneakersShow the scene
In Phil Alden Robinson's 1992 caper Sneakers, security tester Martin Bishop is kidnapped and wakes in a hideout where his old college hacking partner Cosmo, believed dead since 1969, is waiting. Cosmo, played by Ben Kingsley, has the stolen black box, a codebreaker able to crack the world's most secure networks, and wants Bishop to join him in using it. Bishop refuses, saying there is nobody there when you reach that sort of power. Cosmo's reply is the speech about weapons, energy and money, which he delivers as a recruitment pitch.
Sources (2)
- Sneakers (1992 film), WikipediaPlot; leadReference checked
- Sneakers (film), WikiquoteCosmo and Bishop dialogueReference checked
Context reviewed
