Could Ash 2.0 ever really be Ash?

In "Be Right Back," an episode of "Black Mirror," we were introduced to a young couple, Ash and Martha, who live in what seems to be the not so distant future.  From the beginning scene, we are shown that Ash's is obviously obsessed with social media and technology. He is considered and avid poster and post much of his every day, mundane encounters on social media.  It is later revealed that Ash was killed in some type of car accident; leaving his pregnant wife alone.  Seeking comfort Martha is introduced to a program that allows her to talk with an artificial Ash made up from his online postings, videos, and emails.  When the texting and talking on the phone were no longer enough, she ended up ordering a humanoid version of Ash, Ash 2.0, in order to try and keep his memory alive, which in itself just seems creepy.  Even though much of the technology in the film seems futuristic and impossible, just considering how far we have advanced in the last five years alone, it's not that hard to believe that we will have the same technology within the next 20 years. This leads us to the question of whether technology, in this case robots, can really replace human.

So, is Ash 2.0 the same as the real Ash? In short, I find it hard to believe that any machine could ever fully mimic the human experience, so I would say that Ash 2.0 is not the real Ash.  There is so much that goes into a human life that cannot be accounted for by a machine, as depicted in the film when Ash 2.0 does not know how to react to various situations because there was no record of it online.  Ash 2.0 was merely just a reflection of the conglomeration of Ash's online posts and emails; this is because Ash 2.0 does not have real independent thoughts in the way humans do.  When you think of that makes us human there is so much that you could say such as our experiences throughout our lives, our ability to think through situations, or our ability to love.  Our experiences throughout our life are usually what develop our character, and shape our values. As a humanoid robot, Ash 2.0 does not have the experiences and memories that the real Ash experienced when he was alone, so can you ever say that he is ever fully the real Ash.  Ash 2.0 also does not have the ability to think through situations in the way that we humans do.  As an electrical engineering and computer science student, I can tell you that coding is very logical and there are clear cut rules that determine the outcome of any process.  If A and B happen to get an outcome of C no matter what you do A and B will always give you C.  This cannot be said about human beings, we do not base decisions on logic alone, we make decisions using logic, emotion, past experiences, and self-interest.  There are so many factors that go into making a decision that there is no way it could be modeled in a coded subroutine, which leads me to believe that Ash 2.0 could never make decision the same way as the real Ash could.  The last thing that separates human form everything else is the ability to love one another.  The reason I bring this up as a point is that love is a key factor in the human existence, yet it is very hard for us as humans to accurately describe what it is and how we feel about love. I have heard a saying in computer science that states that a computer is only as smart as the person who coded it, so if we cannot accurately understand and model love how could we ever teach it to a robot.

Overall, I think that these things can never be fully replicated using a machine and that’s why a machine can never truly take that place of someone.  When trying to copy humans there will always be a slight gap that can never be filled with a computer, or in the case from the film, Ash 2.0, no matter how much he may seem like Ash, will never fully be the same as the real Ash.