Two Ash’s—one is real, one is a duplicate of him. Who could tell who the real Ash is if you were to place both of them side by side? Not even Ash’s partner, Martha, could understand how technology was able to duplicate the man she loves. Technology has filled our lives both in a positive and negative way, but when it came to Martha dealing with Ash’s death, it was not as positive. When dealing with Ash’s death, Martha did not see a reason to interact with a bot, through an app, to help her with her grieving. When times got rough, she gave in. She slowly gave in more and more throughout the episode until he was a robotic version of Ash. The Uncanny Valley allows us to be contempt with robots we see up to a certain point. Yet Martha took it past the certain point to where it made me feel uncomfortable and creeped out that she decided to make a duplicate of Ash by using technology. Ash himself was revived, but not in the same sense as if he was in the beginning of the episode of Be Right Back. Instead he was revived through what he has said on social media.
The difference between Ash 1 and Ash 2 is that Ash 2 is a better version of Ash 1. We do the same, especially on social media. When it comes to posting a picture or posting a status, we try and make a better version of ourselves, unless we are using a nom de plume. How we exist on social media vs. how we exist in real life, is different. Within our reality, our replies to conversations do not take hours to think about or process, but on social media, you are able to think about what you want to say before posting for a longer period of time. Additionally, most things people post are to show the world what they’re doing or to get likes. Not everyone does this, of course, but some do. With how Ash 1 and Ash 2 are made, it is similar to how our every day lives are. We have a different “me” based on different situations; however, that should not be the case. We should be able to express ourselves freely within our social media and our reality life. Although Ash 2 is not the same as Ash 1, he is able to learn and mimic the traits of Ash 1, but not in the same way Ash 1 would react. Ash 2 is only a perfected version of Ash 1, and he will continue to try and perfect himself to be as similar to Ash 1 as he can. Similar to a doppleganger, they may look alike, but they are not the same. But, he will never be Ash 1. He will never have the same memories as Ash 1. He will never be the spirit of what Ash 1 was. All he can be is a memory of him. Here are some interesting comparisons about social media vs. real life that I wanted to share.
5 comments:
I like how you referred to Ash 2 being the better version of oneself that people choice to show online.
I absolutely agree. I admire the comparison you included between the real Ash and the artificial Ash. I can definitely relate to the "social media vs. real life" case, especially when it comes to a fake profile. Nowadays, technology has special features that helps us alter our appearance to where as we deceive each other easily, and I love how you executed that explanation. Well done.
I must agree. On social media, we depict ourselves not only as what we want others to see us as, but how we want to see ourselves as well. And often times, the way we see ourselves is different from the way we actually are in real life. However, the "perfect" self we exude on social media lacks all the quirks and imperfections and small, minuscule details that make a person who he/she really is.
When it comes to social media, we, as people, creep closer and closer to the edge that demarcates our fundamental perceptions. Your comparison and the episode's portrayal of the two ash's demonstrates how something that fills a void on the surface does not have the depth to truly fill the void of anything, and that, simply, technology cannot fully replicate reality.
I totally agree with how we display ourselves on social media. Two years ago I went under a pseudonym on Facebook and I managed to speak my mind about things, but it got to the point where people in person would call me by that name and I started to not like the fact, because I felt they weren't really talking to me and they were just talking to "her". I deleted it and now I'm more open about expressing my opinions about things under my real name, as who I am in person.
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