“Be Right Back” and the Uncanny Valley

          I found the video to have a haunting, eerie feeling throughout its entirety. I believe in the beginning of the video when Ash is displaying signs that he may be addicted to his phone and the connection to the technological world was foreshadowing of what would soon happen to Martha. Martha has to tell Ash to put his phone in the glove box before they can drive home, and he didn’t pay much attention to her at times due to being on his phone. In the beginning Martha seemed to have much less interest in technology.
After Ash dies, however, Martha began to show much more interest. This is because she is introduced to a new technology that her friend claims could help her. Martha is grieving for her loss and is in a very vulnerable state. I think that the majority of those who would use this technology would also be in a vulnerable state, and it shows how unethical the company is for capitalizing and taking advantage of people who are suffering grave losses. When Martha discovers that she is pregnant she is even more vulnerable. She finally gives in and tries the software her friend told her about. 
At first, it appears as if Martha is being comforted by this technology. However, she soon feels that the emails and phone calls aren’t enough and takes it to a whole new level of creepiness by getting a robot representation of Ash. When Martha first sees this artificial version of Ash she seems uncomfortable. I believe this is displaying the effect explained in the Uncanny Valley. While this thing appears to look like Ash, she knows it is not actually human. She warms up to him soon enough and isolates herself from the real world. I believe this was a very unhealthy way for her to deal with the grieving process. It is as if it allowed her to convince herself that Ash wasn’t actually dead, rather than learning how to move on without him in her life like she needed to. 
Martha soon realizes that this representation of Ash is only a hollow version of him. The robot lacks the intimacy and feeling of Ash, and only portrays who he showed online to the world. The robot cannot substitute the real Ash for Martha like she had hoped. I believe this shows that artificial intelligence is simply artificial. Ash’s robot version wasn’t capable of thinking or feeling. I hope that this sort of technology isn’t implemented in the near future. If it is, will others see how unethical it is to prey on vulnerable, grieving people for capital gain? And, how could this effect the development of children raised around these robots, like Martha’s daughter?