In the episode "Be Right Back" of Black Mirror, there was only ever one Ash, and outside of uploading the human Ash's mind to the cloud or flat out resurrecting the human Ash, there could never be another Ash. Neither Ash's digital life nor the robot Ash was ever convincingly close to being the same as the human Ash. There are things that are simply not conveyed in one's digital life that makes one's human self distinctly different from one's digital self and therefore the type of robot that was used to mimic Ash.
The difference between human Ash and robot Ash was highlighted when robot Ash failed to express emotions in emotionally-charged situations without being prompted. Robot Ash acted in this typical robotic fashion because human Ash's responses to such intense situations were not documented in his digital life. In this area of emotion, Ash's digital life and robot Ash fall substantially short, and this would be true in the case of every person unless an individual documented his or her every feeling and response in every situation that he or she encountered with impeccable attention to detail.
Another realm in which one's digital life and robot self would not "live" up to one's human self would be mental health issues. In one instance, the individual could have suffered from a permanent physical injury, which could of course be recreated on the individual's robot self, but the resulting mental facet of the injury would not translate over to the robot self. For example, if the individual is a male who at some point in his life suffered infertility-yielding damage to his family jewels, it is not likely that that would be something that is portrayed in his digital life. It seems like something that would be covered up as much as possible and only potentially known by a select few people. As seen in the instance where robot Ash grew a mole when Martha pointed out that the human Ash had had a mole in a particular spot on his chest, one's robot self could manifest the physical injury once it was made aware of the injury. However, the accompanying impact to one's mental state, particularly in sexual situations in the case of the aforementioned example, would not be translated over into one's robot self.
In short, there are obvious faults in the technology that is the robot Ash, and this technology has shortcomings not seen in the episode that further indicate that the only version of a person that is truly that person is the human version.
3 comments:
I agree, I believe there are things that only a human can do and it can not be replaced by a robot or in other words a piece of technology. As much as technology has improved it will not have the same characteristics as a human being because a human being is unique in its own ways. in addition to the fact that it does rely on what we post on social media etc. but to many users in social media they only post the good memories or the good pictures on social media.
I would not say that the robot Ash was completely different from the human Ash. I would, however, say that he was an "off the rack" version of the original. There were obvious similarities in certain responses, but at the same time, there were moments where the robot had to be guided in order to behave like the original.
I do agree that if individuals suffered from certain "deficiencies", the creators of the robot would do their best to take out or even add information to make, what in their eyes would be, an improved version of the original.
As for feelings, I do believe that very few people are their complete selves in social media. A way to portray a closer version of the original would be to have every person record their exact feelings and reactions to situations as they occur throughout their lifetime. This information could then be stored into the robot at the time of the person's death. Even so, I agree that technology will always fall short of a human being.
I agree that there's only one Ash and any type of replacement will never amount to the human Ash. It can't be authentic, genuine, or nurturing. All it can be is a burden, and hinderance from real growth.
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