The Inimitableness of Humanity

There are aspects of humanity that just seem impossible to be imitated by robots. In “Be Right Back” on the show Black Mirror for example, the robot Ash is allowed access to Ash's digital identity by Martha. The information on the Internet is then analyzed and replicated by the robotic Ash. Even though this "new" Ash is able to roughly imitate Ash, there are still loopholes that make it easy to distinguish the difference between them. It is not possible to display everything about yourself online. One would have to be able to place every single experience they have on the Internet, and this just seems unlikely. Martha herself subtly acknowledges the failure of the robotic Ash to replace the human Ash by not being able to tell her friends and family about the robot and the fact that she ends up locking the robot in the basement. She sees it as something that is obviously not Ash. 

The robotic Ash may seem to be Ash at first, but its lack of actual emotions makes it apparent that it is not. There are also other obvious physical flaws such as not needing to sleep, breathe, or being capable of bleeding.  There were occasions when the robotic Ash would have to be urged in order to give a desired or “normal” response. For example, the robotic Ash’s first words to Martha asking him to jump off the cliff were “I never expressed suicidal thoughts or self-harm.” He only began to pretend to be scared once she prompted him by saying the real Ash would not act like that. This showcases how there is not always going to be a human-like response for the robot to imitate in every situation.

Also, humanity is what it is because of its capacity for change and unpredictability. The suggestion that robots can replace humans indicates that the actions of every human can be predicted and calculated. This is because that is what is required to program an accurate robot. This programming can not account for the workings of  time which also affects humans by making them wiser and possibly changing their temperament. It is a very difficult thing to withstand time and remain unchanged in anyway. Humans are shaped by their experiences and each one can be affected in a different way. In addition, humans are not completely rational beings and often act on impulse. This is something that can not possibly be replicated with artificial intelligence.

Until technology advances to the point of perfectly recreating the thought process of humanity, the hopes of replicating the uniqueness of humanity in robots will remain fleeting.