Be Right Back, a view of the near future?

      

            There is no doubt that the technological prowess which we possess today as opposed to even just a hundred years ago is incredible.  The realm of science fiction is increasingly becoming science fact, and the show black mirror explores some potentially unintended consequences of this fact.  In the episode “Be Right Back,” the writers of Black Mirror explore the potential that robots may one day be able to mimic our late loved ones through the use of their digital lives to the point where even their physical appearance and emotional responses are not far off if not identical to our loved ones’.  The thought of this technology becoming reality seems incredibly scary and disturbing.  It is obvious from the show that the concept of the uncanny valley is very present with Martha. When she first activates the robot, Martha feels uncomfortable by the fact that the robot appears identical to Ash.  In a similar incident, Martha cannot stand to sleep beside the robot because of the fact that the robot does not breathe and likewise feels uncomfortable when she awakens to the robot wide awake with eyes open.  These examples of the uncanny valley give us a glimpse of how we may react to this technology if it becomes reality.  Ultimately if the world decides to continue down this path, then eventually these robots will become familiar and our repulsion to them may eventually decrease or even disappear.  The morality of something like this technology however becomes much more complicated.  The morality of this technology will differ depending on what your individual moral values are or what your moral philosophy is.  For me, this technology has no simple answer as to its morality.  One side of the argument is that it is immoral because it uses Ash, for example, as just a means of helping Martha get through her grieving process.  On the other hand, if the technology is causing no harm then conceivably it could be argued that it is not immoral.  The morality of something like this may even change or evolve over time as similar technology becomes the norm.  Only time will be able to judge effects of such technological advances.

            Although this episode deals with a robot mimicking an actual person, it may also be used to look at the morality of another issue which may become reality, cloning.  Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be successfully cloned had the exact DNA of her mother.  If one day the technology becomes available to where cloning of humans becomes possible, then the ramifications of something like that could be compared to a humanoid robot mimicking a person.  If the brain could also be cloned to where all synapses and brain composition are exactly the same as well as their physical appearance, then what would make that person different from the original?  The morality of actual cloning may be even more complex than the depiction presented in “Be Right Back,” but at the pace that our technological advancement is occurring, this technology may soon become a reality.  We may have to begin coming up with answers to these and many more questions in the not so far off future.