Be Right Back, is an episode that seems to tap into the future possibilities of how an advancing technological world could be. Basically, a young woman (Martha) loses her husband (Ash), and has the opportunity to buy and communicate with his robotic replica (Ash2). As one would guess, there are many suspicions raised with this idea. A thought that comes to mind is: “Is the robotic replica really an accurate depiction of the original person?” Ash2 is a being that knows of its difference from Ash, which means Ash2 is self aware. Ash2 is able to tell Martha that his actions are only a representation of digital Ash, so many personal experiences that Ash1 would engage in with Martha are experiences Ash2 creates as his own, based on Martha’s description of Ash.
One point that can be made is that Ash2 is a perfect depiction of Ash, but a version of Ash that Martha didn’t completely know about. Martha not knowing about Ash1’s digital presence could be a lacking key in what kept Martha on edge about if Ash2 was really Ash1. In this case, it could be that Ash2 is a true depiction of Ash, only a depiction that Martha would not be able to recognize.
Also, the argument that Ash2 isn’t exactly a replica of Ash1. Ash2 does only depict what Ash showed to the digital world. The parts of Ash that were shared with Martha, sexual relations or emotional experiences are not experiences Ash2 would know how to handle. In this case, it could be said that Ash2 is only a part of Ash.
As you think about the topic, consider this point: it is a common belief that what sets individuals a part from others are their experiences in the world. Based on this belief, is Ash2 truly a representation of Ash1? Ash2 has to form his own experiences with Martha and the world, so what he experiences would become unique to himself and form his own artificial character. Though it is a weird idea to consider a robot as an entity with it’s own sense of self, Ash2 does show his own sense of artificial individuality.
2 comments:
I think I would say that at first, Ash 2 was Ash 1 with some missing pieces, so not a complete version of Ash 1. But as the film went on, I think Ash 2 became Ash 2 in his own right. He was developing his own memory, having new experiences different from those of Ash 1, and he's aware that he's a replica of another person–Ash 2 is self-aware. This can be seen when Ash 2 helps Martha understand how he's built and how he works. He has to learn how to respond to things the way Martha thinks Ash 1 would have, but Ash 1 probably wouldn't have agreed to live in the attic.
I agree with you, and I like your word use. "Depiction" is a really good word to use here. Ash 1 and Ash 2 look alike and appear to be the same, but we realize that they are not. I think that Ash 1 and Ash 2 become more and more different and distant as the film goes on. Ash 2 has his own experiences that Ash 1 never would have gone through and ash 1 had experiences that Ash 2 could only appear to have gone through.
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