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Sunday, April 2, 2017

Can Ash 2 Become Ash 1

In the beginning of the short film, " Be Right Back," there is a scene where we can see how Martha and Ash interact with each other. Ash is portrayed as a person who is constantly on social media and does not pay very much attention to his surroundings. Martha on the other hand is more attentive towards Ash. So we can bring some abstract conclusions about Martha and Ash's personality. After Ash's death, and especially after knowing she was pregnant, she could not handle his death very well. When she started to talk to Ash 2, it seemed as if he had never really died. It wasn't until after she ordered the android Ash that she realized that Ash 2 will never be Ash 1.
It is true that Ash could eventually develop into its own "person." We can see this in the few scenes where he expresses free will and his own thoughts. For example when he refused to hit her or when he claimed to not have any suicidal thoughts instead of jumping immediately after she had ordered him to. But it is also true that he will never replace Ash 1. Ash 1 was a unique human being with his own personality and flaws. Ash 2 can never really know how Ash 2 would have responded in every situation he was put in, because he is merely fractions of Ash 1. The more Martha saw that Ash 2 did not have any imperfections the more she realized and accepted that the Ash 1 she married has died. Humanity should not be able to have the power to create human androids to replace the deceased. Even though technology is constantly being innovated, we should know when technology becomes immoral. These human androids like Ash 2 will never really serve their purpose because they can't become one hundred percent the person they are suppose to be imitating. Just like Ash 2 did not respond like Martha thought Ash 1 would have, the rest of the androids would have been the same.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Veronica I love your take on this argument. Their personalities are clear through the film and there is a clear change in Martha's behavior. You are right about the fact that Ash too was like a new born still figuring out his personality. However,I do not believe that this technology is bad. The people in this film missed it and that is right, They made it totally creepy. If this technology was used as a means of letting go of that person then I am prone to be OK with it.