Ash 1 vs. Ash 2

In the film, "Be Right Back," new technology that is advanced beyond human understanding is introduced. This short film depicts a young couple living their day to day lives and out of no where a tragedy happens. Ash, who is the boyfriend, goes to run an errand one evening and never returns. Martha, the girlfriend, answers the door to police officers that break the news that her boyfriend has been killed in a car accident. Like any normal human being, Martha is grief stricken after losing the man she loves and is willing to do anything to come in contact with him again.

This is where things get interesting. One of Martha's family friends introduces her to this new technology where a life-like replica of a human can be created using all of the data from that person's social media accounts. So, Martha takes on this opportunity and she wasn't very happy with the results. Ash 2, which is the new Ash, is not the Ash that she remembers because he is only the social media self and doesn't respond to certain situations in the way she thinks Ash 1 (original Ash) would.

The question then becomes, "what makes Ash 2 different and non-human like than Ash 1?" There can be a long and drawn out debate that discusses every intricate detail of what makes Ash 1 and Ash 2 different or alike but, the simple fact that makes Ash 2 different is that he has no soul. To be considered a human, having a soul should be the number one factor in determining the difference between the two. Putting yourself in Martha's shoes and trying to imagine what it would be like to have the technology at your fingertips to create a loved one that has passed away is hard to fathom. You can see in the beginning how it would be an amazing thing to be able to just talk to them again but, eventually you would come to realize it isn't genuinely them and you would start to feel regretful like Martha did. It is scary to see the technology that is being created in today's time with all the robots that have extreme human-like qualities. One day it might get as advanced as it is in this film.