The Pitfalls of Technology

The Uncanny Valley is a theory of robotics by Masahiro Mori stating that there comes a point where a robot becomes so human-like that it repulses humans. One theory behind why the Uncanny Valley exists can be illustrated in the film The Bicentennial Man. The main character is an android who wanted to be human. He was denied the right to be recognized as a human because the thought of an immortal human would incite jealousy and anger in other humans and also make humans face their own mortality. If a robot did not look like a human, and simply resembled a mechanical object, it would be more readily accepted by humans. In this age of technology where people have stopped communicating face-to-face and have relied on social media and texting as a form of communication, acceptance of a mechanical non-human-like object has become all too common.

The Uncanny Valley theory can also be seen in the series “Black Mirror.” In the episode “Be Right Back”, Martha had missed her partner, Ash, so much that she wanted to bring him back in any form. She first uploads texts and starts off messaging the Ash-bot back and forth, later Martha uploads more information from Ash's social media to actually talk to the Ash-bot constantly. Martha does the final step in ordering a physical Ash-bot that she can touch and interact with as if it were the real Ash. She becomes fed up with the Ash-bot and locks it up in the attic because it will never be like the real Ash and does whatever she wants it to do up to a certain point. As long as Martha had non-physical but verbal communication with the Ash-bot, it comforted her. During her pregnancy, it gave her a way to communicate with her partner and did not allow her to come to the realization that he was dead. Once the Ash-bot informed Martha that she could have a physical Ash, she was elated that she could have Ash back. The physical sight of Ash without the human-like qualities and quirks of the real Ash invoked her senses to realize that she could never truly have Ash back. Once Martha realized that the Ash-bot was not the real Ash, she locked it up in the attic because she could not get rid of it nor could she continue to look at it thus sealing her own fate where she could never move forward in her own life without Ash.

In my opinion, humans may become repulsed at the sight of an android because they resemble soulless humans. By creating androids that appear human-like, man is trying to play God. Humans are really not God because no matter what leftover pieces he contrives to put together a robot is not a real life.