Rising From the Ashes

Watching the TV show "Be Right Back" and learning about and understanding the Uncanny Valley concept was extremely interesting. Robots are becoming more and more common in todays society. However, none of these robots that are seen today are the exact genetic clone of a once living human being. They may be able to do human like functions but they do not mimic that person exactly  because the more human they look and act, the more uncomfortable and creeped out we as a society feel.

The most interesting thing I thought about the TV show was how consumed one can become after losing a loved one. Death is a horrible thing and is something that no one as a person wants to go through in their life but it happens, each and every day. It can make someone change their daily life in an instant because that is the way our minds are programmed. Having someone that is so close to us and mean so much to us can make us do crazy things. Like in the movie, Martha was devastated that Ash passed away as would any wife that lost her husband would feel. Through her grieving she was overtaken by emotion and decided to try and connect with her deceased husband even though the actions she took seemed to be wrong and absurd. Creating a living robot that is identical to the once living human being might be a little too far and cross the line of morals don't you think? Like I said in the beginning, death is horrible thing but it is something that we as human beings will encounter all through our lives. We have to move forward and live in the present, not the past. Also, wouldn't creating a robot to be like your deceased loved one make you miss that person more? The robot may look and act like the certain someone but inside it's just a machine. It's not the same person you once knew. People aren't meant to be replaced after death, their life should be celebrated. In addition, Martha Kept Ash 2 in her attic and allowed her daughter to visit him once a week. Should you be able to keep a "person" in your attic and it be considered normal? That seems like abuse and mistreatment if you ask me, but could be considered okay since it is a robot. Which makes sense that why would we want to create these robots and consider them human beings if we are just going to treat them like objects? Lastly, something to think about is if it were possible to make robots that were created to replace deceased loved ones, the population would drastically increase and human life wouldn't be considered as much as a value if a person can technically be "replaced".

With this being said, I don't think us as a society will ever come to the answer of creating robots that would be considered "human replacements". However, it is a very interesting and intriguing thing to think about because in todays world, technology is everything. It's what makes the world go round and what helps keep people sane.  But, what if in your lifetime you were able to purchase your own robot that was the identical clone of your loved one that had recently passed away? Its a scary thing to think about. However, knowing that our world may have the technology to do this in futures time is the scariest thing of it all.