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Sunday, November 20, 2016

The Future of Grieving?

There is nothing worse in life than losing someone who is close to you. Whether it is a family member or a friend getting over the loss of a loved one is not something easily done. Throughout the past decade there have been several movies referring to robots taking over the world. However, even more recently there have been movies made about the benefits of robots. This weeks black mirror episode reminded me of one of those movies. Her, in where Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with a computer software that can think and speak on its own. Phoenix takes the software everywhere, the software even asks him to experience a physical encounter that comes with the system. A woman knocks on the door and comes onto him without speaking and phoenix is unable to go through with it. Phoenix only wants the physical touch from the woman (the software) he is in love with. Just like the episode we watched in class where she only loves the person she fell in love with and the robot/software is not enough. 
            A person must wonder if this is where technology is heading that direction in the sense of grieving or even dating. Could a person possibly fall in love with a software system or a robot. The other question that follows is how many people would actually be interested in bringing back a late loved one or falling in love with a robot. The other fear is that could a robot potentially be treated better than a human being? Or would there be laws past to prevent discrimination towards these robots or could someone even tell the difference between a robot and a human. The upside to having these robots would be war, the work force for dangerous jobs and of course grieving. People don’t have to worry about their favorite actor or musician dying. People don’t die in war. The possibilities are endless when it comes to living robots that do not rely on food or sleep in order to work.

            Not only does it seem more and more likely that these “humanoids” will be the new norm but it also seems that that transition could happen sooner rather than later. While a robot could never replace a loved one, it could make the grieving process much easier and the more we see this kind of technology the more economically efficient the robots will be.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Technology overall will be the future. It is a big part of the role, and people are creating all sorts of things. I wonder if these robot things will really come to existence. People will have a hard time distinguishing between a robot or if it's a real human.

Anonymous said...

Big part of the world I meant to write.

Anonymous said...

Robots are becoming more and more of a topic as technology advances. I think you really touch on how the idea of robots to do duties is becoming a norm. I love how you talk about robots being an alternate in place of humans for war. I think topics like this will come up more and more. Especially when its something that can limit labor and in this case save lives.